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Father was a doctor, after all. There were other reasons my mother would have a file, but I wouldn’t know for sure unless I opened it.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to do that, the dread forming inside me insurmountable. With trembling hands, I reached for the folder and pried it open, the wind knocked from my lungs as I pored through the pile of pages inside.
I counted five live births, three by IVF, two through natural means, although Father was not listed as the father. Each of the children had a different mutation, but none of them were rabbits.
And every one of them had been found new homes.
My vision blurred, I compared the ledger to the file folder, matching the babies in my mother’s file to the children in the ledger. And every one of the children had a monetary sum next to their listing.
No, no, no,I tried to reason.This doesn’t mean what I think it means. Was my father selling babies? No, it can’t mean that. The babies didn’t survive. I was there. Wasn’t I?
But what did I really remember?
I had been young when my mother had given birth to those children and lost them. I remembered her tears, her sadness, her grief. Had it been because my father had taken her babies and sold them?
Tears flooded my heart and soul, and confusion overwhelmed me as I tried to understand it all. Ash had warned me that my father had done bad things. Rachel had warned me. I’d seen what my father was capable of with my own eyes when he’d sent me to a demon as collateral. Why should I be surprised that this was his business?
Dizzy, I turned back to the table, reaching for the files to gather, but I didn’t know what to do with them. Even if I took them, who would care? Father had gotten away with it this long.
Still, I couldn’t look away. Here, on this table, was proof of my blood relatives, sisters who existed out there in the world, not buried in the ground like I’d always believed.
I had to take this to Ash. He would help me figure out what to do. He would help me find my sisters!
Fumbling with the papers, I gathered what I could, dropping half of them on the ground in my flustered state. I scrambled to the ground and collected the papers again, jumping to my feet as I heard the front door to the house open, my blood turning to ice water in my veins.
I froze in my place, looking around desperately for somewhere to hide, but it was too late. My father entered his office, shock etching his face.
“What are you doing in here, Briar?” he hissed.
And suddenly, every one of my fears was fully confirmed.
Chapter25
Ash
Rachel entered the inner office without knocking, and I raised my head to scowl at her.
“You’re getting a little too comfortable around here,” I barked, baring my teeth at her.
Everyone and everything was making me extra testy this past month, but Rachel remained steadfast in her commitment to irk me, despite my clearly dangerous mood.
“I need to talk to you.”
My frown deepened as I stared at her. “I’m busy.”
“This is important.”
She took a chair in front of my desk and sat, uninvited as my phone rang. Ignoring her, I snatched it up, noting her lips turned in at the corners.
“Hello, dear,” Avalon purred in my ear. “How are things?”
Avalon was no better an option to speak with than Rachel these days. In fact, there was no one I wanted to speak with at all—no one but Briar, and she was gone.
“What is it, Av?” I asked, glancing at Rachel.
“I wondered if you had worked out your fae issue yet?” the wizard asked. “It’s been a few weeks since we last chatted.”
“Don’t worry about what I’m doing,” I snapped. “And I don’t need you checking up on me.”
