42. Blesk
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
blesk
“Ben and Renee Slater paid your father to take me.”
The words hang between us, changing everything in an instant. We can’t take them back, can’t go back to where we were. Can’t give him back his happy new family.
Konnor darts for the door.
I chase him up the staircase, his every footfall hitting the steps like something deadly dropped from a skyscraper to the pavement below.
His shoulders don’t move when he walks—his whole upper body is locked into one piece, arms swinging stiffly at his sides.
I catch a glimpse of his jaw, hard and tense, as he rounds the banister at the top landing.
“Konnor, wait!” We should talk. Check the documents again. My cheeks are cold and wet—I’ve teared up. “Wait.”
He doesn’t knock when he reaches a wooden door on the third level, just shoves it open hard enough that it bashes off the wall. He crosses the room in four strides to where Ben is sitting, and I almost scream for him to stop, but he doesn’t hit him. He slaps the bank statement down on the desk.
“Fucking explain that!”
Ben slowly stands, his eyes moving from his son to me and back. “Son, what’s going on here?”
“Don’t fucking call me ‘son’,” Konnor sneers. “Why have you been lying to me? What does this mean? Explain!” Konnor stabs the statement with his finger.
He starts to pace, scowling at Ben as if he’s now our enemy, the wood beneath his feet creaking. Should we be calling… someone? The police? Are we in danger?
I say, “Konnor, ple—”
He spins to face me. Grabbing my shoulders, he stares down at me. “If you need to leave, leave now, but don’t tell me to wait on this. Don’t tell me to bury it. That is not me!” I gasp at his choice of words, but nod. He releases me, spinning back to his face his dad. “Answers, now!”
My heart squeezes.
Ben pushes his glasses up his nose. He takes his eyes off Konnor, peering down at the statement that is now in his hands. He lips move soundlessly as he reads until something transforms his face—realisation or devastation.
Perhaps both.
He closes his eyes and grips the paper, scrunching the edges in his fist. His knuckles turn white, and he breathes hatred as he says, “Nerrock.” His eyes flash open, hitting us. “Where did you find this son? Should your girlfriend be here for this kind of conversation?”
Konnor jolts towards Ben, poking him in the chest. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t you dare even look at her. She stays as long as she wants.”
“You want her to know everything, then?”
“She knows a lot more than you do!”
Ben’s gaze holds me for a moment, full of uncertainty. He is silent for a few beats, heavy breathing the only sound. “Fine. Everyone sit… Sit, and I’ll explain.”
Konnor huffs. “You don’t get to make demands now. Tell me why you have been lying to me. Tell me what that means.” Konnor motions towards the document laying on the wooden office desk.
Someone places their hands on my back, and I jump. The person behind me wraps their arms around my shoulders protectively. Peering down, I notice blonde hair on his forearms. Jaxon. Although I already assumed it was. Somehow knew it was.
“Everything okay in here?” Jaxon asks. “Should Blesk and I go downstairs?”
Konnor turns towards us. “No, Jax, she should stay. I want her to stay.” He looks at me—or rather, the person wearing Konnor’s face looks at me. “Do you want to stay?”
I nod, startled by how feral he appears. “Yes.”
“Mind if I stay?” Jaxon asks, eyeing Konnor and his father, the tension palpable and haunting. If things get out of control, I know I can count on Jaxon to step in.
Like he did with Erik.
Jaxon squeezes my shoulders with both hands. “You okay, B? I can take you downstairs?”
Oh, God. “Where’s Elise?”
“She sent me up to check on you,” he whispers.
Ben shifts his weight, unsteady on his feet. He places both palms on the desk in front of him. “Konnor, son, what do you remember about why Dustin Nerrock gave you up for adoption?”
Konnor snaps around with wild eyes. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you just talk—tell me what I know and what I don’t.”
Someone sucks a sharp breath in behind me, and when Konnor stares at the door, his face falls.
“What’s going on?” Cassidy asks from the doorway. “Why are you yelling at each other?”
Konnor points at the door, taking a single step closer to her. “You should leave, Cassidy.”
Ben stands and quickly approaches his daughter. Konnor noticeably stiffens as Ben passes him, and I think that is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
“Cassidy, sweetheart. This is Konnor’s business,” Ben says, “It isn’t something you need to be involved in.”
Her hazel eyes narrow at Ben, and she only digs her heels in further. “If it’s his business, then it’s mine.”
“Sweetheart, it’s—” Ben begins.
“No,” she snaps. “I’m not leaving until I know why my two favourite people are yelling at each other.”
With a deep breath, Ben nods, then moves back to his desk, almost falling into his chair as emotions consume him.
Cassidy crosses her arms, leans on the door frame, challenging Konnor to try to kick her out.
Konnor tilts his head at her, the slightest smile fighting for freedom as he takes in his five-foot-nothing-ballerina sister with lethal eyes. “Fine, Cassidy.”
Ben clears his throat. “So you don’t want me to ask questions, Konnor.
That’s fine. But then I can’t distinguish what information you have, and so I’m going to just lay it all on the table, and between the two of us we can sift through the pieces and hopefully come out with a picture that makes sense.
I went to school with your mother, Madeline.
I’m yet to meet a woman who could summon the kind of infatuation that woman could.
She was wild and intriguing and sharp as a razor, with the biggest green eyes and a strange mind.
But she was also very insecure and often troubled.
She thought too much, and that always led her to the horizon, looking for something more.
” He looks down at his desk, moving the paper under his fingers.
“She married Nerrock not long after high school. They had a son.” Ben’s brows furrow.
“They looked beautiful together and their son was picture perfect. It wasn’t until later that the rumours started to circulate.
You all know what the District is like with gossip.
The rumour was that Deakon Nerrock...” His voice falters, his eyes softening on Konnor. “That you weren’t Dustin’s son.”
He goes on, “Now, Dustin’s family has a lot of money.
They are one of the founders of The District and are deeply Catholic.
Adultery was completely reprehensible. People loved the rumour.
I mean, Dustin and Madeline were political celebrities and the envy of everyone.
Their love, life, and every moment was caught on camera and plastered all over The District.
Which made what had happened even more impressive.
Because, Christ, the whole world had been watching them.
And yet, this had happened right under everyone’s noses. You were taken. Missing.”
Konnor slumps against the wall as though the energy has drained clean out of him. He begins cracking his knuckles, one by one. I wish he would stop, because it… It’s a bad habit.
God, that’s stupid.
I walk over. Leaning against the wall beside him, I look at his sad profile. He turns to me, and I see defeat.
Ben continues talking, “I’d be lying if I said I liked Dustin, but I never thought he’d go so far as to have a child kidnapped.
I thought he might, well... I worried about your mother’s safety, but not yours.
You were just a child. Who would hurt a child?
Especially not you, the golden child of The District.
” He shakes his head, looking down at the document on the desk.
“I hadn’t realised how far he'd gone until now… I don’t know for sure, Konnor.
I have no proof. But if this statement is true, then someone paid that man to take you. ”
A small gasp escapes Cassidy.
“And I know in my heart that it wasn’t Madeline, so that leaves ... Well, it's Dustin and Madeline’s account.”
“That’s bullshit. Such bullshit.” Konnor edges toward him again.
“Money came from that fucking account for my tuition! How’s that possible?
Answer that question!” Konnor suddenly whirls around, pressing his forehead against the wall as if trying to push through it.
He groans, voice low and strained. “I saw it, Ben,” he growls into the plasterboard.
“The invoice was clearly made out to the university for my tuition.”
“Konnor, son, please, try to understand.” Ben pauses, and I watch his eyes moving, considering.
“Your mother… Your mother handed the rights to that account over to me a few weeks before she died. She'd said it was for you and you alone if you were ever found or ever returned. That money would have gone to Dustin’s other children, his future children, and she knew she didn’t have much time left.
So I have been using the funds for your tuition, and for anything else I see fit.
We didn’t need the money, of course, but it was important to… to Madeline that it go to you.”
Relief washes over me. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t his family. He did have a good life.
Konnor lifts his head from the wall. “You loved her.” He turns towards us, fixing his emerald eyes on Ben.
Ben’s eyes widen, moving cautiously to Cassidy. “I love your mum, Cassidy.” He looks back at Konnor. “But, yes, Konnor, Madeline was my first love.”
Konnor considers this information for several seconds, hope flashing in his eyes. “Okay, so are you my dad? If Dustin isn’t my dad, are you? I mean are you my biological dad?”
Ben’s eyes close briefly, and when they open again, he shakes his head. “No, Konnor. I wish I was. You’re my son, but you’re not my blood. I’m sorry. I don’t know who is. She never told me.”