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Chapter
Thirty-One
LUCAS
THREE WEEKS LATER . . .
With my jaw clenched and my shoulders bunched tight, I glance around the table again, briefly taking in Sky’s similarities to my girl. Yet she does nothing for my cock, no one has but her. Sky’s the epitome of innocence and also dresses like she was born in the wrong era, whereas Tia dresses her age and has an attitude which rivals a teenager’s, one who gets my cock hard and makes the punishment all the more rewarding. Then I assess every O’Connell brother, apart from Bren. Con and Finn sit with their legs open, and chuckle like schoolboys at each other’s phones, while Oscar’s blue eyes are so calculating they appear darker than I know them to be. Cal sits as head of the family, his stressed demeanor evident with the dark circles below his eyes, tousled hair, and open-collared shirt.
One of the files resting beneath Oscar’s hand is my own, and when I handed over the information to him, it made me feel sick, but a part of me was glad to be rid of it. I’ve spent years of my life shrouded in a lair of darkness, waiting for the moment my happiness would be ripped from me.
As I straighten my shoulders, I glare at Oscar, a strange understanding between us.
He won’t dig any deeper than necessary. He doesn’t wish to witness the nightmares of a small boy and the way he obsessed over a girl always out of his reach, how he stalked her, watched her from her bed at night, while keeping her location a secret from his brother who he held so dear.
He won’t breathe a word about my searches of switching her birth control with pregnancy supplements, he will mention none of it. Because something tells me Oscar O’Connell is more like me than he likes to admit. He likes the control too.
“Is there an update?” Tia asks, pulling me from my visual debrief.
Sky’s face lights up. “He’s breathing without help, and the doctors are confident he can make a full recovery, it’s just going to take time.”
“How much time?” Cole sits forward, and his question garners the attention of all the brothers, each of them sitting forward in their seat as if ready to defend Bren. He scrubs a hand over his head. “It’s just, we have facilities at the gym he’s welcome to use, and I know some amazing physiotherapists you could have access to.”
Finn’s lip twitches at my brother’s insistence on helping. “You’re the fucking Chihuahua of the pack, aren’t you?” The toothpick in his mouth sits between his teeth as he smiles, and it appears sharklike.
Cole’s eyebrows shoot up and his head rears back, stunned at Finn’s analogy. “Huh?”
He plucks the toothpick from his mouth and points it toward Jace. “Rottweiler, angry and possessive, needs to be kept on a short lead”—he points it toward Cole—“Chihuahua, happy, attention seeking, desperate to make someone’s day.”
“You’re comparing us to dogs?” Cole’s eyes narrow.
“Yep.” Then he points the damn pick toward me. “Border collie, diligent, cunning, intelligent.” My lip curves at the side.
“I have a Chinese Crested dog, cute as shit,” Con declares, then scrolls through his phone as if he’s about to show us a photo.
“Enough.” Oscar’s voice cuts through the room. “Can we have a constructive conversation, then we can leave.”
Sky’s eyes dart toward his, and her cheeks turn red. “Oscar, don’t be rude. They’re only talking about their pets.” I’m about to open my mouth and correct her, but Oscar puts his hand up to stop me.
His eyes slice to hers. “My pet is at home where it belongs, with a collar around its neck.” His lip turns up as he scans her up and down. Then his cold gaze lands on Tia, making Jace bristle in response. “Now, if we can move on.”
I watch in curious satisfaction as Sky’s mind whirls over his words, she tilts her head to the side and the blank expression on her face is somewhat amusing. “Oscar, you don’t have a...”
Oscar shuffles papers on his desk, glances down at his tablet, then addresses me. “I’d like to give you all a summary of the recent turn of events.” He talks over her, not letting her question him on his lack of pet, and I can only imagine he’s referring to his wife, something I’m sure she’d have something to say about.
“Jesus, it’s as if he’s telling you the weather forecast,” Jace grumbles, and Finn grins in response. Something tells me they will get on well.
“My life, you mean? Mine and Sky’s, Lucas’s too,” Tia points out, her jaw tics, and Cole slowly entwines his hand with hers beneath the table.
Oscar sighs heavily. “Among other things. Yes.” He glares back at her, and she stares back just as hard.
“Just cut the shit and let’s get this over with,” Cal spits out.
Oscar clears his throat, grabs a sheet of paper, turns it toward us, then pushes it in our direction. A photo of two young girls stares back at us, and he points to the older-looking child. “Jenny Olska and her sister.” He taps on the toddler’s face. “Anastasia went missing from their foster family.” A lump forms in my throat at the realization that we’re looking at Tia and Sky. Tia licks her lips and steels her shoulders, while Sky’s bottom lip wobbles and her eyes fill with tears. “My research has shown me that somehow you were split, with Sky ending up in the compound, and Tia, you were adopted.”
Tia jolts. “I don’t remember that.”
Oscar nods. “Only for a short while, your adopted family paid good money for you, then you were placed back in care. My thoughts are you were too much trouble and more than they could handle. Either that or they wanted to look like a perfect family temporarily, and when they didn’t need you anymore, they got rid of you.”
