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Leaning back in my chair, I wave a hand and gesture for them to step inside my office. “What brings you two here?”
“We know that Tate came to see you,” King says, taking a seat on the couch in the middle of my office. Of course, they’re here for her.
“It would’ve been nice if my brothers told me she’s alive and has been in contact with both of you,” I say, turning to face them.
“Yeah, well, it would’ve been nice if you could’ve told us that you had suspected she was alive all along. Yeah, she told us that you still had that fire investigated.” King rolls his eyes while Rowen looks at me in disgust.
“Why? If I had been wrong, the two of you would’ve been even more devastated. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure, so I wasn’t getting your hopes up,” I explain, standing.
“Don’t pretend you were trying to protect us,” Rowen says, joining King on the couch.
“Brothers, I promise, I was only trying to protect the two of you. If I had proof she was alive and knew where she was, I would’ve told you both immediately. That was my intention until I learned you both have been keeping secrets of your own.” I walk toward the bar cart and pour myself a tumbler of scotch. With my glass in hand, I walk over to them and sit in the chair across from where they are on the sofa.
“I think we can all agree that we’ve all been keeping our secrets,” King says, looking between Rowen and me.
I nod in agreement. “Yes, we have. We know what secrets do to people, and I think it’s time we come together and put an end to Colton and Sebastian. Fucking bastards.”
“Agreed. Colton Adamson must be stopped before he gets too close to Tate or Olivia,” King says with an eager nod.
I bring the glass to my lips and take a long sip. “By the way, Tate prefers ‘Lee’ now. She said she’s done hiding.” They nod in understanding. Thinking back to what they said, I raise an eyebrow. “Who’s Olivia?”
They give me a deer-in-headlights look, clearly surprised I’m not privy to the knowledge of who Olivia is. “If we’re going to be honest with each other from here on out, I need to know who Olivia is,” I say.
“Olivia is…Tate’s…” He corrects himself. “Lee’s daughter,” Rowen says. The taste of my scotch turns sour, and suddenly I can’t drink it anymore without risking vomiting it all over myself right now at the newest revelation.
Leaning forward, I set the glass on the coffee table. “Excuse me?”
“My butterfly had a baby when she was seventeen. She was pregnant when she set fire to the Adamson family home, and for the past ten years, a woman named Rachel Hollis has been raising Olivia.”
My head is spinning with this new revelation. My brothers seem to have much more fucking information than I do.
“Okay, start from the beginning. Tell me every fucking thing that the two of you know,” I say, adjusting myself in the chair, preparing to hear exactly how much they have been keeping from me.
Rowen tells me everything they’ve learned. He tells me about the photograph of Sebastian they received from the unknown fucker, who we now know is Colton Adamson, the son of a bitch who was supposed to have burned in that fire ten years ago.
He continues speaking, telling me about the second photo they received of Rachel and Olivia Hollis that led them to Rachel’s house with the plan to take her into their custody to use her to bait out Colton. He shares the details of how Lee went to his hotel room and made it known she was alive and how she had moved Olivia and Rachel to a safe house before he and King could return the next day.
Then King takes over the story, telling me about all the information they’ve discovered about the lost years we once wondered about. He tells me about Lee and how she went to him at the club and asked for help and how she told them the story of how Olivia came to have Rachel as a mother.
They fill in all the blanks, sharing everything about Lee. Things I never, in my wildest dreams, would’ve imagined.
Just when I think they’re done and couldn’t possibly blow my mind even more, Rowen tells me about Travis, who is actually Ace Jackson. He explains Ace faked his identity to work for us once he discovered we had our sights set on Lee.
Once their stories are over, I close my eyes, press my fingers to my temples, and begin massaging, rubbing away the headache I have.
“That’s it. That’s everything,” King says, clapping his hands together. “I know, it’s a lot to take in.”
“You have no fucking idea,” I groan, forcing my eyes to look at the two of them. “Since we’re being honest, I guess it’s my turn. I never stopped having Sebastian watched,” I admit. “You don’t need to listen to Colton and use him to get to Sebastian. I can have him brought into the city whenever we want him.”
They look at each other with wide eyes. “What the fuck, Eli? You know where the fuck he is? Why the fuck did you lie?” King growls.
“I wanted us to focus on finding the person responsible for setting fire to our businesses. I didn’t fucking know that person was Lee.” I shake my head, sighing. “He was here for a while looking for her after the fire but, of course, had had no leads. He hired a private investigator, who is now on our payroll.” I smile. “Colton sent Sebastian photos of Lee. I’m assuming it’s because he wanted him to know that she’d faked her death and framed him for murder. Sebastian is home, waiting for his PI to call him with Lee’s location.”
“That’s it? He’s home?” A look of confusion crosses King’s face. “Colton made it seem like he was hiding out somewhere.”
“Probably because he was trying to get you and Rowen to lead him to Rachel and Olivia. Do we know if he is the father or if his dad fathered Olivia?”
“Actually, yes. Malcolm called me this morning. He was able to find out something. Bill Adamson had a vasectomy after Colton was born because he and his wife, Willa, didn’t want any other biological children,” Rowen says. “Colton is Olivia’s father.”
