“Yes.According to your father’s research, my accident was the first attempt at his life.Nolan was the one who was supposed to drive him to his next appointment.He usually handled business in the backseat, using his laptop.I was coming back to the office when Nolan handed me the keys.Told me he had to leave.Fucker wanted me dead along with your father because I filed an official complaint against him.It’s a good thing you had a panic attack that day, it’s what saved your father’s life.Instead of taking the company car with a driver, he took his own car home.”
She throws a look my way, and focusses back on the road when she says, “But why?T-they were partners.They served t-together.”
While my blood boiled reading about my accident actually being a hit on Dax, on me...I hardly thought about the details Dax found about Jaxie’s mother.The name did ring a bell, but she died when I was about six years old.My mother mentioned the name a few times, but only in reference to Burk.
Ava Ricker was his fiancée.I had no damn clue she was Jaxie’s birth mother.Which means Dax would have slept with his partner’s woman.That’s motive right there.Though, Dax doesn’t strike me as a man who would fuck another friend’s woman.
We’re driving up the mountain and instead of following the road up to her cabin, I tell Jaxie, “Turn right here.We’re going to have a little chat with my mother.She might be able to shed some light on certain things.”
Jaxie frowns as she takes the turn.“W-would she know t-things about Burk?”
“No.”I release a deep sigh, hating to rip open a can of worms.
Though, I have no clue if there are even worms in there or something worse.
“I want to ask my mother about your mother, Ava Ricker, Burk’s former fiancée.”
“What?”Jaxie squeaks.
Yeah, a can of worms for sure, because Jaxie clearly had no clue either.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
–JAXIE –
This is unreal.I’ve had my life turned upside-down a few times, experienced pain in different ways, and yet the details Seamus just told me before we went inside his mother’s cabin are mind-blowing.Now, sitting in Edna’s kitchen, and listening to Seamus explain to his mother all the stuff we just found out?It still isn’t sinking in.
To be honest?I feel a little betrayed by my father, keeping the crucial information of how my mother was Burk’s fiancée from me.They used to be best friends, and business partners.No freaking wonder he kept me away from the business.Not to keep business and pleasure separate, but to keep me away from Burk.I probably look like her.
Which makes me wonder if Burk knew I was Ava’s daughter.Were Burk and Ava still together when I was conceived?Did she cheat on him with my father?Why would my father betray his trust for a woman?I have so many unanswered questions, and with my father dead, I might not get answers.
“I knew it,” Edna squeals, making the dogs momentarily stop playing.
After a heartbeat they start barking until Edna shushes them.Benny is oblivious to the turmoil inside my head.His tongue is lolling out, making it seem like he’s smiling.I guess he’s happy, being back at the place where he was born and spent the first few months of his life.
Edna owns two dogs, one of them is Benny’s mother, the other Benny’s sister.Seamus’s dog, Macy, is from the same breeding parents as Benny.Benny is surrounded by family and doesn’t have a second thought about any of it.He’s just having fun.
