Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
The pained sound that comes from Allison makes me take the phone. With my other hand, I guide her to one of the long leather couches. “This is McMillon Reese, Allison’s boyfriend. She needs a minute, this is a lot to take in.”
“Of course.” The woman sniffs. “I need a minute too.”
“Let’s regroup in a few minutes.” I hit the end-call button.
Then I stride to the wet bar and grab one of the folded linen towels, dampening it with cool water before I return to Allison.
She’s staring into the distance. “I didn’t know what to say. She sounds like me.”
Kneeling in front of her, I press the cool towel to the heat that’s gathered on her cheeks, to her soaked lashes.
“That feels good.”
“A wise person taught me that trick.”
I gather her hands and press our foreheads together. “I love you. You don’t have to know what to say. You don’t owe anyone anything.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
We stay like this until she's steadier and ready to break apart. “I think I can talk now.”
“You sure?”
When she nods, I dial her biological mother. “We’re ready if you are?”
“I think… I just don’t know what to say.”
Fuck. I put her on speaker. “Let’s all try to get through this together.”
There’s a shaky breath on the other end. “I didn’t have a choice, I was forced to give you up.”
Stricken, pale, and shaking, Allison leans closer. “What do you mean?”
“The monster that told you he was your father was a business associate of my late husband. He took you from us as insurance.”
Fuck. This is way worse than I imagined.
Allison sits up more, her shoulders tightening. “I don’t understand.”
“Keeping you was the only way he could ensure that my husband didn’t go to the feds about the fraud he uncovered. He said he’d kill us all if we ever turned on him.”
I can’t control my explosive rage any longer. “The bastard, what the fuck? She was just a child!”
“He never told you, did he?” Allison’s mother asks quietly.
“No. He’s lied about everything. Still is. I wouldn’t have known he wasn’t my father without one of his men making an offhand remark. I don’t think it was supposed to get out.”
The woman sniffles a few times. “So, that means someone else knows?”
“One of his thugs,” I offer with a bitter edge to my voice. “He must be talking about it now, or it got out somehow.”
The air wavers with tension as they both fall silent.
Seeing Allison so hurt makes my blood blaze.
“We’re going to hang up now. There’s a lot to digest here.”
“I understand,” the woman replies in a wavering tone. “I just want you to know I’m proud of you, Allision. I’ve followed you all along. Snuck around on social media. I even attended your doctorate graduation in a disguise. Christopher wouldn’t allow me to contact you, but when he passed from a heart attack… I couldn’t stay away any longer.”
“That had to be hard.” Allison shakes her head. “But why didn't you reach out? I wish you would have.”
There’s a heavy silence, then more shaky words.
“No, dear. You seem to have everything you need. I didn’t want to destroy your past any more than it already was.”
Allison’s fingers bite into my arm as she wipes her lashes with the back of her other hand.
“I want to see you,” she says softly to the woman who was forced to give her child away.
“I’d love that.”
We spend the next few minutes talking about hypothetical logistics. But it’s not happening until we know where Westerly is and getting to the bottom of what his interest is in Vandemora.
We have to get to the root of how Allison's research is caught up in that web of darkness.
When I hang up the call, Allison crumbles into my arms.
It’s hard to listen to her crying, but I know she has a lot to mourn. There’s only one way to move on. It’s to move through the pain.
“I can’t imagine how you feel right now.” Kissing the top of her head, I stroke her back. “You’re going to need time to grieve all of this.”
“I know.” Her sigh is heavy. “But truthfully, so much makes sense now, and as much as I hate that I didn’t know my biological parents, now I know why I was basically neglected.”
The need for revenge burns through me like a match through paper. “I’m gonna make that asshole pay.”
“I just want this all done.”
“Me fucking too.”
She leans up and kisses me. “I’m just so glad to have you.”
“We’re family now. Me and you. Over dinner, we’re going to talk about what that looks like.”
“How will we make it work? I travel. You travel. Are we just going to be ships passing in the night?”
“Are you going to keep working in Vandemora?”
A light fires up in her pretty eyes. “I really want to. There's so much fascinating history there. I’m just getting started, and I think there are some very important minerals and materials hidden there, yet to be uncovered. Or I should say, uncovered again.”
The passion about her work is shining bright.
“I can ask to be stationed there at Agile's Vandemora headquarters. I think that Marshall Lake has decided to keep a team there.”
This makes her smile in a way that causes a layer of rust to fall away from the cavern inside of me.
“Let’s do it.”
I grab her hand, kiss her ring finger. “Are you ready for me to propose?”
Her eyes go wide. “Um. I’d love that…”
“But…?”
“I kind of already told you that we’re getting married.”
“So, it’s a done deal?”
Her beautiful smile deepens. “I think so.”
“What if I want to do the traditional thing and get down on one knee with the ring and all?”
“Well, I won’t say no.”
She gasps when I tug her forward and steal a hot, deep kiss.
“Fuck, babe, you make me happy.”
“Ditto, Big Mack.”
I growl and nip her ear.
She’s laughing when I kiss my way down to her neck.
“Speaking of,” she whispers in a husky voice. “That was some excellent stand-up sex earlier. I might be up for a repeat sometime soon.”
“Copy, Boss. Tell me when. I can deliver the goods.”
We laugh together, and sit for a long time, just listening to the gentle gurgling of the waterfall at the edge of the vast sitting area.
The world, as crazy as it is, feels right. Like we can overcome anything.
Allison brushes her fingers over my chest, tracing the small scar there. “Can we try to call Justice again? I can’t believe he’s gone incommunicado.”
“Sure, sweetheart. But I’m sure he’s just chasing your father to ground. We’ll see if he picks up, though.”
The line rings a couple of times, then the call connects.
“JT?”
His voice is distant, like he butt dialed—or technically butt ‘accepted.’
“I should spank your ass for being so reckless. Now, get over here, woman.”
The call disconnects.
Allison’s staring at me with a shocked expression. “Oh, my god, do you think he found Rosalie?”
Through my chuckle, I reply, “Well, I’m not sure, but I guarantee you it wasn’t an AI influencer he was ordering around.”