Phoenix shifted his weight. “He’s not a threat to you anymore, but it’s not over yet.” I looked at him quizzically. “I’m afraid some of the things I have to tell you, things that he is responsible for, will hurt you. I damn sure know they hurt me, but once you know everything, that’s when it will be over.”
My body shook with silent sobs. Would I ever be able to live my life without Octavius hanging over my head? What else could there be? By threatening the love of my life and his family, he stole my life from me, held me prisoner, and made me give him a son, not to mention the other loss I solely blamed him for, my sweet, innocent baby girl.
“Hey, it’s not all bad. I was upset at first, really fucking upset, but it turned out to be a good thing. Before we get to that part, let’s start with something easy, yeah?” I nodded my agreement. That sounded like a great idea to me. “Okay, is Nathan really Octavius’s son, Nivan?”
I choked on a sob. “Yes, but not like you think and you can’t tell him, Nathan, I mean. He doesn’t know. He was too young to remember much. He thinks his dad was a Marine who died in combat.” My rambling stopped abruptly when I realized what I’d said.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
I had almost convinced myself that story was the truth and it rolled off my tongue easily.
“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter what you told him and he doesn’t have to know if you don’t want him to. I’m not here to disrupt his life. What did you mean by ‘not like you think’?”
A large part of me really wanted to tell him this and another part of me was utterly embarrassed. Bracing myself for his reaction, I heaved in a breath and blurted, “Nathan is Octavius’s biological son, but he wasn’t conceived in the way nature intended.” There, that wasn’t so bad.
Phoenix cocked his head to the side. “I’m not following you, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t have sex with Octavius to conceive Nathan. I agreed to give him a son, I did not agree to give him myself, so Nathan was conceived by in vitro fertilization. I’m sorry, but I refuse to refer to my son by that other ridiculous name. I would appreciate it if you did the same.”
Phoenix had the biggest smile on his face. “I can do that. Nathan it is.”
I shook my head. “You’re such a man. Unpuff your chest, you big bastard.”
Phoenix threw his head back and laughed. “I won’t apologize for being happy about that,” he said through his laughter.
I giggled. “Yeah, I was quite proud of myself for figuring out a way around it. Octavius was a stickler for deals and agreements. He had this hang-up about being true to your word. Once I pointed out the technicality, he didn’t argue with me. He only cared about having a son to inherit the...oh, is that why you’re here?”
Phoenix sat up straighter. “No. That is not why I am here. I am here for you.” He turned his body toward me. “You don’t know what it has been like for me. I came back and you were gone. I looked everywhere for you. I’ve never stopped looking for you. It was like one day there was an Annabelle Burnett and the next day there wasn’t. The best private investigators in the country couldn’t find you. Hell, I even had Luke trying to find you.”
“I can explain that. When Kathleen asked Luke to help me, he told her he didn’t want to know my real name. She drove me to the hospital and I was admitted as Jane Doe. Your doctor friend helped me sneak out the back of the hospital where an SUV was waiting. I got in, was flown across the country, and given a new identity. Luke never knew who I was,” I told him.
“You just saved him from one hell of an ass-kicking,” he said, completely serious.
“What about Nathan? I have a report for a Johnny Doe saying he arrived with you and was later found dead in his hospital bed.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “That must have been something Luke did to help cover our tracks. Kathleen carried Nathan into the hospital and held him in her lap like he was her son while I was admitted. Since she supposedly didn’t know me, there was no reason for her to stay with me. She left the hospital with Nathan and handed him over to an agent who was waiting down the road. Once he had Nathan, he drove to the back of the hospital and waited for me to be brought out.”
Phoenix nodded. “Yeah, it sounds like Luke did a pretty good job of covering your tracks. I did find a death certificate for Nivan in Octavius’s files, but it’s obviously fake. From what I could tell, he was never able to prove Johnny Doe was actually Nivan. Sorry, Nathan.”
“So, if Octavius is dead and everyone thought Nathan died years ago, who did inherit the farm?” I asked hesitantly. I didn’t think Octavius had any other living relatives and I was suddenly afraid that he did. Would I need to hide from them for the rest of my life, too?
Phoenix’s face fell and his posture went from relaxed to rigid. He gritted out, “I did.”
“What?” I shrieked, leaping off the bed.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “I recently found out my mother was married to Octavius’s father, Zayne, before she was married to the man I thought was my father. So, yeah, I’m actually Zayne’s firstborn son, the rightful inheritor of the dairy farm.”
“You’re Octavius’s brother?” I asked in disbelief.
“Half-brother biologically, but I don’t claim him or anyone in that family. I am a Black through and through.”
“Wait. You said the farm was raided and all operations were shut down. How did you inherit it if it was shut down?” I asked. I was so confused. It seemed like there was too much for my brain to keep up with.
“I should have said the illegal operations were shut down. The dairy farm itself was legit, but Octavius was using the land and other facilities on the property for numerous illegal activities. Gun running, drug distribution, loan sharking, kidnapping, human trafficking, the list goes on and on. I had no part in it and completely cooperated with the police during the investigation. Since I didn’t even know I had rights to the property, let alone what was going on out there, the property was deemed mine once the investigation was wrapped up,” he explained.
