“I get that you would want some kind of payback for what he did. But you almost ruined your company—and worse—to get back at him,” said Jax.
“You get nothing.” Alistair turned his chin, a muscle knotting in his jaw. The bitterness coating his dad’s voice was vicious. “I’ve had to scrabble to build the business up from the ground, step by gradual step, while Max Addlestone-Black collected onmybirthright with no effort at all. I don’t want payback. I want what’s rightfully mine. And I want them to suffer.”
Leah curled her fingers into the cuffs of her hoodie, hugging her body. She wished her head would stop banging. This was all way too much on one cup of coffee and a half-eaten piece of toast.
“Now you’re being silly.” Hazel was the one to answer first, though Leah noticed her voice wasn’t steady. She studied her old friend more intently, concern blooming in her chest. “You’re not owed anything at all, whatever the circumstances of your birth. None of us are.”
“You—” There was hostile dismissal in Alistair’s reply. “You stay out of this. You and Esther made your decisions and left me to deal with the consequences, so you have no say over what I do or don’t do now.”
Hazel narrowed her eyes, the clear blue of her irises flashing in the morning light and—oh my God!thought Leah. She sucked in a breath so swiftly it tickled the back of her nose. Then her gaze darted to Jackson. And to his dad.
The same eyes. How had she missed seeing it before? They all had the same brilliant blue eyes. Esther’s had been brown, Atherton’s too from the photos she’d seen.
And that letter she’d found from Hazel—
Are you absolutely sure? One hundred percent?
I have to ask again.
This isn’t like lending a purse or borrowing a book. This is a really big deal.
“Esther wasn’t your mother,” she murmured, turning back to Alistair again. “Hazel is.”
Chapter 51
Jackson
He’d never heard a silence so loud. A minute ticked by as if he hadn’t just had his legs taken out from underneath him yet again. Jackson’s head spun. “Dad? Hazel—”
“I think we definitely need refreshments for Round Two, if that’s what we’re doing.” When Hazel pushed to her feet, Leah grasped her fingers and they disappeared into the kitchen together.
Deflating like a shredded inner tube, his dad cradled his head in his hands, his mother beside him murmuring something low and comforting which Jackson didn’t catch. Handyman Stan rose to his feet, gave an enormous stretch, and began to wash his paws. Jackson fought for something to say. So many secrets kept and grudges held. What a fucking mare’s nest.
Leah and Hazel produced a small pot of tea and a coffee press, alongside a plate filled with cookies. Jackson reached gratefully for the mug Leah held out to him. He wanted to touch her fingers but they slid away.
“I think we’ve all had enough of half-truths and evasions,” Hazel began immediately. “Since it’s come to light now, it’s best to be clear.” She took a steadying breath. “On the night of Esther’s parents’ party, it was me Dickie followed and me he assaulted. I wasjust in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Jackson watched Leah slip her hand into Hazel’s and squeeze. “It was a terrible scandal. Esther spoke up loudly and furiously about what had happened. Dickie’s family were outraged at the slur. He told everyone it had been consensual. It was a bloodbath. When I found out I was pregnant, Esther and Atherton offered to bring up the baby. I was a mess and, however much I tried, I couldn’t uncover the maternal feelings I knew I should have. She, on the other hand, desperately wanted to get married and settle down. Rightly or wrongly, we all came to a decision.”
Alistair made a strangled noise which he drowned in another mouthful of coffee.
“Esther and Atherton loved your father without limits. They gave him the best childhood they could and I returned to my career.” When Hazel swung her gaze to his dad, her heart was in her eyes, her face bare of all her customary composure. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be a mother to you in the way you deserved but no one wanted you more than your parents. It was my fault they didn’t tell you the truth. I begged them not to and it was the biggest mistake of my life.”
His dad’s eyes were chips of ice. “You all lied to me. I had to find out about my birth from a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear.”
Jackson sifted through the labyrinth of jarring new facts and muddled old memories, his understanding of his family turned on its head. “So that’s why we stopped seeing them.”
When his father just stared at the mug in his hands, his mother stepped in. “It caused a massive rift. Once he knew the truth, your dad doubted everything he’d ever been told.”
Hazel flinched. “We should never have kept it from you—I made the wrong call. I wanted to protect you from knowing how it happened. I thought I was saving you from something awful but I made it so much worse.”
Her eyes were wet, her capable hands pressed tightly together. Jackson watched a tear slide over Leah’s cheekbone, saw her raise a shoulder to wipe it onto her hoodie as she knelt at the old lady’s feet.
“It explains so much.” He crossed to the living room window and gazed out at the front yard without seeing it. “Why we lost touch with Esther and Atherton. Why you hate the Addlestone-Blacks. Even why you were so desperate for Dom or me to follow you into the business.”
“You’re my family,” Alistair mumbled.
“I am.” Jackson closed his eyes. “You’d have thought you might have treated me better.”
Hazel stood up slowly and moved to his side. She slid a tentative arm around his waist; it felt like a bracing anchor in a storm. “Esther loved you so much. She was a far better mother and grandmother than I could have been in a thousand years.” She looked battered and drained, the bruised shadows of past burdens heavy beneath her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Jackson.”
