Jude could see how lost Angela felt at the news and wished he could do something to help her. She called to the part of him that made him so good at his job. His desire to protect. He wanted to shield her from the pain this revelation was causing her, but there was nothing he could do. She needed to have this information.
“We believe that they used the money to establish their homestead,” Jude continued. “By staying off the grid and isolating them and you, they made it difficult for us to trace them.”
Angela shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. "All these years… I thought no one wanted me. That I should be grateful that Jim and Sandra took me in."
"That's what they wanted you to believe," Jude said, his voice softening. "It made you easier to control." Jude hesitated, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Would you like to see some photos? Of your family?"
Angela stared at him for a long moment, then nodded slowly.
Jude opened an album of images Duncan had sent him and passed the phone to her. "That's your father, Duncan Burke. Your twin sister, Annie. Your brother, Julian. Your stepmother, Elizabeth, and your half-brother, Benjamin.”
“And my birth mother?” Angela asked as she stared down at the phone.
“She left your dad when Annie was around five years old.” Jude hesitated to reveal more. It wasn’t his place to give those details, but Angela deserved to know at least a little about the woman who had given birth to her. “She had a hard time with the fact that they hadn’t been able to find you. Jill will be very happy to hear that you’re alive and well.”
Jude wasn’t sure how that reunion would go, but really, at the end of the day, all that mattered was getting her back to the safety of Duncan’s estate.
That was his job. And even though he felt emotionally invested in what was happening with Angela, his only responsibilities were to secure her safety and get her back to her family.
CHAPTER FIVE
Angela looked around the small bedroom, a knot of sadness in her stomach. This had been the first place she had been able to truly call home. A place that had offered her safety and security.
It may have been small and a bit dingy, but it had been theirs. She and Kiara had made some happy memories there, even though they’d lived there only a month. And during that time, they’d added little touches to make it their own.
But now, it was back to just being a dingy basement apartment. They’d taken down all the things that had made the space their own.
It was hard to think about leaving it all behind, even though that was what they’d been hoping to do one day. Now that the day was upon her, Angela felt sad and more than a little anxious about leaving it all behind.
She pressed her hands against her stomach and blew out a breath, glancing up as Kiara came into the room.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
“No.” Angela sank down onto the twin bed that had been hers while they lived there. “I’m worried.”
“Everything is going to be fine,” Kiara said as she sat down next to her.
Angela wasn’t so sure about that. Everything was rushing at her like a tsunami, threatening to overwhelm her. To drown her.
In the couple of days since the meeting with Jude at the library, everything had changed. Even before the preliminary DNA results came in, plans were underway for her and Kiara to depart Briar Hollow.
At Jude’s insistence, they weren’t telling anyone about their plans to leave. He’d told them that he’d make sure that their landlady was compensated for them vacating the premises so abruptly.
Angela had written out a letter to Ida, letting her know the basics of their sudden departure, but not going into detail. She was going to miss the spritely older lady.
Kiara felt bad about leaving the library and the gas station in a lurch, but Angela wasn’t as concerned about the bakery. While she’d enjoyed the work, she hadn’t enjoyed working for Patty.
The woman had been demanding, forcing her to work long hours for more days in a row than she should have. But Angela had put up with it because there weren’t a lot of job options around the area. And she didn’t exactly have any other skills to fall back on.
Patty had been the baker before she’d hired her, so as far as Angela was concerned, she could do it again.
“Jude said he’d be here at seven, so we need to have everything ready.”
Angela looked at her phone.
6:55
Just five short minutes until she left everything familiar behind. Again. Her stomach quivered with nerves.
