Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I glare at Deacon. I don’t want to talk about my past. I just want to be protected in the here and now, but he’s got it all wrong.
“My mother got involved with a married man,” I say.
“So she’s the one sleeping with his father, not you?”
I shake my head. “My mother committed suicide many years ago because he couldn’t love her back.”
“Your father,” Deacon surmises. “Am I right?”
“Yes.” I glance down at my hands.
“Don’t do that, Ms. Maxwell.” I snap my eyes back up to him. “Don’t hold your head in shame for choices made that have nothing to do with you. I’m sorry for the loss of your mother, but those decisions were hers and hers alone.”
He types more on his computer, fingers working quickly even though his eyes are still locked on mine.
Hayden has told me just as much, but for some reason I feel like she’s been validated hearing it from someone else.
“He sent her hush money when she refused to have an abortion. That money has been deposited monthly ever since.”
“Hush money? I assume he’s married, has another family?”
“How did you know?”
“This happens more often than it ever should. Come in,” Deacons says when another soft knock hits his office door.
I glance over my shoulder, my eyes skating over Gaige who is just sitting in a chair in the corner observing.
“Have you met Wren Nelson?” Deacon asks as a cute guy walks in carrying a folder. “Wren, this is Parker Maxwell.”
He shakes my hand briefly before handing the folder over to his boss. It’s as if I’ve disappointed him somehow, and I’ve never met the man before today.
“Parker isn’t the only one getting monthly stipends,” Wren begins as if he’s been in the room the entire time. It makes me realize they were going to comb through my entire past whether I verbally disclosed that information or not.
“There’s more?” I ask, shocked, but somehow, honestly, not really surprised.
The man who fathered me has become the villain in my mind. Having more kids he’s hiding from his wife is actually one of the lesser evils I’ve imagined the man being part of.
“Weston Lewis has two current mistresses, and he’s supporting three others, including Ms. Maxwell.”
“I’m not his mistress.”
Wren’s eyes jerk down to mine and his demeanor changes. “My apologies. I only had a few minutes to scrape together the information.”
“Ms. Maxwell is Mr. Lew—Did you just say Weston Lewis? As in—”
“Alderman Lewis. Yes, that’s correct,” Wren so helpfully informs.
I want to crawl in a hole.
“But Aldermen don’t make… Wren—”
“Already on it,” Wren says, leaving me confused.
I get the feeling that they just managed an entire conversation in a few words, and I’m left staring, trying to figure out what just happened.
“Ms. Maxwell is Alderman Lewis’s daughter. Her mother, now deceased, had an affair with him.” I know Deacon is only trying to clear the air, prove to Wren that I’m not a homewrecker, but that shame he urged me to rid myself of has been building and festering for decades. It’s not just going to go away in the blink of an eye.
My cheeks heat, but at least Jude isn’t in here to hear all of this firsthand. I know these guys will probably discuss me after I’m gone, but at least that way I don’t have to suffer through it firsthand.
“I think the man who is so angry with me is my half-brother.”
“Weston Lewis, the third,” Wren supplies. “His info is in the folder as well. He recently discovered news of his father’s affairs. He was going to post about it on social media but decided against it.”
“How would you know that if he didn’t post it?” I ask.
“Sometimes it’s best not to ask questions,” Wren says with a small smile and a wink.
I blink up at him, getting a weird feeling like he knows some of my own secrets as well.
“I’m running checks on him, but I don’t have anything yet other than the basics.”
“Let me know what else you find,” Deacon says. Wren leaves as if he’s been dismissed.
“I’m going to have someone go home with you. Until we know more about Mr. Lewis, the third, I don’t feel comfortable sending you there alone. Looks like—” He looks up at Gaige Ward who hasn’t made a peep since introducing himself. “Is Brooks still—”
“Yes,” Gaige answers. “And Kit and I have that other thing.”
“Okay. That leaves Jude. I’m going to send Jude Morris home—”
“What?” I snap before I can stop myself. “No. He’s like a medic or something, right? I want—”
I snap my mouth closed when his eyebrow pops up in suspicion. I find the same look on Gaige’s face when I look his way, and it becomes very clear that I reacted a little too quickly.
“Do you have an issue with Mr. Morris? I didn’t know you knew him.”