AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you believe him?” Maia asked so quietly I barely heard her above the breeze rustling through the branches above us.
“Yes.” I hated to admit it, as I shoved my hands in my pockets, feeling agitated. “I only have a few early memories, but they’re all in white rooms. I just assumed we’d lived in a really white house.”
I laughed, but there was no humor in my voice. It sounded harsh even to my own ears. “My best memories are all of you, Mai Mai, and they came later.”
“And Ben?” Damon asked, sounding tentative, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.
“Not our biological brother,” Maia answered him flatly. “Or anyone special. He was the son of our hired parents.”
She actually seemed relieved by that, but then her face shattered again. “All this time I’ve loved gramps and mourned him and he wasn’t even my gramps. I didn’t even know his real name. I know your experience was different, Sam, but I always believed he loved me.”
I moved past my own mates and dropped in front of Maia. Her mates finally shifted to make room for me and I felt mine closing in as well, until we’d huddled in one group again, nothing dividing us. A family.
“He did, Mai Mai. Can’t you feel that in his letter? Everything he did was to protect you, and me, in his own way. He left everything behind, gave up everything, and lived his life in the shadows for us. He loved us both, and that’s more important than blood.”
“Who was he really?” Max asked gently.
“His name was Frank Gascombe.”
“The tech billionaire who died mysteriously in that big car crash, with two unknown kids in the car?” Dave asked from behind me. He sounded incredulous. I just nodded sadly.
“Holy shit, when you said he gave up everything, you really meant it,” Hunter chuckled, but he sounded slightly dazed.
“No wonder he could keep you guys and the Network under the radar. He invented half the tech we use today.” Max looked back towards the cabin to the device we’d brought back with us, wonder in his eyes. I could tell he was itching to unravel its secrets.
“He was actually a lot like you Max, from what I read in a biography once,” Dave said quietly. “He grew up poor on a farm and went into the military to get an education. Had an insatiable curiosity about how things worked.”
Max looked sad at that. “I wish I could have met him, not just to pick his brain, but because he loved you guys.”
Maia reached up and squeezed Max’s hand.
“You said he wasn’t one of your biological fathers,” Dio probed gently while he rested his hand on my neck, anchoring me, like he always did. “Did he say who was?”
I took a deep breath and looked at Maia. She gave me a brief, jerky, nod.
“Gramps claims Ronan and Sirena’s dad is Maia’s biological father.” There were shocked gasps all around us.
“Holy shitballs. That means Sirena is your half sister,” Lexie blurted out.
“Yeah, and that fuckhead trying to dominate and claim her as his toy was her half brother,” Damon ground out, sounding like he wanted to kill him all over again.
I felt ill at the thought of what Maia had gone through, and to find out Ronan had been her half brother the whole time. It paled in comparison to what Ben had done to her, and that had devastated her.
“Do you think Ronan knew?” Dave asked, watching Maia as carefully as he was me.
I gave a lazy shrug. “Does it matter now?”
“Not to me,” Maia answered, sounding resolute. The color was coming back to her face, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I had been worried this news would destroy her, but I underestimated her. She survived the Palace and came out stronger. She would survive this, too.
“Do you think her father knew?” Leif asked. Everyone was quiet for a moment.
“I can’t be sure, but I don’t think he knew when she was there,” Pala said. “Ronan was running the Palace operation and reporting to his dad. From what I saw, there was a lot Ronan wasn’t telling him.”
“If he didn’t then, he’s put it together now. Otherwise, why would he have been at your gramps’ house with my dad?” Damon said.
I had no answers for him right now, but I had a feeling we were going to find out.
“What about your biological father, Sam?” Dio pressed, knowing there was more. He had always known me so well. Lexie’s grip on my shoulders, where she was hugging me from the side, tightened.
