“Spit it out, D.” He’s killing me here, and I’m wound as tight as a ball of yarn.
“I don’t think our mother is dead, Abby. I think the bastard locked her up in Parkhurst and he’s been hiding her there the entire time.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Drew’s arms tighten around my back, and that’s the only reason I haven’t slumped to the floor. “What?” I blurt, sure my ears must be deceiving me. “Why?” I croak. “Why would he do that?”
“Think about it. She’s insurance. In case he loses control of us.”
My brain is grappling with a hundred different strings, and I can’t form words.
“Because if your mom is still alive,” Sawyer says, following his train of thought. “Then he is still in charge of Manning Motors. No shares will transfer to you when you turn eighteen if your mother is alive and they are still married.”
I turn it all over in my mind, because it’s confusing as fuck at the best of times. Mom’s shares in Manning Motors transfer to Drew and me on our eighteenth birthdays unless I’m married, and then, my shares automatically go to my husband, thanks to elite bullshit sexist rules. However, if I’m pregnant and I don’t marry my baby daddy, then the shares are forfeit and my father automatically retains them. Dad “marrying” me off to Charlie was supposed to seal the deal for him. Charlie has already signed a legal contract transferring those shares to my father upon my birthday. However, if my mother is still alive, then the bastard automatically still retains them.
I’m giving myself a headache trying to figure this all out.
Drew vigorously nods his head. “Exactly.”
“But why is he engaged to Patrice then?” I ask, emerging from the confusion in my mind.
“To look good in front of the council,” Drew says. “If he was in such a hurry to marry her, he would’ve set a datebeforethe vote, but they’ve set a date for the end of the year. I’d be surprised if that wedding ever goes ahead. She’s a means to an end right now. That’s all.”
“But if she is… if she’s alive, what’s he planning to do? It’s not like he can just roll her out after all this time? How would he explain it?”
“It wouldn’t be easy, because to the outside world, she is gone. But he can’t contest that will unless he brings her forward.”
“Do you think the council knows?”
He shakes his head. “The council doesn’t hold women in high regard, but Mom is the daughter of a founding father, and Dad is only in his position by virtue of marriage. If they discovered he faked her death, and locked her up without any real justification, they would not be pleased. But he’s clearly been planning this for years, and he needed a backup in case it went tits up. Which is why I think he’s kept her alive,” Drew explains.
“How is he getting away with that?” Sawyer asks.
Drew shrugs. “My best guess is she’s in there under a false name. That few, if any, know who she really is.”
“And no one gets visitors,” I confirm, because I didn’t see anyone getting visitors during my time there, and Wyatt mentioned how most of the patients are signed over and basically forgotten about.
“Oh my God.” Tears well in my eyes, and I clamp a hand over my mouth as the memory hits me full force.
“What is it?” Drew gently takes my wrist, pulling it away from my mouth. A chair scrapes behind me.
“I think you’re right.” My voice wobbles, and tears stream down my cheeks as Kai firmly lifts me out of my brother’s lap, holding me against his warm body. I fist my hand in his shirt, clinging to him, my heart beating ninety miles an hour. Resting the side of my head against Kai’s chest, I face my brother. “I think she came to me. When I was there.”
Shock splays across my brother’s face, and you could hear a pin drop in the room.
I swipe at the moisture under my eyes, lifting my head up, but keeping my arms wrapped around my husband. “I thought it was a dream,” I recall. “Because the bastard had just given me that letter—” I gulp over the painful lump in my throat, momentarily squeezing my eyes closed as remembered heartache assaults me. Kai runs his hand up and down my back, pressing soft kisses to the top of my head.
I box up my emotions and soldier on. “I was upset. I’d cried myself to sleep, and at some point during the night, she came to me.” I lock eyes with my twin. “You remember how I used to conjure her in my mind’s eye when she first passed? Whenever something sad or painful happened?” He nods. “It hasn’t happened for years, but I was so consumed in grief I thought it was my mind’s way of helping me cope.”
I shuck out of Kai’s hold, leaning down over my brother. “But what if it wasn’t? What if it was her? If she’d somehow snuck into my room?” I remember how real her touch felt, and hope swirls and churns in my gut. “And something else weird happened.” I cast my mind back. “Fuck. I’m such an idiot.” My eyes widen as I lean onto the arms of Drew’s chair. “There was an incident with some woman in the psych ward when I was going to breakfast one morning. Cryptic comments were made, and I had a gut instinct about it.” My stomach is throwing somersaults. “I think that was her, Drew.” Butterflies are going crazy in my chest. “I think you’re right.”
“If I am,” he says, a fresh layer of pain contorting his handsome face, “then we need to get her out of there before it’s too late. If Dad is elected president, and you turn eighteen, and he believes your shares are his—”
“Then he has no further need of her,” I say, finishing his sentence.
Heavy silence engulfs the room as everyone understands the enormity of what’s been left unsaid. If Mom is still alive, it may not be for much longer. Her life is at risk unless we get to her first. We need to act fast. “What were you planning in relation to the staff investigations?” I ask.
“I was hoping to find some dirt on someone and use it to blackmail him or her into talking or at least giving us access to the system so Xavier could search their records to see if she was there.”
