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Momma looks at Antonio and he nods, giving her a look that is filled with encouragement and support.
“Your father was a US Senator,” she says gently, while turning back to me. “But Elmhurst’s power is irrefutable. It has helped shape this nation, right down to the very rights we have over our bodies. And The Davenport Trust has more access and control over the nation’s food chain today, than any other group in the country. If it wanted to, Elmhurst could bring the country to its knees with a food shortage that would send the nation into turmoil. That is the kind of power Richardson wanted.”
I can’t believe this. Elmhurst isn’t a birthright. It’s a curse. One with the kind of power that plays a part in how this country is run and operates. And that ball was a message.
“I knew I recognized some of those men that night of the ball. They were Daddy’s colleagues from DC. Royce’s father was sending a message that he was in charge because he planned to be. That’s what Courney meant when she came to see me that night Royce attacked me. She said I’d have to choose or wind up on a flier like those missing girls. And those pearls,” I look at Cruz, his words that night, echoing in my mind. “They weren’t a symbol of Royce’s intentions. They were a collar.”
Momma looks up at me, eyes filled with rage. “She saidwhat?”
“Choose Royce,” I let out a wry laugh. “She told me to choose Royce. But Royce never wanted me to choose. He wanted me pregnant.“
Momma shakes her head and looks at Antonio then back at me. “I don’t understand…”
“Royce and his father had their own game, Momma. They wanted an heir, and now I know why. It wasn’t because of the Butler name. It was because they knew who I was. Having a child with me, would give them access to the heir that wouldhave majority shares and control of The Trust. And he and those asshole friends of his have been spying on me for lord knows how long to try and make that happen.”
“No.” She shakes her head forcefully. “They don’t know. From what I have been able to find out—”
“All of them may not know,” I cut her off, “but they were certainly trying to help Royce bag me. They put a camera in my bedroom at the beach house and had access to my birth control pills. Royce attacked me when he did because he knew the time was right for him to try to get what he wanted.”
“What!” Cruz is the one to now push up from the table. “He filmed you and played with your pills?”
I whip my head in his direction and can see the fury in his eyes at the thought of anyone watching me.
But then like a record scratching, another thought hits me. Shit. My pills. Had Courtney looked at my pills that day of the party, so she could tell Royce when I would be most fertile? Or did she play with them? Was I not on them all this time?
Cruz and I stare at one another and I know we’re both thinking the same thing. That night in the kitchen, the morning after when he said he loved me, and every day since… We haven’t been careful. Not in the slightest. Screw the fact Royce wanted to get me pregnant. Cruz and I have had more than enough sex to all but ensure I could be.
Shit. That’s all I needed.
My head starts spinning with that possibility, as well as the realization that everything I have ever believed has been a lie. And yet, strangely, there is a poetic truth to it all.
The world I had been born into, I never felt like I belonged, because I didn’t. I belonged here, in Cherry Cove—where the Davenport’s began. That’s why the beach and the boardwalk, even Jenica, felt like home, because in a way they were. This place was in my blood. I was a part of it, and it was a part of me.
The last of the puzzle pieces locks into place as it hits me—it was all about me, all this time. Daddy’s death and the falsified autopsy report. That autopsy for Jane Doe in the Medical Examiner’s office back in Elmhurst. I bet there were autopsies for the other four missing girls from Cherry Cove in the files, too. I just happened to find the newest one. Caleb’s sister.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I swallow, as my ears ring with the truth. “Why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me the truth?”
“Because Reginaldwasyour father in every way that mattered. He adored you, and you him. The truth would have only hurt you both and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but he did get hurt.”
My father may have protected me, but it got him killed and it got those five girls killed. When the devil came looking for me, he sent it in another direction, only to have him return and knock on my father’s door.
“Did Daddy ever promise me to Royce?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
“Never,” Momma confirms. “Your father never wanted this life for you. He wanted you to have a life that was yours.”
“And all I wanted to do was clear his name.”
“What do you mean?” Momma asks, eyes shining with tears.
“That is what I have been doing this summer. That’s why I wanted to come here and not Europe. I was trying to find out who was behind the campaign to ruin his legacy. But you suspected Royce’s father all along, didn’t you?”
Antonio gets up from the chair and makes his way over to Momma, placing both hands on her shoulders.
“Your mother suspected he was behind it and we have been doing all we can to search for proof. But she didn’t want you involved.”
I cross my arms and turn to the window, mind racing, hearthollow. But when Cruz comes over and puts both hands on my shoulders just like his dad is doing to Momma, it sends tears spilling down my cheeks.
