‘No killing.’
Mimi huffs.‘Daddy.’
‘Baby, you’re too little and killing is…’Wrong?Bad?Evil?‘Difficult.’
‘I wanna learn,’ she whispers honestly.‘Be like Daddy.’
‘You’d have to be strong,’ he tells her as they look out at all the clothes, the pink glittery walls, the life-sized checkout.Everything has a tag on it.A make-believe price.Racks and shelves and a little shopping cart nearby.‘Daddy would have to teach you a lot of new things.’
‘I wanna learn,’ she says again, more serious.
‘Whatever you want.’
‘Daddy,’ she says, tone indicating a change in subject.
‘Yeah, sweetie?’
She looks at him with those big, dark blue eyes, head tilted curiously.
‘Who is my Momma?’
?
Lachlan remembers what Blaire managed to pull from the archives about Mimi’s mother during her brief time as head of household.With Carrigan now in charge, he doubts he’d ever get near those records again, but one night in the kitchens, hidden by Zaitsev’s wraparound, he asks Blaire about it again.
‘I told you.Mimi’s mother was a surrogate Alistair Penhalyx paid to carry a child of his own seed to fruition and then sign over legally.’
‘That’s verbatim what you told me, yeah, but where did you learn that?’
‘The archives.’
‘What did it say?Whatwasit?A report?A legal document?’
‘Mind your tone,’ she warns.
They’re not on good terms still.
He sighs roughly.‘I’m asking you straight up.Pleaseanswerin kind.’
‘Do you know how careful I had to be?’
‘Just tell me.’
‘I saw Mimi’s birth certificate and the surrogacy agreement, nothing else.’
‘What was her name?The mother?’
‘Jane Doe.’
‘What else?’
‘I would have told you anything else.’
His expression sours somewhat.‘Would you?’
‘What doesthatmean?’
‘I want to see the documents.’
