“Good.” Danica stepped back, taking her scent with her. “Find us a place where we can speak in private. We have sensitive things to discuss.”
What a time for the restaurant boss to finally show up. “For the record,” Alicia said before her boss could demand what was going on. “You’re not my fiancée.”
Danica coolly looked over her shoulder. “We’ll see about that.”
It was close enough to the end of her shift that, after a brief conversation between Danica and the restaurant owner, Alicia was allowed to leave early. She did not go with Danica, however. Instead, she grabbed her purse from her locker and motionedher into the small meeting room that was currently unoccupied. The bodyguard stayed outside the door.
“You’ve got five minutes.” Alicia pulled her hakama uniform off and stood in only her black T-shirt and dress pants. “Make them count, Danica.”
She opened her bag and pulled out a thin manila envelope. It landed on the table.
“You were right,” she said. “About everything.”
Alicia wetted her lips and crossed her arms. “You came here to apologize, huh?”
“I came here to offer some explanations and to have you answer some questions.”
“And to get back together. I swear to God, Danica, if you don’t even bother to…”
“Shush.” She held up her hand. Somehow, that was effective. “First things first, love.”
Fuck her. Fuck her for making Alicia crumble with that sweet phrase. For the first time in two weeks, her heart thawed. A little.
Danica opened the envelope and revealed a stack of photos and typed reports. “As much as I didn’t want to believe you back at the hospital, I had already suspected some foul play afoot in my family. I have always suspected. I was only stupid enough to believe that everything would continue to be fine if I didn’t look it in the eyes.”
Alicia steeled herself.
“First, I hired a private investigator to track down my mother. I should have done it long ago.” Danica picked up the top photograph. The highly magnified and deformed face of Julia Moreau inadvertently looked right into the camera lens. Her hair blew across her eyes and mouth, but the burn scars could not be shielded, no matter how much curly hair she grew. “You were right about her injuries. When I looked into it, I was mortified.”
“So?”
Danica showed her one of the typed reports. “After you were right about that, I tracked down the box you supposedly gave me. Ms. Clayborn had unpacked that suitcase for me. She swore she hadn’t looked at it, but the box mysteriously disappeared into a drawer I never use and certainly didn’t store any clothing in. When I got a hold of it… damnit, Alicia, I was so angry. You had met my mother more times than I have in my adult life. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“The things she was telling me? That wasn’t exactly something I could bring up with a woman I hardly knew.”
“We…”
“Danica,” she said softly. “Think of it from my end. I went out with you because you were hot and knew how to spoil me. Yes, I fell in love with you. Quickly. That didn’t stop all reason from living in my head. On the contrary. I spent a lot of time convincing myself that I was a fool for following you to Chicago. I quit my job to be your sex doll for a week.”
“I…”
“I didn’t know if that woman was crazy or even your real mother. I should have told you about it, yes, but it’s over now. What was in the box?”
“Her wedding ring from her marriage to my father.” Danica reached into her pocket. “A short note saying she loved me and hoped that I was happy. And this.” She pulled out a trinket. A tiny stuffed bear that barely covered Danica’s palm. “This used to be mine. I remember it. She must have included it to prove it was her.” She swallowed. “She had it all this time.”
Alicia looked away. “I’m sorry.”
“So if you were right about that, I wondered, what else were you right about?” Danica waved away any words Alicia wanted to interrupt with. “I did a full investigation into my own father. Do you know how I felt when I gave the order? Ashamed. I feltashamed. Let me tell you, Alicia, I am not a woman accustomed to feelingashamed.”
I bet you’re not.
“Nor am I a woman accustomed to feeling betrayed. Imagine my confusion when I discovered some mysterious payments my father had made over the years. This wasn’t including all the other shady bullshit he does.”
“What did you find?”
“I was able to track a single company over the years. This company showed up with the same amount of money owed. Innocuous enough, until I realized that this company had a charge every time someone my father disliked conveniently disappeared.”
“God, Danica…”
