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“Marlowe and I still can’t quite believe you’re here. But I can see it. I can so see it.”
“See what?” Nova asked.
“The resemblance. It’s like I’m looking at my brother. A far more beautiful and feminine version of my brother,” Ainsley said with a wry smile, “but I can see Ace.”
She didn’t miss the fact that Ainsley still referred to Ace as her brother, and she gave Nova the courage she needed to press on. “I’m sure it’s been hard on all of you, to have him missing and your father in a coma.”
“You have no idea,” Marlowe said, setting drinks down on the coffee table. “Our brother has always played oldest when it suited him, taking the quiet and stoic route when he needed to, but this is new, even for Ace.”
“He’s been through a lot, Marlowe.” Ainsley reached for one of the iced teas on the coffee table. “Finding out about his birth the way that he did. The way we all did.”
Although he had been quiet up until then, allowing the sisters to direct the conversation, Nikolas finally spoke. “How did he take the news?”
“It was difficult, of course. To spend your whole life thinking one thing, and then find out that you were someone else. And all from an email, no less. But we told him.” Marlowe looked at her sister before shifting her attention back to Nikolas. “We told him that it changes nothing in our eyes.”
“Sweetheart, we talked about this,” Bowie interjected. “Your feelings may not change, but it’s still a lot for Ace to go through.”
“I know. I just wish—” Marlowe broke off. “There’s so much happening. So much good. Reed’s arrival. Our engagement. Ainsley and Santiago getting together. All the siblings, really, finding their place. Finding love. I’m just sorry he’s missing out.”
Although it was obvious the discovery of his birth had shaken Ace, Nova had to wonder if there was a little more to it. To Marlowe’s point, things were changing in the Colton family. Relationships, new babies. It was a lot of change—albeit wonderful change—but to add that on top of your own personal confusion must be difficult.
Nikolas handed her one of the sparkling waters that Marlowe had set down on the coffee table. It was a simple gesture but it was enough to break some of the cool tension that had existed between them since his comments at his kitchen table.
“Thank you.”
Nikolas didn’t say anything, just nodded, but she had the feeling he understood some of what she was thinking. “Marlowe, you said earlier that there was more to Ace’s story. I’m ready to hear it. All of it.”
“You didn’t tell her?” Ainsley asked Marlowe.
“We covered a lot of ground earlier.” Marlowe smiled at her sister before shooting a supportive glance toward Nova. “I didn’t want to bombard the poor woman with too much.”
Nova appreciated that subtle support and decided right there on the spot that Marlowe would have been the perfect older aunt. Able to keep a confidence and more than willing to cover for her if she’d missed curfew. The added wink Bowie shot her from where he sat beside Marlowe only sealed her fast-growing affection for the pair. “I think I’m ready to hear the rest now.”
“I think we left off after the email and the paternity test.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Nova braced herself for whatever might be coming next, well aware nothing had been normal up ’til now.
“Our cousin, Spencer, is a sergeant with the MVPD,” Ainsley began. “He’s been working the case professionally but that hasn’t stopped the rest of us from looking into things. Both Marlowe and I have been focused at work trying to uncover where the email might’ve come from.”
“Did you find anything?” Nova asked, realizing they’d left the subject of the email open-ended earlier at Marlowe’s condo.
“Eventually. It took a bit of digging but Colton Oil keeps some great people on staff in our IT department.”
“Darling, we can discuss the merits of IT work later. I think Nova wants to know what’s going on,” Santiago Morales said, his rich voice soft with both love and pointed affection to keep Ainsley on track.
Ainsley leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before pressing on. “Of course. So we ultimately did trace the email.”
“Who did it?” Nova asked, aware that hacked emails and anonymous tips took this whole situation up a notch.
Ainsley nodded. “IT traced it to a dark web account. The sender is some guy by the name of Harley Watts. Spencer has him in custody but he won’t talk.”
Dark web. Jail. Secrets, lies and subterfuge. Nova’s head spun at the idea of it all. What was really going on here?
Marlowe picked up the thread from Ainsley. “Since my father’s shooting, there’s been a tremendous amount of pressure on Ace. The question of whether or not he’ll be able to ascend to the CEO role. The questions around his kidnapping at birth. And then of course my father’s shooting and
subsequent coma.”
“A lot for anyone to take in,” Nova said. And it would be, but from what the sisters said, there was way more that had happened since those horrible days back in January.
