Ten put a hand on my arm, and I felt her fingers dig in almost painfully. “You aren’t trash. You never were. You were a kid who lost big in the parental lottery, and you’re a man who’s had to learn how to live on your own terms because of it. The only thing you are and ever will be is a survivor.”
She sounded so passionate, so sure, it was simple to believe her. I nodded briefly, letting her know I didn’t only hear her but was listening, as well. I took a deep breath, locked my wayward emotions down, and pulled open the glass door. The interior of the building was as slick and modern as the outside. The woman sitting at the reception desk also looked like she should be in a metropolitan city and not the deep south. She had to be sweltering in the long-sleeved shirt and blazer she was wearing.
She gave Ten and me a sharp once-over from behind gold-rimmed glasses. Her upper lip curled ever so slightly when she took in our dusty cowboy boots and jeans. She even cocked her head and studied Webb intently for a long minute without saying anything, and again I wanted to strangle Gage for putting Webb’s face all over the TV and Internet with no disclaimer. I was sure the reaction Webb was getting from this woman was exactly what my ex intended. He wanted Webb isolated and shunned. He wanted to make the other man’s life harder than it had to be, and it appeared Gage had been successful.
“Can I help you?” Her accent was distinctly east coast, clipped and harsh.
I lifted an eyebrow as Ten rocked back on her heels and crossed her arms over her chest in a clearly challenging stance. “Can you inform Mathias Bernard his son is here to see him? One of them, that is.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open slightly, and her eyes widened comically behind her glasses. “Umm . . . I know all of Mr. Bernard’s children.”
I smirked at her. “Are you sure about that?”
She lifted a hand to her throat and blinked a couple of times. “Uh . . . He’s not in, and he doesn’t see anyone without an appointment. We deal with families in some pretty desperate situations; it isn’t safe for Mr. Bernard to see anyone who walks in the door.”
I took a few steps toward the reception counter. It was made of marble and felt cool under my palms as I placed them shoulder-width apart and leaned closer to the woman behind the divider. I felt Ten put her hand on the center of my back. She was trying to settle me, to keep me in check. I wasn’t sure if I needed her tugging on my leash just yet, but better safe than sorry.
“I’m not desperate, but I am dangerous. I’m not here to hurt the man, but I will shred his reputation without a second thought if he doesn’t agree to speak with me. I bet the people who fork over tons of cash at every charity ball would love to know that Bernard has kids whom he never bothered to acknowledge or provide for. He wouldn’t look so much like the Saint of the Big Easy if his rich investors knew his own flesh and blood have had to do unspeakable things to avoid freezing to death while sleeping on the streets.”
The woman was shaking by the time I was done. She looked past me to Ten for help but clearly didn’t get the response she wanted. With quivering fingers, she picked up the phone and started poking at buttons. After a minute she was speaking into the receiver but still looking at me with huge eyes.
“Mr. Bernard, you have a visitor.” She paused shaking her head. “I know you don’t have any appointments scheduled today, but you really want me to send this one in.” She made a strangled sound and put her free hand back at her throat. “He says he’s your son.” She muttered something under her breath and jerked her gaze forcefully away from mine. “He says if he doesn’t speak with you he’s going to the press. He seems serious.”
She muttered again and a moment later hung up the phone. She cleared her throat and rose, smoothing her hand down the length of her skirt. “He really isn’t in. He went to lunch with his wife. He asked me to show you to the conference room and get you some coffee while you wait. He’s going to be here in five to ten minutes. If you would follow me?”
She stiffly led us to a room surrounded by glass walls. Ten and I both turned down coffee but accepted the chilled bottles of water she offered next. As she practically ran from the room, Ten called out to her.
“Hey, before you go, I want to ask you something.” The receptionist paused, turning her head slightly to look at the other woman. “Have you seen another man who looks exactly like him hanging around recently? Someone else demanding to speak with your boss?” Ten hooked her thumb in my direction.
The receptionist let her gaze wander to where I was sprawled in one of the leather executive chairs placed around the long glass table. Something flickered in her eyes before she shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen anyone who looks like him asking for Mr. Bernard, but . . .” she trailed off, and I heard her gulp. “When you see Mr. Bernard, you will understand why I didn’t demand proof of paternity or call security. He’s a good boss. He is most definitely not a very good man.” With those final words, she slipped from the room, leaving me and Ten staring after her in shock.
“Maybe I should've Googled him before planning this ambush.” It hadn’t occurred to me. I’d lived my entire life without the man, there was no sudden urge to know everything about him, including what he might look like. Plus, I’d been jumping from place to place, distracted trying to find my mother.
Ten made a soft hum of agreement. When I looked over at her, she was already on her phone. When her eyes popped to twice their size and her jaw unhinged, I knew the resemblance must be uncanny. She pushed her phone across the table in my direction.
“It’s like looking at Wyatt in fifteen years. His mouth is a little wider. His jaw is weaker, and his nose is so straight and perfect I’m betting he had work done. The man’s genes are powerful though. You could be carbon copies of one another. I wonder if your half-siblings look just like you, as well?”
The man on the small screen in front of me did indeed bear a striking resemblance to both my older brother and myself. His hair was more brown than blond, and he had an overall aura of wealth and entitlement that made him appear much softer than Wyatt and I had ever been. This was not a man who knew what it was like to go hungry and live without. I pushed the phone back with more force than required, but Ten was quick and caught it before it tumbled to the floor.
“I hate everything about this. I’m barely dealing with having a possible twin, how am I supposed to comprehend half-siblings out there I won’t ever get a chance to know? I feel like my life isn’t my own anymore.” I’d been on my own so long, dealing with all these new people I was suddenly connected to was unsettling.
“The only person you’re responsible for is you, Webb. Don’t lose sight of that.” Her voice was quiet, but there was a thread of steel running through it. “You don’t owe anyone anything, nothing we learn here, there, or anywhere along the way will change that.”
My reply was interrupted when the man in the picture on Ten’s phone pushed his way into the room. Without preamble, he took a seat at the head of the big table. Not across from me, or even close enough we could speak without raising our voices. “My secretary called me and told me the other twin was here to see me. I should’ve expected it after the first one found me. I’m going to tell you what I told your brother, I’m not paying you a dime. I have a family, and you are not part of it. You can out me to the press, to the old coots of southern society, drag my name through the mud, ruin my reputation, but I’m not letting you blackmail or bully me. I told Jolene to get rid of both of you. I paid her a fortune all those years ago so I wouldn’t have to deal with this kind of annoyance. I’m not scared of you anymore.”
I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was stare at the man who was responsible for me being born, the man who let Jolene destroy my childhood, the one who didn’t want me.
Ten reached for my hand, but I felt like I was made of stone underneath her gentle touch. “Are you trying to tell me Wyatt Bryant asked you for money when he tracked you down before he enlisted?” She sounded incredulous, and it did something to m
y heart to hear her so effortlessly defend my older brother.
Mathias Bernard frowned and angrily tapped his fingers on the table in front of him. “The one who went into the Army? No, not him. He went away when I explained he was a mistake. I told him I didn’t want him, didn’t want any of you. I should’ve learned my lesson with Jolene the first time I paid her to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The woman is a nuisance. I swear she got pregnant on purpose just so she could fleece me for money until the end of time.” The man pointed a finger with a big ring on it in my direction. “I’m talking about his twin. The one who showed up on my doorstep, scaring the daylights out of my wife and giving my children all kinds of questions I never wanted to answer. Once the secret was out, it no longer held any power. My family already knows about my history with Jolene, thanks to your brother. I have enough money not to care about public opinion. We can always leave New Orleans if we have to.”
He was so blasé about everything. Abandonment. Betrayal. Rejection. They all burned hot and angry under my skin, creeping and crawling their way to the surface.
“You knew Jolene was pregnant with twins?” Thank God Ten was there to get the job done, since I was choking on rage and unable to put a coherent thought together. Her questions were sharp and pointed, cutting through the tension like a knife.
The older man nodded, the action reminding me so much of Wyatt my chest felt like it was going to crack open. “Of course I did. She thought I would take one of them off her hands because ‘two sounded hard.’” He made quotes in the air with his index fingers. “I told her I didn’t want either one, but that woman never listened to anything. She kept one of the babies and left the other one on my goddamn doorstep like some kind of biblical sacrifice, and since she had them at home, no one was keeping track of her crazy actions. Luckily, I found it before my wife stumbled across it. I had one of the housekeepers who’d been with my family since I was young deal with it.” He meant he got rid of the baby. His family paid someone to make the other twin disappear.
It. Not him, or the baby, but it, as if the small, defenseless human was something less than. This man was a monster. I was suddenly, overwhelmingly grateful I hadn’t been forced to deal with his poison in my life. My childhood wasn’t easy, but at least it hadn't been infected.
“You gave Jolene money to take care of us?” My buzzing brain seemed to trip over the tiny bit of information in the sea of revelations he was shoving at me.
The older man nodded. “I did. The same amount deposited into three accounts every month until you were all eighteen, plus a scholarship set up for each of you that was accessible if any of you decided to pursue higher education in the future. I made sure Jolene couldn’t access either account. I figured if you kids managed to survive her, you could use the money to put toward your futures. I suppose since she couldn’t get her hands on any of the funds, she didn’t bother to tell you kids about the money. I should have figured that out when your older brother showed up before he enlisted looking like a homeless person. With interest accruing all these years, there is a tidy sum in each account.”
Without meaning to, I rose to my feet, hands flat on the table in front of me as I leaned toward the man I would never consider my father. “What about when we were too young to take care of ourselves? Where was the money so we could eat? The cash so we weren’t freezing and sleeping on the floor of some roach-infested squat? Where was the money so we could have what we needed for school? You have no idea what we did to survive Jolene.”
The other man rose to his feet as well, not intimidated in the least. “I also gave Jolene money. Am I surprised she never used it for her kids? No. But what could I do about it? I had my own family to provide for.”
So much. There were so very many things he could’ve done about it. “When you told my twin you wouldn’t give him any money when he tried to blackmail you, what happened?”
“I told him about the accounts I set up for the three of you. I explained that was the only money he was going to get since it was rightfully his. I explained how to access it, thinking it would be the end of things. As soon as any of the accounts are accessed, the bank has to alert the other two recipients money has been withdrawn. I put that in place in case Jolene separated you kids. Figured it might be the only way you could find each other in the future. When I explained it all your twin became violent, angry. Asked if I’d ever bothered to look for him. When I told him I didn’t give a second thought to any of the children I had with Jolene, he became unreasonable. Demanded to know who his other siblings were. I had my actual children in the house with me, and I didn’t know if he was armed or not. I called the police, but he took off before they arrived. I don’t think he knew about you or your brother until that day. One of the reasons leaving New Orleans wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world is because he knows this is where my family lives. There was something wrong with that boy.”
“Did you even bother to get the name he goes by now?” My voice was raw, aching. I didn’t sound like myself in the slightest.
“No. When I say I want nothing to do with any of you, I mean it.” His eyes were flinty as steel.
I felt my mouth open and snap closed. I was at a loss for words. My non-father was unbelievable in his callousness. I very well could have lost my mind hearing him refer to his other kids as his actual children, knowing he’d tossed me away like garbage because I was inconvenient.
“He didn’t give any indication where he was going after he confronted you? It’s imperative we find him.” Ten put a hand on my shoulder, pulled me until I was standing and not looming threateningly. Her arm snaked around my waist. If it were a hug, I would’ve loved it, but we both knew she was subtly restraining me so I didn’t lunge at the insensitive man who wanted nothing to do with me.
“He didn’t say anything beyond the threat to take what he was owed. He did ask where I sent Jolene her last check, and I told him it was somewhere in Texas. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do the rest of the afternoon. I’ll have my receptionist get you instructions for both you and your older brother to access your accounts.”
He exited the room without so much as a backward glance.
I was numb, chilled to my bones even though it was muggy and hot all around me. I let Ten practically drag me out of the room and listlessly watched as she collected the information from the receptionist. She gave the woman her cell phone number and asked her to please call if anyone who looked like me came around. She bundled me into the SUV and started to race back across the city.
“He wanted me in jail, so there would be nothing I could do when the bank set out the alert about the accounts being accessed.” I was starting to understand how my twin brother’s devious mind worked. “Once I was out of the way, he could easily get his share of the money, as well as mine with a fake ID. How would anyone know he wasn’t me except for Wyatt?”
Ten sighed. “Seems like a pretty big risk to take. Why not just keep the money from the bank robberies? Why risk getting caught when he could simply take the money that was already his? And what about Wyatt? Surely he would get involved once he was alerted the accounts existed and that yours had been accessed while you were locked up.” She nodded. “You need to ask him to put an flag on those accounts when you talk to him next. He needs to know there might be a price on his head, as well, because your twin needs him out of the way as well if the money is really his motivation.” She didn’t sound so sure about the why, but the how was starting to become crystal clear.
I shook my head and ran my hands tiredly over my face. I was exhausted. “He wants to punish me and Wyatt.” I wasn’t sure how I understood his motivations so well, but I was certain revenge was behind his convoluted and highly risky plot more so than a payday. The money was a nice bonus, but watching my life and Wyatt’s unravel seemed to be at the forefront of his plans. “Jolene kept us. Even though she treated us like luggage and pretty much hated us, she still kept us. He was literally thrown away, to
ssed out. His resentment, his abandonment issues have to be triple what ours are.” And I couldn’t fault him for being a little crazed with anger and jealousy. “And Wyatt stayed with me. No matter how badly I fucked up, or how much we struggled, he never walked away from me. This guy hates me, and he hates that even though me and Wyatt had virtually nothing growing up, I had what he didn’t.”
It was the only reason his hatred made any sense.
Ten whipped around and gave me a hard look. I could see she was turning my words over in her mind, but apparently she was also thirsty for revenge because she practically growled, “I have a friend who works in the IRS. I’m going to ask him to launch an investigation into all of Bernard’s business transactions. Nonprofits can be used for some shady stuff and no one, I mean no one, wants an audit. He might have enough money to protect his personal reputation once outed as a scumbag, but his professional one can’t take the same kind of hits. I’m going to make his life miserable.”
I loved how adorable she was being in order to help me deal with my swirling, confusing emotions. But her cute actions didn’t stop the dull throb inside of my chest. How had Wyatt faced our father’s dismissal all on his own? It was brutal and heartbreaking, and I’d had Ten there to lessen the blow. For the millionth time, I realized how lucky I was to have Wyatt. He was stronger than anyone I’d ever met.
I was silent all the way back to our hotel. I was so glad we’d agreed to skip the Quarter. There was no way I could function with all those vices right outside my door at the moment. I wanted to go out and be the very version of myself I’d fought so hard not to become. I followed Ten blindly into the building. Putting one foot in front of the other diligently. It was hard, but I managed.
Thinking I was going to faceplant on the bed and wallow until I could get my emotions in check, I didn’t realize Ten followed me into my room until the door shut behind her and I felt her forcibly turn me around to face her. She put her hands on either side of my face, holding me still as those emerald eyes of hers glittered up at me like expensive jewelry.
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