“If you thought you’d get to Blair through him, I don’t think you will,’’ the blonde girl admits, something akin to sympathy in her voice. It’s gone before I can truly start to question it, the stoicism back on her face. “He doesn’t care about her. He sees her as a mistake, a liability.’’
Anger slowly resurfaces, and I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder. I don’t have to look up to know that it’s Mom. She squeezes my shoulder lightly, and I exhale a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
“That doesn’t explain why he’d be back in business with the rest of them, though,’’ Mom says, her voice flat. Yet, despite that, the way her hand slightly trembles tells me everything I need to know. Mom grew to adore Blair, and she treated her as if she were her own. This is painful for her, too.
“No, it does explain it.” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. My mind’s been going into overdrive, and all of a sudden, it all started to make sense. Ever since Dad and I spotted Alexander inside that casino, we’ve been keeping tabs on him. His business has taken a massive hit, and he’s struggling to recover. “His business is failing. He likely has evidence of what the rest have been doing, and is using it as blackmail for money.’’
“They wouldn’t just hand it over, though,’’ Lucas says. “That route would also expose Alexander. He was a part of it, too.’’
“Yes, but who would care? Another billionaire doing shady business is nothing new. But Simmons and Adams are politicians. High ones, too. They have a lot more to lose than he does.’’
“That’s not all I’ve been able to discover,’’ Kaya adds after a beat of silence.
All eyes turn to her, and I take in a deep breath, bracing myself. Kaya stands up, then walks toward a desk. I didn’t pay much attention to it while I was coming inside, but on top of it is her Birkin 25 — which I know only because I bought one for Blair for when she comes back home.
Kaya pulls out a thin, black leather file, then steps back toward us and puts it on the table. My hands are on it before anyone else could grab it, my eyes widening a fraction. The file drops from my hands, and Mom immediately picks it up.
“What the fuck is that?”
“Seems he has a hobby of creating illegitimate children,’’ Kaya sighs. “His daughter. By an affair partner, of course. Her name is Theodosia. Her mother is of Greek descent, but from what I could find, she passed during childbirth. Theodosia was placed with her maternal grandparents afterward. She should be around fifteen years old now.’’
Quickly, I snatch the files back from Mom, eyes skimming through the image. Her hair is a little more curled than Blair’s, and her skin is more tan. But the rest? They could pass as twins, no questions asked. The same nose shape, the same little freckles around it, and even the shape of their ears is the same.
“But Hawke has a son who’s also fifteen,’’ Lucas scoffs. “He’s been busy, huh?”
Kaya rolls his eyes. “I’m assuming the reason he hasn’t signed Blair or Theodosia’s birth certificates was because they were girls. He needed boys to succeed the line of business.’’
“What a load of bullshit,’’ Mom spits. “Bastard.’’
“Then,’’ I swallow thickly, lifting my eyes from the image, looking at Kaya. “What about what I asked you to look into?”
I did it on a whim. Somehow, it occurred to me to have Kaya look into Amy Marshall. The reason I sent Blair to Long Grove and why I had her take on the Amy persona was because the two looked freakishly alike. Now that there’s another affair child by Alexander, I won’t rule out the possibility that Amy is one of his children, too.
Kaya shakes her head. “Not related. I did DNA tests, nothing came up. Blair and Amy just happen to look alike, that’s all.”
Adeep sigh of relief comes from me, and even Mom relaxes from next to me. Lucas is mulling all the information in his head, whereas Niko is just… shocked. He’s never been the one to hide his emotions well, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that all of this has left him gobsmacked.
“What now?” Cove asks, folding his arms in front of his chest.
“Now,’’ I take a deep breath. “You and I need to go and check something out.’’
He tilts his head to the side, silently urging me to go on.
“Inside Alexander’s pocket was an address. I need to check it out and see what’s there, because it’s written on a piece of a napkin messily.’’
“Alright,’’ he immediately stands up. “Let’s get it over with.’’
New York manages to piss me off, yet again. Cove’s barely holding back his anger issues, his jaw ticking every other minute. His hands are twitching by his sides, desperate to start knocking people out left and right. At least three different people have bumped into his shoulder in the past twenty minutes, and he’s at his limit.
And I’ve almost been pickpocketed.
Almost.
It was an unfortunate discovery for the unsuspecting teenager to see three different guns where my wallet should’ve been. Suffice to say that he fled as fast as his legs carried him and hasn’t even glanced back.
“It’s down the street,’’ I say, and Cove visibly relaxes, though his demeanor doesn’t shift at all. “This is a residential street.It’s likely an apartment.’’
“If he’s supposed to meet someone there, wouldn’t it be in a better hidden place?”
