CHAPTER 8
The silence was so deep it had no bottom.
Ares mother looked at him with the same expression she’d worn whenever his father had started to rage. Eyes narrowed with fear, brow furrowed, worry etched into the lines at her mouth. With a clench of his gut, he was right back in their dilapidated Chicago apartment, trying to dodge his father’s fists.
“You’re Ares Lowells, right?” the stranger repeated, while the young woman stepped back to flank his mother, hovering by her protectively. Only, Ares mother hung back as if ready to bolt. “Aren’t you?” he said again in a surprisingly tough voice. Or maybe it was desperation that made him think he had the right to get up in Ares face like this.
“Yes,” he finally replied, “I’m Ares Lowells.”
That was all it took for his mother to break down, tears all but spurting from her eyes like a broken water line. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so proud of you.” She put her hand to her mouth and kept repeating the words. “I’m so sorry. I’m so proud of you. I’m so sorry.” Over and over again.
The young woman, slightly taller than his mother, drew her close. “It’s okay, Mom. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“She’s your mom?” The question escaped before Ares could stop it. This young woman was his half sister? “What the hell?”
The guy put the flat of his hand to his chest. “I’m Tyler.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “That’s my sister, Kelsey. We only recently learned that you’re our brother.”
Shock wasn’t the right word for what Ares was feeling. It was more like a bowling ball had just slammed into his head at top speed, leaving his brain cells scattered like bowling pins at the end of the alley after a strike.
Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe, from the moment Keira had told him she’d lied about being pregnant, putting him through the grief of those faked miscarriages, never even wanting his kid in the first place—maybe it had all just been a nightmare. Sure, why not add in his long-lost mother walking back into his life, the woman who’d abandoned him to a child-beater? Returning with two grown kids, no less, who were his brother and sister.
Twenty-five years. That’s how long she’d waited to come find him.
He hadn’t been able to hold back his surprise, but he’d be damned if he’d let her see he was still hurting over her desertion. He’d gotten over it a long time ago.
“What are you doing here?”
His question was deliberately cool. Calm, despite the fact that his mother continued to bury her face against Kathy’s shoulder while the younger woman stroked her hair, murmuring to her. Ares had let his emotions get the best of him one too many times during the
past month. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, no matter the provocation.
“We didn’t want to freak you out, but we worried that if we called your headquarters, we’d never get through to you. And if we did, you probably wouldn’t believe we were actually related to you.”
Hell, he could hardly believe it now, even though he could see with his own eyes that this was his mother—and knew he shared more than one physical feature with Tyler and Kathy.
“We aren’t here for your money, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
His thoughts hadn’t had a chance to get that far, not when seeing his mother again after all these years had jumbled his brain so badly.
Ares raised an eyebrow, taking Tyler’s measure. They were the same height, with the same hair color and hazel eyes. Tyler had a strong chin, a sturdy stance, and an intelligent gaze he didn’t drop. He looked to be about a decade younger than Ares.
It hit him then—his mother had left when he was nine. One day she was there, the next she was gone. His father had told Ares she obviously didn’t want to take care of him, or the husband she “owed everything” to, anymore.
That had been a brutal night for Ares. One that had played out in his nightmares for years. He hadn’t been able to avoid his father’s fists that night. And finally, alone in his bed, his body aching, Ares had given in to tears for the mother who hadn’t loved him enough to take him with her.
“How old are you?” he asked almost roughly.
“Twenty-five,” Tyler answered.
He glanced at Kathy and she answered his unspoken question. “We’re twins.”
Maybe he should ask their birthday, work out the exact date. But he didn’t need to ask for any more confirmation. Not when he already knew by looking at them that these two weren’t his half siblings. They were full-blood siblings.
It wasn’t difficult for Ares to put two and two together. His mother must have found out she was pregnant and decided to get the hell out. Obviously, taking a nine-year-old on the run would have been too hard.
So she’d left him in hell.
Tyler lifted his chin and looked Ares straight in the eye. “Can we come in?”
Jesus, how had his life come to this, screwed up beyond all comprehension? His wife had lied to him for years. He’d kissed his
sister-in-law breathless. And now good old Mom was back, accompanied by two siblings who wanted God only knew what.
He could kick them off his property and file a restraining order against them to ensure they never got within a hundred feet again.
But Sally always said it was better to face the devil you knew. And his foster mother—the woman who’d saved him from the brutal pit his birth mother had left him in—was always right.
“You might as well come in.”
* * *
Mrs. M made coffee and brought out pastries and coffee cake to go with it, as if this were a social call. They sat in the formal living room furnished with expensive chairs and sofas that Ares had always found uncomfortable.
Tyler’s sister—Ares sister too—sat on the sofa next to their mother. Kathy had produced tissues from her bag and given them to their mother, who was now dabbing her nose and eyes, sniffling. Tyler sat in the chair on her other side, as if he and Kathy were sentinels protecting her.
Ares poured coffee for everyone. Really, at this point, why the hell not? He pushed the sugar and cream their way across the glass tabletop. When his mother said, “Thank you,” her voice was soft.
He remembered that voice. Remembered her singing to him when he had trouble falling asleep at night. And he remembered her crying too. Remembered the sounds of breaking glass and slamming doors, the smell of mold in the hallways of their tenement. He remembered the bitter cold in the winters, his gloves, coat, and shoes too worn and too small to keep it out.
Kathy fixed two cups with milk and sugar. Tyler took his black, just like Ares. Despite the crazy situation, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the twins so far. They were dressed as impeccably as any of the Baddricks and they were straight-forward and polite.
They both obviously cared a great deal for their mother. And why wouldn’t they, when she’d chosen their welfare over Ares?
“So what’s your story?” he asked Tyler, planning to get as much information as possible out of them in the shortest amount of time. That way he’d have the ammo he needed to protect himself going forward. Ares had let people get the best of him one too many times. That stopped now.
“It was Mom’s birthday a couple of weeks ago.”
December fifteenth. He hadn’t forgotten the date.
“We were watching TV, one of those houses-of-the-rich-and-famous shows. It was your home. Nice place, by the way.”
Ares had completely forgotten about that interview. It was something Keira had set up back in October. Before everything went to hell.
Although that wasn’t true, was it? Because their marriage had gone bad long before she admitted her lies. Long before she’d lied about the pregnancies, if he was perfectly honest.
The shine had worn off almost right from the start, in fact, if it had ever truly been there at all.
“We saw the resemblance between you and Tyler,” Kathy put in. “It was unbelievable.”
His mother—no, Sally was his mother now. This woman didn’t deserve the title anymore. Theresa sipped her coffee, looking at him over the rim, then held the cup between her hands as if she needed warmth.
Once upon a time, he’d been desperate for warmth. And she hadn’t been there to give it to him. He was supposed to be getting answers from his long-lost siblings, but his fury couldn’t be contained another minute longer.
“Did she tell you why she left me behind?” Bubbling, boiling rage rose up in him. “Did she tell you about the hell she left me in?”
He had to put his coffee down before he broke the delicate china.
“She hasn’t really talked about any of that,” Tyler admitted as Tessa broke down in renewed sobs. “We thought it would be better if
we were all here. Then we could work it out together.”
Ares drew on every ounce of self-control he possessed to ratchet down his breathing as he curled his fingers around the dainty, carved-wood arms of the chair, digging in like he had talons.
He didn’t need to listen to this crap. He should toss them out on their asses.
But he couldn’t. Not when he was desperate for answers to questions that had haunted him for years. Why had she left? Where had she gone?
And why hadn’t she taken him?
“What’s your last name?” His voice sounded like gravel.
“Lowells, same as yours,” Tyler said. “She didn’t change her name.”
With all the resources he had, he could have found her. But he hadn’t tried. Because he’d sworn to himself that he’d moved on.
She beseeched him with her eyes, begging piteously for his understanding. Looking at her made his head whirl, sending his emotions tumbling. His knee jerked involuntarily, knocking the table, spilling coffee from his cup.
There were so many things he needed to understand, yet he couldn’t get the questions out. Not when he was falling into the same pit Keira had dropped him into a month ago. Going dark, going deep, silent—shutting down.
Get a grip. Pull it together.
He would, damn it. He’d draw deep from his well of self-control. But he couldn’t stop wishing for Kelsey. She was a family psychologist. She could walk him through this minefield, which felt even more dangerous than anything he’d experienced with
Keira.
He needed Kelsey before he went off half-cocked on two people who’d possibly been as damaged by what their parents had done as he was. Kelsey would know how to straighten out this massively messed-up situation with her level-headed advice, her calm voice, her gentle smiles.
Because he sure as hell didn’t know what to say.
But Kelsey wasn’t here. And Ares wasn’t a kid anymore, afraid of his father’s fists, hiding under his covers, praying to someone who didn’t listen. Crying for a woman who’d left him.
He was a powerful man, both in body and position. He was a billionaire. He’d overcome. He’d moved the hell on. So he would control his emotions. He would not sound like a raving madman.
“Let’s talk about you two first. Tell me about yourselves.” He was actually amazed at how calm and rational he sounded despite everything roiling inside him.
They blinked in duplicate, like the twins they were, obviously surprised by his abrupt switch.
“Well,” Tyler said, using the word like he needed a second to change gears. “I’m working on my graduate degree in engineering at UCSF.”
“Impressive.” UC San Diego was a great school. Expensive too. He wondered if Tyler had gotten some sort of scholarship, or if he was bogged down with student loans. Ares turned to Kathy. “And you?”
“I’m a CPA. I work for a firm in San Diego.”
“Equally impressive. You like numbers, I take it?” Like him.
She smiled, nodded. He saw his mother’s—no, Theresa’s smile in her. The rare smiles from his youth, when his father hadn’t been around.
“I’m so proud of them.” It was the first full sentence Tessa had spoken since her litany on the front porch: I’m so sorry. I’m so proud of you.
The calm he’d exerted started to desert him again. He felt the mushroom cloud of anger welling up from his gut.
Yet again, he wished for Kelsey, for her common sense, her unruffled feathers, her expertise, her reassuring influence. She gave too much already, and he had no right to ask for more. But she would know exactly how to handle this, how to put them all at ease, get them talking without Ares clenching his fists at every word out of that woman’s mouth. Kelsey would get the answers to all the
questions he couldn’t seem to ask.
Just as he was balling his fists, straining for the control to keep from shouting—or, at this point, just plain losing his mind—his doorbell rang again.
He didn’t give Mrs. M a chance to answer. It was an excuse to get out of that room. To breathe for a few precious moments. Even if it was Keira on the other side of the door, right now she seemed like the lesser of two evils.
But evil wasn’t waiting at his front door.
Kelsey was.
The woman he’d been dreaming about.
The woman his muddled mind had been begging for.
He practically yanked her off her feet as he pulled her inside. He hugged her before he could remember why that wasn’t a good idea.
The press of her gorgeous curves against him and her scent filling his head simply scrambled whatever was left of his senses, and he blurted out, “My long-lost mother is here. Along with the brother and sister I never knew I had.”
