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Perrie sighed yet again, taking a seat on the swing Zac had insisted I buy. She sat back, sinking into the soft fabric coating it, and swung gently, using one foot to control it.
“Last week, I got a call from someone I used to work with. Before Lola was born.” She flashed me a glance, but I pulled coal from the bag and started stacking it. “He wanted me to meet with him, so I did.”
“That didn’t strike you as weird at all?”
“Well…” She hesitated. “Fergus is a flamboyant gay, so no, not exactly.”
I snorted. “Fair enough. What happened?”
“He’d basically tricked me into meeting with his boss, Dahlia Lloyd.”
“I thought I recognized that name. The Scarlet Letter, right?”
“You know her?”
“We’re not friends, but we’ve met. Part of setting up our task force was familiarizing ourselves to the bar owners.” I lit the coal and turned to face her. “Carry on.”
“She’s dating my brother. She wanted to meet with me to see if there was a chance for reconciliation. I told her he was the reason we no longer had a relationship.” She chewed down on her lip, her teeth causing it to go white. “Long story short, she told me a whole bunch of stuff that made me rethink the way I feel about him.”
I leaned against the wall, waiting for her to continue. Emotion flitted across her face, as if she were trying to put it into line to be able to explain it to me. Like she had no idea how she felt about it herself.
“I’m so confused.” Her voice was soft. She dipped her chin, sending her gaze to the wooden boards of the porch floor. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. He’s my brother, but I hate him as much as I love him. Is that normal?”
After another glance toward the pool to confirm the kids were okay, I sat on one of the chairs opposite her. “I think so. I’m pretty lucky. I’ve never really fallen out with Amie. We’ve fought, but not to this point.” The question lingered on my tongue, until… “What happened between you?”
She sighed, leaning right back. The gentle swing of the seat stilled with the touch of her toe to the floor. She blinked, resting her hands on her lap, staring up at the top of the porch.
“I remember when I took the pregnancy test. I was two weeks late. I was terrified.” Voice still small, she was perfectly still as she spoke. “I told her dad before anyone else. Dennis was equal parts scared and excited. We weren’t exactly serious. It was a total accident. He took it pretty well, but he didn’t want to change his lifestyle there and then. I was young, dumb, and hopeful that he would change when she was born.
“I was wrong. Two weeks to the day after I told him we were having a baby, he got so drunk and high that he drove head-on into a tree. He died pretty much on impact. That was the day I knew I was alone and had to tell my father and brother I was pregnant.” She nibbled at the skin of the side of her thumb. “My so-called father responded by telling me I was stupid. That I was the biggest idiot and that he was thankful I didn’t have his blood because no way would his real child be so stupid.”
My fist clenched in anger.
“Never mind his real daughter was a druggie.” She snorted, looking at me. “He was determined I’d have an abortion. Nobody with the Fox name would have a bastard baby. I thought my brother would help me, but Damien agreed with him. That I was stupid. That I needed an abortion.”
“Fucking hell.”
“I stayed long enough to withdraw some serious cash from my account and secure a rental. Soon after I left, I had to move into the house I live in now because Benedict blocked my accounts. My mom had left a percentage of the business to me before she committed suicide, but Benedict managed to cut me off completely.”
That made so much fucking sense. Why she was a Fox without money. Why she’d done what she did to make it. She’d been backed into a corner by the people who should have loved and protected her before all else.
Anger.
I was angry.
I was disgusted and frustrated and angry on her behalf. How dare they treat her that way? How fucking dare they tell her to kill her baby and cut her off from the only thing she’d ever known?
I didn’t know why she was adopted. I didn’t know what had brought her into the Fox family except that Benedict wasn’t her father—and that was explanatory in itself—but it didn’t answer all the questions.
And I didn’t fucking care. Not for a goddamn second.
