Well, at least I have two allies.
“Are you okay?” Hunter asks softly. “Do you want to leave?”
Yes. Yes, I really fucking do, but I can’t.
“Drink this.” I pass him my water, ignoring his question.
He sighs at my sharp look, but drinks the water, finishing it in two gulps. Two more bottles slide across the table and we give the men a grateful smile.
“No. I’m not alright,” I whisper. “But I’m not leaving without answers.”
He gives me a long look and nods sharply. “Then give ‘em hell, baby.”
I release a slow breath and push to my feet, ignoring my shaking legs. A few people notice me, silencing their side conversations. It doesn’t take long for every head to turn my way. I feel Evelyn and Daniel’s attention riveted to my side, but I don’t look at them. I can’t. I’m too raw.
Instead, I turn to Madeline.
“You’re not my mother?” Because it never escaped me that she refused to answer me before.
She shakes her head, her delicate jaw tightening.
It feels like I’ve been kicked in the chest, but I shove the feeling down. Later. I can fall apart later.
“Are Miles and Char my birth parents?”
“Yes,” she confirms quietly. “When I arrived at their home, I was escorted into a secure office. Miles and Charlotte were terrified. Something had happened that had clearly spooked them enough to go to incredible lengths to keep you a secret.”
I swallow hard. At some point, I’d figured out the truth, but hearing it stated so plainly is an entirely different thing. It hurts in ways I didn’t think possible.
Parents.
I had parents.
And I watched them die.
Nausea swirls in my stomach, threatening to rise, but I choke it back just like I’m choking back everything else.
“You had no idea Aunty—” I squeeze my eyes shut. Fuck. Fuck! Not Aunt.Mom. “Char was pregnant?”
A hand presses against my back, and I know instinctively it’s Hunter’s. His solid warmth grounds me, giving me the strength to open my eyes.
Madeline gives me a sympathetic look. “I had no idea about your existence until that moment.”
“Why would they want to hide Ella?” Hunter asks. “And how did you help them? By pretending to be her birth mother?”
There’s a thread of uncertainty in his voice, as though he doesn’t believe Madeline. I understand his concern–the story is far-fetched. But from the childhood I can remember, there was always a level of secrecy. A feeling of deep-seated fear that never left our home. What would have my parents so afraid they’d choose to pretend to not be my parents at all?
“Yes, that’s exactly what they asked me to do,” she confirms. “I moved into their home and together, we concocted a cover story that easily explained away your existence. Charlotte had been having trouble with her pregnancy, so she’d already been keeping mostly to herself. When I suddenly showed up, pretending to be a single mom on my own, needing money and a place to live, it gave us the perfect cover.”
My throat burns with unshed tears, and I take a moment to breathe through the pain. If not for Hunter’s steady touch, my knees would probably buckle.
“I don’t understand,” he mutters. “Who the hell are Ella’s parents? Why would they need to go to such extreme lengths to hide her?”
Evelyn clears her throat delicately, drawing my attention.
“Your mother is an incredibly important and powerful woman, sweetheart,” she says gently. “And she was my best friend.”
Shock has me rocking back on my feet, and I drop into my chair. She gives me a sad look and wraps her hands around Daniel’s, resting it on the table between them. He weaves his fingers through hers and squeezes.
