The door swung open and a woman in her early sixties, with sharp features and dark hair, glided in. A silver locket danced along her neckline, and Bryson noticed an obscenely large green stone nestled into a ring on her left hand.
“Mom?” Adria said, standing.
The entire room froze and the two women just stood in the silence for an extended moment before Adria ran to her.
The woman wrapped both arms around Adria and buried her face in Adria’s hair, rocking her back and forth.
What the fuck?
Kaydon shot him a look, telling Bryson he had accidentally said it out loud. But seriously, what the fuck?
Adria’s mother pushed her out and held Adria at arm’s length, seeming to take stock of her.
“You are so beautiful,” she said.
Adria looked at the floor, pushing some hair behind her ears.
“How are you here?” Adria asked.
Finally, someone was asking it.
Sophia waved her hand. “Let’s get to the minor details later.” She cupped Adria’s face. “I’m here now and Xander and I are going to help. We are going to get you home.”
When Adria turned, Bryson saw the wetness in her eyes, and she was glowing. The love radiating off her melted his suspicions away.
Why should he be upset that Adria had her mother back?
Xander cleared his throat. “Yes, well, while killing Jonathan was not ideal, we think we might have a way around it.”
“Who finished the job, anyway?” Sophia asked.
Adria opened her mouth, but no sound came out. All the eyes shifted around the table.
Bryson felt like everyone was looking everywhere but him.
“I did,” he said. He wasn’t ashamed or afraid to admit he hadkilled him.
“But I helped. It was not just Bryson,” Adria said, her voice firm.
Sophia’s eyes lingered on Bryson’s face before she squeezed Adria’s hand and said, “Of course you did, darling.”
“With Jonathan and his heir dead, Soph and I feel the best next steps are to expose the traitorous relationship between Alessandro and Callen.”
Now every eye turned to Bryson.
He blinked, trying to process what had just been said.
“Any information you can give us, Master Winters, would be helpful to your cause,” Xander said.
Bryson shook his head, mouth open. “I?—”
“You expect us to believe that you have no idea that Alessandro, Jonathan, and your father had under-the-table dealings,” Sophia said, her voice harsh.
“Mom,” Adria said.
Bryson found Sophia’s eyes, saying, “If that’s true, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, even without Bryson’s cooperation, I still think we can expose them,” Sophia said, dismissing him.
