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“I know everything,” he stated as he walked forward, the pure menace on his face making me take a few steps back until my back was against the table. “Now, are you going to tell me the truth or keep lying to my face?”
Shit, shit, shit. This was going from bad to worse very, very quickly. “Okay, fine. You caught me. He’s adopted.”
“No.” He shook his head at me and then took another step forward. “Try again.”
His eyes told me that I was caught, and he wasn’t going to let go of this until I gave him the unadulterated truth.
My heart and brain were rioting. This was the secret I thought I’d take to my grave. After we found out my sister was pregnant, it was a no-brainer. She ran to us, begging us for help, begging us not to tell her husband where she was. And we obliged. The story she painted was one of neglect, and my dad suspected Zane had abused her as well, although there were no marks on her body. What was definitely for sure was that Kelly was sure Zane would harm the baby if he ever found out about it.
All of which made me more disgusted with myself for sleeping with him, but that was neither here nor there.
After she’d given birth, her postpartum depression kicked in and made her even more paranoid. Nothing could make her happy, and then, after that, she started insisting she needed to go back to Zane, that he needed her. One day we came back home to find her gone. I’d called her to no avail, but then she called me from Zane’s phone. Or maybe Zane called me himself. Either way, I heard the argument in the background, where she told him she would kill herself, and he told her to go ahead and do it before walking away.
Maybe he thought she was bluffing, or maybe he just didn’t give a damn.
But then she threw herself off the top floor of a ten-story building. The whole time, I was yelling at her not to do it.
I won’t lie. We all fell into a pretty dark hole at that time. I told my dad what I thought had happened, and that was when he had his first heart attack. He’d clutched his chest and fallen to the floor, gasping for air. My mother had wept more silently, sinking onto the floor. I couldn’t even focus on my grief because I had to rush Dad to the hospital and get Mom situated too. The two of them were nearly catatonic for weeks after, and the only thing that kept me going was Casey. Knowing we had to take care of him, to raise him.
That was the only thing that helped my parents survive it too.
I’d agreed with them to never tell Zane about his child. There had to be a reason Kelly thought Zane would harm the child. Maybe he really was abusive. I knew for a fact that he was cold, and I didn’t want him to be cold to Casey the way he was to Casey’s mother, my sister. I wanted Casey to grow up loved by those around him. I wanted a better life for him than what his father could give him.
Zane didn’t even bother staying at my sister’s funeral for more than five minutes before he left.
I stared into his dark eyes now and tried to think of something else to say, anything that could resolve this problem. A lie that could overpower the truth.
I wanted Casey to be something Zane Kazan couldn’t taint.
And now he capitalized on my silence, moving forward. “Do you want me to get a DNA sample and have it checked then?” he asked, and his voice was even lower, even more threatening. “Because you know I fucking will if you don’t tell me the truth.”
“You can’t do that,“ I said, even though I had no idea. He could very well be within his rights to order a paternity test. Especially since, on official documents, Casey was still listed as my sister’s son. Shit. I couldn’t stop him from figuring out the truth.
“What do you want?” My voice trembled, and I swallowed. Fear became a real emotion swelling in me. And guilt. Casey’s world was about to fall apart, and it was all my fault. ”What do you want from us?”
“The truth. Who is that kid?”
“He’s Kelly’s son. Is that what you want to hear?”
The tension went up, not down, with the admission. But Zane was still not satisfied. He took another step closer, and I couldn’t help but notice his gaze dropping to my lips for just a second. Despite the tension in the room, or maybe because of it, it brought back to my mind the same thoughts of how he kissed me.
Now, his lips pressed together as he asked, “Kelly’s son? You mean my son.”
The moment of reckoning. I didn’t admit it, but I knew he could see the truth in my eyes.
“Hold on,” I said. “Let me explain.”
His body was ramrod stiff, his eyes cold and glacial as he looked at me. It wasn’t a glare. There was no fire in it. Just ice, the kind that could completely shrivel up your soul.
His fingers clenched into fists, and for a split second, I thought he would hit me. I wanted to brace myself against something, especially since it would probably hurt a lot. I remembered what my father said about the abuse. Maybe he was right.
He raised his hand, and I flinched. Then, everything stopped.
Hardness pinched his features, and he stepped back.
I wondered if he would immediately start cutting me down with words. It wouldn’t be hard. I was pretty sensitive internally. I waited for it, but instead, he did the unexpected. He turned around and walked away.
I didn’t see Zane for the rest of the day. Or week. Keith said he walked out and had not been to the store since, but he was planning a full overhaul. Also, he ordered Keith to give me the next three days off until my ankle was healed.
