And the man who’d come for me … Dad told me I looked like Sean’s daughter who’d died and he was a grieving widow and father who’d mistaken me for his lost child.
I’d tried to feel sympathy, but I’d watched him beat and punch at my mum while she protected me with her body, so it was difficult to feel anything but anger toward him.
“What about him?”
“He … he had an affair with your birth mum. They were teachers together.” Mor’s face paled as I reared in shock. “He tried to take you after his wife and kid died because he thought you were actually his.”
A crushing sensation on my chest made me gasp for breath. I wasn’t an Adair? I wasn’t Dad’s?
“You aren’t his!” Mor reached for me. “Eilidh, I heard Dad tell Lewis he got a DNA test. You’re Dad’s.”
Relief tore through me so rapidly, the emotional roller coaster so swift and volatile, I burst into tears.
“Oh, Eils, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No,” I sobbed. “Y-you sh-should h-have.” But that wasn’t true. The person who should have told me was my father. Or fucking Lewis! They’d kept this from me. My birth mother cheated on my dad with the man who attempted to kidnap me as a wee girl!
Through my tears, I saw Mor crying. I reached for her, pulling her into my arms. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“I’m s-sorry.” She hiccupped.
Soothing a hand over her back, I pressed a kiss to her temple, my tears miraculously settling at the sight of my sister’s. “Don’t be. Don’t be, sweetie. I’m okay. Please don’t cry.”
“I’m going to get in so much trouble for telling you. For eavesdropping.”
“No, you won’t. I’m not going to tell anyone.” Resentment flickered through me. Toward my dad. My brother. I didn’t understand why Dad would tell Lewis and not me. Lewis wasn’t the one Sean had come after. Or the one Dad had to get a DNAtest for. Why would they hide this? “It’s our secret,” I promised her. “I won’t say a thing.”
At least not until I understood why they hadn’t trusted me with the truth.
Eleven
FYFE
Seven months ago
You know that feeling that hovers over you when something in your life isn’t right?
Like dread.
That sensation had knotted in my gut from the moment I left Eilidh’s flat in London two months ago. I knew I’d handled it badly, but I was taken aback by Eilidh’s continued silence.
It wasn’t like we’d slept together. It was a one-off kiss.
The memory of that night stuck with me. I remembered our conversation word for word.
“Ignore it,” Eilidh had whispered, reaching in to kiss me again.
It was too late.
I’d turned my head to look at my phone on the coffee table.
Lewis’s name was on the screen.
Fuck.
This was not just any woman pressed up against me. Whose clit pulsed beneath my thumb. This was Eilidh. To be protected at all costs Eilidh Adair. The sister of my best mate in the whole world.
She was off-limits in every way.
