“What?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I just… I started looking into disappearances and adoption agencies in the area. If you don’t look too closely, everything looks fine.”
“And when you do… look too closely?”
“There’s one that seems to have a higher-than-average infant adoption rate. And it just so happens that Beau’s wife manages it.”
Rage settled in my stomach along with absolute disgust. “You think Colter is helping Beau sell babies?”
“I mean, he basically said Cora could buy Elias. His own child. If he isthatdetached from his own flesh and blood, what would he do with someone else’s child?”
I looked at Thomas. “I don’t want Cora to know about this until we have more. It’ll just freak her out, make her worry, and until we have proof, there’s no point.”
Thomas nodded. “You got it. I’ll keep looking into it.”
For a moment, the steady rhythm of the swing was the only sound. Thomas cleared his throat, looked at me and smiled.
“What?” I suspected he had another comment about Cora and I getting married.
A grin crept onto his face. “So… how’d you sleep last night?”
I leaned my hip against the counter. “Same as always.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Really?”
I groaned, and my head fell back. He’d seen me on the couch with Cora. Fantastic. “We just slept. That’s all.”
“You kissed her.”
I jerked my gaze to his. “How did you know that?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t, but I do now.” He sighed. “Something is different about you, and your answer suddenly made it all make sense.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?” I pressed my fingers to my temples and massaged them.
“Well,Imight let it go, but your sister…”
“My sister?” My voice cracked. I was dead. Thomas might have given me a pass after a day or two, but Anna…
This time, his whole body shook with laughter. “Oh yeah. She woke up with heartburn, came down, and there you were.”
I ran a billion-dollar company, and the thought of my sister with this information was more terrifying than all of the black-market monsters I’d ever met. “Great.”
“You love her. She loves you. Grab your happiness and double-fist it, man.” He let out a breath as he paused. “I know you think what happened was your fault, but it wasn’t. It was my fault. I vetted those men. I told you they were good. You trusted me and I let you down. If you are going to blame anyone for what happened, it should be me. If you were anyone else, and we hadn’t been friends since we were kids, I’d probably be dead. Deservedly so. I nearly got you killed. Place the blame where it belongs. Me.”
“No. I run this family.” I poked the counter with my finger. “All of the responsibility falls on me. I won’t pass that to you. I should have told you to cut all of them. You wanted to, remember? But I was weak. I wanted to think these men I’d known for more than a decade wouldn’t betray me, and they did. It only took two and it nearly destroyed all of us because of my weakness.”
Thomas shook his head. “You’re my boss. More importantly, you’re my best friend. I pledged to keep you safe. To step in front of you?—”
“You did and nearly died.” He’d literally stepped in front of me and Cora. Yes, that was his job as my second, but he’d acted as more than that. “I think at some point, we move on. You’re still my best friend. I still trust you with my life. That’s never going to change. It wasn’t your fault. You bear no assignment of guilt from me. But me? I’m the head of this family. This organization, and I made the wrong call.”
He stood. “You should give yourself the same forgiveness you’re giving me. I failed you, Jay. The only reason I’m alive is because you’re a better man than either of our fathers.” He looked toward where Elias slept. “And that little boy deserves a father like you.” He picked up his tablet and strode off, calling back. “I’m going to keep looking into this. You don’t go anywhere without me.”
Elias began fussing before I could reply. I could smell him before I reached the swing. I unbuckled him and picked him up. “Little man, this formula is not agreeing with you.”
The one positive about Elias’s tummy problems was the visitation this evening with Colter. It would take place an hour after Elias ate. Colter would get a really good taste of fatherhood. It was taking place at the CPS office too. I’d had to bathe every time I changed him.
With a chuckle, I quickly took him upstairs and got him cleaned up, then fished my phone out of my pocket. After all the Chicago galas I’d attended, I had the numbers of some of the city’s best pediatricians. It wouldn’t hurt to ask them a few questions about his diet and the formula we were feeding him.
