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“Your age lines up with the birthdate of one of Martina’s three children.”
Meredith frowned. “Three children? Who’s the other? I only found Tina on the ancestry site.”
Kiana hesitated telling Meredith what she suspected. Like Swede said, she needed to wait until the DNA results were in. “Martina Akana had one more, two and a half years before you.”
“So, my last name isn’t Smith?” Meredith stared up at the lights on the ceiling. “It’s Akana.”
“And your birth name wasn’t Meredith.”
She turned toward Kiana. “No?”
Kiana’s lips twisted. “You were born Bobbi Jo Akana.”
Meredith seemed to chew on that announcement for a moment. “That means Robert Pearson, the other name linked to my DNA, was my father.”
“It appears that way. We have the man's phone number. He lives in California, is married, and has two children.”
“He’s alive?” Meredith shook her head. “All these years, I thought my parents were dead. Why else would I be abandoned as an infant?” She turned to Kiana. “Did you find Martina Akana? Is she alive?”
Kiana shook her head and winced as pain shot through her temple. “There’s no record of her current address or place of employment. It’s as if she disappeared after giving birth to Tina.”
“What about the other child? What was the name on the birth certificate?” Meredith fixed her gaze on Kiana.
Despite their dire predicament, Meredith was still eager to know everything about her blood relatives.
“Last name was Durbin. Her father was listed as a Samuel Durbin. Swede chased the name down to an airman stationed at Hickam at that time. He was transferred to Alaska when the child was two years old. He died in a traffic accident shortly after arriving in Alaska.” Kiana said.
“What was the baby’s name? I want to find her. I have two sisters.”
Kiana still hesitated, not wanting to get Meredith’s hopes up any more than her own.
“Tell her,” a voice said from across the room. “Tell her the name of the baby on that birth certificate. Martina’s oldest child.”
A tall man with salt-and-pepper gray hair, wearing a black polo shirt and tailored black slacks, entered the room with one hand in his pocket. “The child’s name was Kiana Samantha Durbin.”
Meredith’s frown deepened.
“Your friend, Kiana Williams, isn’t a Williams after all.” The man walked slowly toward them, his gaze intense. “She was born Kiana Durbin. She’s your half-sister.”
Meredith gasped, her gaze shooting to Kiana. “Is that true?”
“I won’t know until my DNA results come in.”
“Oh, they’re in. As of this morning,” the man said. “All her life, I thought my precious daughter was an only child. Her mother said she didn’t have any other children. I foolishly believed her.” He gave a brief, sharp bark of a laugh. “It wasn’t until Tina found a close relative through DNA testing that I thought to trace Martina Akana’s lineage. Imagine my surprise to find she’d had two other daughters before Tina.”
“Who are you?” Kiana asked. “And why are we being held hostage?”
“I’m a man with needs.” He turned his back and walked away. “When I married Ingrid, I knew I wanted children. My wife was on board. We tried many times and failed to conceive. After multiple fertility treatments, my wife and I were told we’d never be able to have children.” He shook his head.
While the man talked, Kiana worked at the Velcro straps holding her down. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break free of them. A captive audience to the insane man, she was forced to listen.
“As an only child,” her captor said, “I wanted a houseful of kids. I never thought I couldn’t, until...” he shrugged, “I couldn’t. I thought it was my wife; she thought it was me. Needless to say, it strained our relationship to the point she lives in New York City, and I live here. In all the years I’ve lived here, Ingrid has never come to Hawaii. I travel for business and otherwise manage my corporation remotely.” He turned to face Kiana and Meredith. “It suits us both.”
“As I said, I’m a man with needs.” The man’s eyes narrowed. “Twenty-three years ago, I met Martina, a beautiful Hawaiian woman, and took her to my bed for a one-night stand that changed my life forever.”
He turned and walked away again. “That one-night stand resulted in Martina Akana conceiving my child. When she came to me with the news, I accused her of lying. She insisted I was the only man she’d been with in years. I sent her away.
“Nine months later, she showed up at my door with a beautiful baby girl and insisted it was my child. She couldn’t afford to raise her. If I didn’t take her, she’d have to leave her in foster care. I told her that if a paternity test proved I was the baby’s father, I’d keep the child and raise her.”
