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They had most certainly tangled before.
“Let her go.” Zoey snarled it at him, forcing her way between her unwanted brother and the younger woman. “Come on, sit. Syd, sit down. You should have stayed home.”
“Ok, maybe I should have. But I wasn’t about to let Pen nearhim.” She shot Slater a look of loathing. “Ever.”
Zoey kept herself between the two, fighting the urge to text Murdoch. To get reinforcements. “You can’t always protect everyone. No matter how hard you try. That’s a lesson I’ve learned recently myself.”
A look of pain—the emotional kind—crossed Sydney’s face. “But I can protect Pen fromhim. A part of your little sister still thinks this quest for birth siblings will have a happy ending, Zo. You and I know better. I wasn’t about to let Man Dog Davis hurt her. I justwasn’t.Even if it means seeing him again.Iknow what kind of man he is.”
Zoey wasn’t stupid.Thiswas the father of the baby Sydney had lost. She would bet a million on that. “So when his name come up in the search, you were behind providing that DNA sample, weren’t you?”
“It was definitely his. No chance of misidentification. I’d worn it that night after Slater here was finished using me like a handy box of Kleenex. When I ran out of his hotel room the next morning—after he kicked me out once he got what he wanted—I was still wearing it.” She shot Slater a look of disgust. “I know it’s against Blessed Reunions’ policy, but this was aspecialcase.”
“You got my DNA off my sweatshirt?” Slater trapped Sydney in the chair, almost leaning down in front of her.
“Look who just caught up.” Sydney leaned back away from him. “Can you please get out of my personal space here? I get a little edgy when man dogs get too close, you know. A lesson I learned back in January, actually. Should have heard him, Zo—delivered the lines perfectly. I bet he’d rehearsed them. Or…just…had used them so many times before.”
“So what in the hell do you two want from me now?”
“We’re tracking our…mother,” Zoey said bluntly. She wasn’t going to waste any more time with the Davis brothers than she already had. Not after the pain she could see on her friend’s face. “We need to know how she found your adoptive parents. If they would be willing to speak with us. And who helped her.”
“I don’t believe a damned word,” Slater said.
“No surprise. You wouldn’t recognizehonestyif it was in front of you.” Sydney said, pushing at his chest a bit. “Will youmove? You are polluting my environment here.”
“If you keep snarking at me—why in the hell should I help you now?” His eyes burned, when he looked down at Sydney.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Not that you’d ever recognizethateither.”
Zoey still saw the pain in Sydney’s eyes. The younger woman had gone through hell back in May, and she hadn’t told her family.
But Zoey knew. Had seen it firsthand. Held Sydney in her arms, after.
Zoey and Pen had been with her when it had happened. It had been enough to destroy Sydney’s dreams that day. No one had even known she was pregnant—other than Pen, Jo-Jo, and Grace. Who had guessed, but hadn’t said anything.
Zoey had driven her to the nearest hospital—in Dallas—herself. Stayed with her during everything. Helped take care of her after. “Sydney, you don’t have to stay here for this.”
“Nope. I made a deal with your sister. I don’t want her exposed to Slater. She deserves far better thanhimfor a brother.” Sydney shot him a snide look. “No offense.”
“She won’t be. I’ll make sure of it. Any of them. You should have told me you knew him. We would have handled things differently.”
Sydney shrugged again. But Zoey knew the hurt. It was there—if someone knew where to look. “I had to do this one for myself.”
“So what exactly is it you do?” Slater asked.
“Slater? I suggest you call your brothers and get them up here. I know you have questions. We have answers. And we need information…in return. Quickly.” Zoey didn’t want to drag this out any longer than they had to. For any of them—but especially Sydney.
“I swear, if the two of you are trying to con me, I’ll have your asses arrested.”
Her phone buzzed. She checked the text quickly. But she knew exactly who it was.
“Charlotte’s already found Murdoch and is bringing him to me. I am so not ready for Murdoch Lake in my life right now, Syd.” The words just came out before she remembered the stranger in their midst.
“Murdoch isreal, and honest, honorable, and trustworthy—someone a woman can be proud to be with. Unlike some.” Sydney shot the man still hovering in front of her a loathing look. Slater’s expression darkened even more. “He’s a man you can depend on. That’s worth more than all the money in the world.”
Sydney winced again, one hand rising to her injury.
Someone knocked on the door. It opened.
