Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Robin
My father wants to meet me.
It takes a few seconds for that thought to sink in, but as soon as it does, I can’t help but shudder.
Lana couldn’t have shocked me more if she’d thrown a bucket of icy water in my face.
I feel shaky as I stare back at her, unable to bring myself to speak.
She nods slowly, understanding in her dark eyes. “I know this must be a surprise, and I’m willing to admit I was suspicious when he called yesterday afternoon, but I had Owen check his story and look into his past, and everything adds up so far …”
“I don’t understand,” I mumble as I cross my arms to steady the tremors that are making my body feel like it’s ready to crumble and break apart. “I thought as long as I was here …”
My voice fades as I look back at Lana.
She’s given me so much, but when it comes right down to it, she’s virtually a stranger.
As compassionate as she’s been, I know I can’t expect her to protect me.
“Robin, you don’t have to agree to meet him,” she tells me, one hand reaching out to touch my shoulder lightly. “I’m only here to tell you so you can decide if you want to see him, or not. I won’t allow him onto academy grounds if you don’t want him here.”
Letting out a sigh, I nod slowly. “Thank you.”
“I understand why you might not want to see him. Believe me, I get it.” Lana gives me a wry smile. “You can take your time to think about it.”
“I don’t need to think about it.”
The words rush out of my mouth, and it takes my brain a second to play catch up.
It’s a relief to feel like the decision has been made.
I don’t want to meet him.
My mother ended up with me because of the things that were being done to her.
That means my father had to have been one of her abusers.
I don’t want to have anything to do with someone so evil.
Lana chews on her bottom lip for a moment before she nods and lets her hand drop from my shoulder.
“That’s fine, but I should give you the rest of the information anyway. He claims he met your mother at a party he was invited to by a friend of a business acquaintance. Apparently, she acted like any other guest in the room. He claims he had no idea she wasn’t there willingly.”
“And you believed him?”
“He sounded earnest,” Lana says, shrugging.
“I know sometimes liars can be very convincing. All I can tell you is his story checks out. He was at that party, and we couldn’t find any kind of link to connect him directly to Ivan Hamilton.
A couple of the people he works with confirmed he spent some time asking around about your mother, trying to find her in the weeks and months following that party. ”
Oh, God. This is why she’s telling me. She thinks he might be a decent guy.
There’s no way he could be … is there?
“I don’t …” I start, shaking my head.
I can’t find the words to continue. I don’t know how to feel.
“It’s a lot, I know, and you should take your time to think about it. If you do decide you want to meet him, I can make sure the meeting happens safely. If you don’t, I’ll let him know.”
She pauses, and I can’t help but ask, “How did he know about me?”
It doesn’t make a lot of sense, really. He met my mother once and never saw her again.
How would he know she had a child? How would he know I was his child?
“He heard your name on a news report, and he called us. The reporter stated your age, and he said his Alpha instincts told him you were his kid. The second he heard your name, he knew you were his daughter.”
It almost feels like she’s asking me if I believe in fate all over again.
Alpha instincts are something I’ve only really seen show up in romantic movies.
I don’t know how much I believe in that kind of thing.
“So, this man who called you thinks he’s my father.”
Lana smiles wryly. “I know how it sounds and, trust me, if you do want to meet him, I’ll ask Dr. Clarke to arrange for a DNA test so you could know for sure before the meeting, but there’s one last thing I should show you before I leave you to think about it.”
I wait as she puts her right hand into her back pocket.
She pulls out her cell phone and holds it up while she taps on the screen.
When she hands it to me a second later, and I glance reluctantly at the image, I can’t help but gasp.
Our similarities are undeniable.
We share the same pale skin and auburn hair, but it’s deeper than that.
I can see my own features in his face, even if his are more masculine.
It would be impossible to deny the resemblance.
Now, I understand why Lana had to tell me about him.
Relief overrides my shock when the screen fades to black, erasing him from my sight.
I pass the phone back to Lana, and I try to make sense of everything she just told me.
“And he found me here, because my name was on the news? Nothing else?”
“The press don’t have any photos of you.
All they gave out was the name Robin Yates, and your age,” Lana confirms. “So, that’s all the information he had.
I don’t know how they got those details, because no one I trust would have given them out.
But that’s for me to deal with. All I can do is apologize for that.
It shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry, Robin. ”
“It’s fine,” I assure her, shrugging off the apology. “It doesn’t matter.”
It such a strange situation. I didn’t even know my own name until Dr. Morgan helped me to remember it. Colleen may have used it when I was younger, but she didn’t keep using it. These last few years, she only ever called me “girl” or “beta”.
I never asked why or wondered what my name was.
Maybe I did when I was too young to remember her answer.
“… but don’t worry, we’ll find out who gave that reporter your name,” Lana goes on, starting to frown. “I’m not in the habit of letting anyone hurt the people I’m here to protect. Whoever gave out your name will be dealt with.”
I blink as my brain catches back up with the conversation.
I guess I drifted a little bit into my thoughts.
When Lana stops to sigh, I realize I don’t have anything more to say.
She’s already given me the reason she came to see me, and I’ve already told her I don’t want to see my father. I’m not sure if I’m ready to change my mind about that, but she’s given me something to think about, for sure.
“It’s no use crying over spilt milk,” I blurt, seeing that Lana’s still upset.
She gives me a small smile. “That’s one way to look at it. It’s okay, I’m not happy with the person who did this, but they won’t get the chance to make it any worse.”
Clearly, she’s set on punishing the person who leaked my name to the news.
Thinking about it makes my stomach churn, the same way it always would whenever I did something I knew might upset Colleen.
I don’t want someone to be hurt because of me.
Even if what they did means the man who thinks he’s my father knows where I am now.
“It’s okay,” I start. “I mean … It would have gotten out somehow, right? Does it really matter who let it out?”
She looks at me curiously. “You’re not angry with whoever did this?”
I shake my head after a moment of thought. “I’d rather they hadn’t done this, but it’s too late now. Live and let live.”
That’s one of my favorite pieces of wisdom from Colleen.
Learning to forgive and move on stopped me from dwelling on things whenever the guards bullied me out of the gardens at night.
I can’t imagine how much worse things could have gotten for me if I hadn’t let them chase me back into the house.
Those men were looking for a fight, and I never gave them a chance to start one.
Lana nods slowly. “Sure. If someone has a big mouth and didn’t mean for it to get out, that’s one thing. A real apology and they can be given another chance to show they can be trusted. If they went straight to a reporter, then they’ll have to be fired.”
“That … sounds fair.”
“If you change your mind about seeing your father, just let me know,” she says. “I’ll let you get on with your day.”
“Great, thanks,” I murmur, waving as she leaves.
After she’s gone, I close the door and turn the key in the lock.
My hands are a little shaky, but my stomach is calming down.
I’m not going to change my mind.
There’s no reason for me to want to see that man.
I don’t know him, and I don’t want to know him.
As far as I’m concerned, he may as well not exist.