“She needs a hug.” Brennan let go of me.
Wes pulled me to him. “We’re not having eight kids.”
“Agreed.” I closed my eyes.
“Sister, are you coming? Can I drive?” Hale yelled.
I sighed. “I’m coming, and no. We’re not putting the top down either.”
“Well, no, it’ll mess up your hair.” Hale stood there, looking like trouble even in his suit, wearing fancy cowboy boots and a dressy cowboy hat. Chance and Pax also had on their nice boots, hats, and bolo ties.
“See you there.” I gave Brennan and Wes a kiss.
I got into the car with my three brothers, and we started driving to the country club, my dress and everything in the tiny trunk.
“Hey, um, can you explain why and how you put Mom in jail?” Chance inquired from the back seat. “No one will tell us anything.”
“Yeah, even Verity and Creed are being assholes about it.” Dare shrugged and looked at his brothers. His suit was very Victorian rake. He had on more eyeliner than I did and looked amazing.
“I mean, I know she stabbed your mate. I was there, but there’s more to it, right?” Hale’s brow furrowed.
“What is baby trafficking, anyway? Babies can’t drive.” Chance frowned.
“It’s when you sell a baby.” I sighed. “Short version, you know I’m your dad’s from before he met your alpha moms, right?”
Heads bobbed. How did I explain this gently?
“One of your moms didn’t want me around after my mom died and gave me to my mom’s mom. But, she didn’t talk to your dad about it first. She then gave my aunt money to take me far away so that your dad would never find me, which in the eyes of the law is selling me, and is what got her arrested.” My gut churned. “There’s more to it, and I can tell you later.”
“Oh. Okay. That is weird. Mom likes kids more than Mumsy but not as much as Mama.” Chance frowned. “But you found us, and that’s why the parents are mad?”
“No one told me that I wasn’t supposed to find you. Though I wasn’t looking. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for your mom to end up in jail. Truly, I didn’t know about any of this. Meeting Creed at the conference was a surprise. I thought that my dad abandoned me; of course, I also thought my aunt was my mom,” I added. “She stabbed Spencer because she was mad at me.”
Chance frowned. “Okay. I don’t know if Mom should be in jail because it makes everyone sad, but selling babies sounds wrong. Not telling Dad things is very wrong and usually ends with much yelling. Stabbing people is also wrong.”
“I wasn’t trying to wreck your family. I’m sorry.” I sniffed.
“No one thinks you are, Sister,” Hale said gently. “You were a baby, and none of this is your fault. But the parents aren’t telling us shit, and Verity and Creed are like,This isn’t our story to tell,so we wanted to ask you.”
“I’ll answer everything I can,” I promised.
“Are you rich?” Chance asked. “Your house feels like a rich person’s house. I love the little house your big house has.”
“She’s mated to a billionaire. Of course she has a nice house.” Dare smacked his younger brother in the head.
“Oh. I thought she mated tothat Greek man.” Chance blinked.
“Yeah, a Greek billionaire who runs a biotech company that works with secret government agencies.” Dare rolled his eyes.
As we drove, I answered their questions, which were less about their mom and more about why I didn’t have any pets, and the sports and video games I liked, and what exactly I did for Compass BioTek. I tried to learn about them, too.
“You play the cello?” I asked Dare. Right, Tru told me that he was a musician.
Chance rolled his eyes. “All the time.”
“It’s calledpracticing.I play a few different instruments, but mostly the cello. I’d like to do more with it, but the parents are about as excited at the idea of me majoring in music as they are at Mercy becoming a professional athlete.” Dare sighed.
“I play the piano, and while I never wanted to major in it, music is so helpful for so many reasons. If you want to do it, go for it,” I encouraged. “I support doing what you love. For me, it was math–and no, my parents didn’t want me to study math.”
