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I threw up my hands. “Enough with the theatrics, Ryk, just spit it out.”
Ryker was seated beside me and he hung his head before looking up at me.
“It looks like your dad attacked Mary Miller ten years ago and Eric is the result. He’s the reason they ran like they did and now he’s blackmailing Lottie that if she doesn’t help him get re-instated as CEO of Kennedy, he’s going to file for custody of Eric.”
It feels like all the air has been sucked out of the room; a buzzing sounds in my ears, and nausea swirls violently in my belly. I can see Ryker’s lips moving but the sound is muffled. He moves and grasps my neck, shoving my head between my knees and I suck in large gulps of oxygen until the buzzing recedes and I can focus on what he said, not what my body was doing.
His hand shoved a glass with amber liquid at me and I shake my head. “No.” I sit up, my shock still holding me captive but my brain knows I need air, not more booze.
I get up and move to the terrace, sucking in the fresh, cool evening air. How had I not known that the man who sired me was so evil? Why hadn’t Lottie told me any of this? I thought back to how I’d been at the start. How cold and closed off, how I’d treated her, and I had my answer.
My beautiful Lottie was alone against the world with my brother. The thought almost takes the wind out of my sails and I have to brace my hands against my knees. To think I had a baby brother. A sweet innocent boy who’s done nothing in this world except exist and the only person fighting for him was the woman who had my heart, body, and soul.
I felt a presence at my side and turned to see Ryker looking out over the city we’d made our own. “Did it say anything else?”
“It looks like Mary wasn’t the only one. The NDAs suggest there were similar things and Hudson has his guy chasing leads too. It also mentioned he’d advised his client to talk to you about it.”
“When was this?” Ryker looked uncomfortable and I knew. “The night I fucked it up.”
His nod was short.
“Fuck.” I banged my palm against my head. “So, she was preparing to bare her soul and tell me everything to try and protect me, and I was ripping her heart to shreds because I was a pathetic schoolboy with jealousy issues.”
Ryker stayed silent and I don’t blame him.
“I need to see her, to apologize.”
“I didn’t find out where she was living. Hudson keeps meticulous case notes but her whereabouts isn’t one of them.”
He pauses and I can sense he was hiding something.
“Audrey saw her.”
I round on him, my voice a growl. “What?”
Ryker held his hands up. “Don’t come at me. She saw her in a park downtown near the school Eric goes to.”
“And nobody thought to tell me?”
“What would you have done apart from flying over there and making shit worse? Plus, Audrey promised her she wouldn’t tell you.”
I respected that my cousin hadn’t broken Lottie’s confidence, God knew she needed people she could trust, and I wasn’t in that camp right now, but God, I wanted to be. I needed to make this right. “Call Audrey and get her over here.”
I wait on the terrace as Ryker makes the call. It isn’t long before my phone alerts me I have another visitor.
I accost Audrey the second she walks into my apartment. “What did she say?”
Audrey throws her bag on the couch and walks to the bar area and pours herself a drink. That can’t be a good sign. I run my hand through my hair, catching a glare pass between her and Ryker.
“You broke her, Lincoln.”
My belly clenches at her words and the accusing look. Audrey is angry with me and rightly so. “How did she look?”
“She’s lost weight, her hair was a mess, she was pale and gaunt.” She took a gulp of her drink and shook her head. “And sad, so very sad, and convinced you never loved her. And I have to say she makes a good argument.”
I sink into the couch, my legs heavy. “Did you ask her about what my father said to her?”
“No, but when I mentioned him she clammed up and pretty much brought the conversation to a close.”
