Summer felt empty as Sarah left her lap, but shook it off. She told herself she couldn’t get attached to the child. It never boded well to be attached to anyone or anything.
Chase walked his mother to the car and thanked her again before giving her a hug goodbye, telling her when Emma was ready to leave someone would take her home. As she pulled away he made his way back inside to his beautiful wife and guests. He hoped that Summer and Emma would be able to get away to spend some time together after such a long time.
Chapter 33
Once the sun was higher in the sky, Chase and Ryder went to the office, mostly to talk without so many ears. They left the door opened part way, just in case someone needed either of them. Chase needed a few things cleaned up and a couple concerns answered.
“Everything cleaned up from the other day?” he began as he took a seat behind his desk tiredly. His body sank into the soft leather. He couldn’t wait to bring everything to close, but knew it was nowhere near that stage yet.
“Yep,” Ryder was quick to answer. “Jason’s killer confessed hours after the shooting and he’s being held without bail. Along with a number of others.”
“Good,” Chase stated, glad that was cleared up as fast as possible. “Nothing tying any of us to it?”
“Nope. There was no evidence against you or Summer,” the other man answered just as easily. “There was enough evidence there at the scene to frame his men, and the ones that were found there had just woken up, so they were also all taken in. And most of them were men we had been looking for in a few other cases.”
“Good. I want every single one of his men off the streets,” Chase stated, leaning forward in his seat. “I don’t want any of us at risk.”
“Already on it,” Ryder drawled out. It was surprising how well both men thought alike.
“But how did Jason know I was married, and to his daughter on top of it? I never did get to really talk to the men I was to meet,” Chase asked.
“I’m pretty sure your father let it slip to other people who didn’t need to know,” Ryder shrugged. “Word always travels fast for our kind; you know that. It only takes one or two people to know of what went on, and it spreads like fire.”
“What will your plans be for that child if her parents are found?” Ryder went on after a moment.
“Trent seems to be taken with her,” Chase shrugged out, but concern did lace his voice. “Knowing him, I’m sure he’s already thinking about ways to keep himself in her life in some sort of way. It’s not often he acts like this. But I’m hoping Sarah isn’t an orphan, mostly for her sake.”
“She has a mother somewhere, at least,” Ryder mused. “It’s just hard to find her with no information to go off of. And if her mother is by chance in a bad crowd, I don’t want to draw attention to anyone right now. But if in a couple hours nothing turns up for the facial recognition program, I will need to get the media involved.”
“I know,” Chase sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “And hopefully Trent can do the right thing if needed.” He knew that his cousin would do just about anything to make sure that the child was taken care of, and if the mother was in a bad crowd, Trent would be sure to get her out without anyone knowing where she went.
When Trent put his mind to something, he was always able to get things done without anyone knowing.
“He will,” Ryder spoke. “Trent knows he can’t keep her if the child’s parents are found, even if it will be hard for him to let go, but maybe he can work out something with the parents to keep tabs on her so he knows she is ok.” He paused, taking a look around the office. “Summer doing okay?”
“Seems so now,” Chase answered. “She’s strong and getting better every day. I was afraid she’d not bounce back like she has, but she always surprises me.” He then gave a smile at how strong his wife was. Summer really needed to give herself more credit. She was stronger.
“She is,” Ryder agreed. “Maybe in the next few weeks, the girls can all go out for a shopping day or something. Zinna keeps talking about wanting to get to know her better.”
“It would be good for both of them,” Chase agreed. “I know Zinna has grown up a lot since her time at the compound. She was just skin and bones, worse than Summer had been, but she never once gave up on hope after I found her. She was always happy with me, then more so after you.”
“Yeah,” Ryder laughed, trying to not shift awkwardly in his chair. He hated talking about his loving wife when she was so . . . . scared of everything. It hit a sore spot in his heart. “Not much gets her down. She won’t talk about her past, she still even has a few nights with nightmares, but they aren’t as often anymore. I hate having to wake her up those nights.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“Are they bad again?” Chase questioned. He knew Zinna had horrible sleeping issues for about year after he gave her a new life, but thought they were getting better.
“Sometimes, more so when she’d stressed or overtired,” He said with a sad smile. “But we know what triggers them, so that helps. She hides it well from everyone, but they aren’t nearly as bad as they once were.”
“That’s good,” Chase spoke up. “Maybe talking to the other two girls will help all three of them. What do you know of Sebastian?” he changed the subject, wanting to know more about his detested cousin, and his father’s right hand man.
“Not much,” Ryder shrugged. “Other than him working with your dad for years, his background is perfectly clean of everything. He kept you out of trouble a time or two from the FBI before I got in there, but otherwise, hardly anything. I think you really should talk to your dad about him. I have a feeling that there is a lot more to Sebastian than any of us know. Possibly even your father.”
“Knowing him, I won’t get any answers,” Chase laughed out. “But you’re right. I know Sebastian was the first to take Summer in from Jason, and I want to know why. There must have been a reason behind his actions. He’s never taken in anyone, not that I know of unless my father requested it.”
“You aren’t the only one,” Ryder grumbled out. “Ask Ivan for time to talk, just the two of you, in the next few days. He would make sure to find time for you. You know that, Chase.”
“I know, Ryder,” Chase said with a yawn. And he did. Ivan always made time for his son, to support him with big discussions. Surely, the older man would answer Chase’s questions to clear things up. There had to be some sort of explanation for why Sebastian took Summer, but didn’t keep her for more than a couple of months.
“Was there anything else?” Ryder asked.
“I think that was all,” Chase answered after a moment of thought.
Chapter 34
While the two men talked in the office, Summer slowly stood from the couch while Asher, Carter, and Jack worked on a few different computers around the living room, trying to figure out where the child had come from. She was filled with anxiousness, but she took steady, measured steps to where her mother stood, just as nervous.
Emma wore simple, yet pricey clothes. Her light graying hair was pulled back off her face; her wide greenish blue eyes took in her daughter.
Summer wasn't sure what to say, or how to act, but she had asked to see her mother. She didn’t think it would be so soon though. Truth be told, sooner was better than later so she didn't have a chance to change her mind because she was so scared. She knew her mom wanted her when she was a child, but would she want anything to do with her now after the things she had been forced to do?
She just had to take that first step and find out. She would be ok no matter what, as she still had Chase and Clare.
“Hi,” Summer spoke first, surprising herself. Her voice was quiet, her look a little weary, as she stood a few feet in front of her mother, who was this stranger now. She couldn’t remember her all that well, but well enough to know who she was, even with the age lines.
“Hello,” Emma spoke, giving her daughter a small smile.
After an awkward pause, Emma kn
ew she was taking a chance but decided to take the initiative, and walked closer to Summer before wrapping her in her arms. Summer stood frozen for a moment before returning the hug, refusing to let her tears fall. She missed her mother, and she hadn’t realized just how much until that moment.
“Oh, I have missed you so much,” Emma whispered as she felt Summer’s arms wrap around her lightly. After a moment, they pulled back, both at a loss for words as both women’s emotions rose.
“How about you go out back?” Trent hinted, knowing they could both use more of a quiet place to talk without an audience. “There’s a porch, or you can walk around the yard. I've got the Sarah. Not like she will go anywhere.” He muttered the last bit. Sarah was currently asleep across his lap, using his chest as a pillow.
“Thank you,” Emma spoke up, before looking at her daughter with questionable eyes.
Summer simply nodded before leading her mother through the kitchen and towards the back yard. There was indeed a large porch area, but Summer had not gotten the chance to really explore outside.
Thankfully, the day was warming up, even with the threat of another snow storm the following day. The sun shone brightly, already melting most of the snow from the last storm just days ago. It was almost warm enough to take her sweater off, but Summer liked the comfort it brought her, hiding her thin arms from view.
“How are you?” Emma asked out as they began to walk around the yard after Summer slipped on a pair of shoes that were in the mud room. She was pleased with her choice of moccasin type of shoes that she had picked out herself not long ago.
“Okay,” Summer answered, unsure if she should go into detail about anything. She didn’t know what to say. It was hard enough with her husband as it was. She wasn’t ever one to really speak her thoughts. She wrapped her arms around her torso, not sure what to do with them otherwise.
“Chase treating you alright?” Emma asked out, keeping her hands to herself and down at her sides, although she desperately wanted to reach out and hold tight onto her daughter. She could clearly see how hard Summer was struggling. Struggling not only with life, but also with her choices on how to live.
“Yes,” Summer answered with a smile, happy that it was the truth. Chase took very well care of her as she remembered how unresponsive she had been the night after shooting her father. He could have very well taken advantage of that, but he didn’t.
Being outside was nice, although bright. It had been way too long since the Princess was outside for longer than a few minutes.
“Good,” the older woman replied. “He’s a good man. I watched him grow up through the years, since I work in his parent's house. And he’s turned into one fine man. He’s respectful and polite.”
"He is," Summer said with a blush.
“You two work well together,” Emma noted, pleased to see her only daughter happy and content, even with the given obstacles it took to get to the place they were all at now. “I never thought I could see him so happy, or so in love. He really does love you, Summer, I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice, never doubt that, baby.”
“I love him,” Summer said, her voice a whisper. She was afraid that if she said it out loud, it wouldn’t be true.
“I can tell,” Emma laughed. “You both seek each other out from just the few short moments I saw you together today.” She could see how they were both drawn towards one another. “Do you plan to have children?”
“No,” Summer was quick to answer. Maybe almost too quick. “We . . . don’t really want any. And I’m not . . . . . in the right place to have any.” There was no way she wanted to say the words ‘I killed the baby’ in any form of words. Her heart still hurt, more so now that she was recovering more than before, about her loss.
“That’s okay,” Emma replied, not at all bothered by that fact. “It will all work out. Children can cause rocky relationship issues anyway. Who knows, maybe years down the road you will change your minds. There is no rush for such a huge decision.”
“What was he like?” she asked before she could help herself, then blushed. Summer wanted to know what her husband was like as child, as it had crossed her mind once or twice the past few weeks.
“Sweet,” Emma answered, a motherly smile on her face as she remembered a little Chase running around the house. Dark black hair, bright green eyes and a soul filled with hope and life. “Always using his manners. He hardly ever got into trouble. Now, Trent was the one that tested everyone's limits. And still does. But Chase was always level headed. Smart, sometimes too smart for his own good, but he did his best at everything. Even when he ran through the house on a dare butt naked.
“After he saw you the first time, he always asked about you. He never once forgot you. Chase knew, deep down, that you weren’t safe with your father. He was filled with worry about little old you.” She smiled, remember those sad days. “And he always told me that he’d find a way out for you.
“I wished, God how I wished, that things could have been different,” Emma went on, a sad tone to her voice as the two walked around the yard, but making sure they were in sight of the house and windows. Summer knew that Carter was watching them both closely, not that either of them would do anything. But it was nice to be looked after, even when Summer didn’t think there was anything out here in the middle of nowhere that could harm her.
“I know that Kayla and Ivan tried a few things to get you out of Jason’s house, but for some reason that man refused to let you go. I still wonder why I even let him woo me. That man has always been a thorn in my side. Stupid man. He never deserved to rule his ‘family’ of misfits. I should have known he was trouble from the first time I met him.
“Anyway, after so long, I gave up hope that you’d be able to get out, unless death took you; which probably would have been better for you. I don’t know how hard Ivan tried to get you out, but it wasn’t worth the risk to Chase as Jason began to threaten him if we kept asking for you. It wasn’t worth killing an entire family line to save one child, no matter how much I wanted you back.” She then shot Summer another sad smile, knowing she had no hope to rescue her daughter.
“So I went with seeing you once a month, then once every three months, and then once a year until it just . . . . stopped. And then that was when I knew you were either dead, or that man sold you off.
“I worked for Kayla, just because she offered the safety that I knew I wouldn’t have the possibility of having anywhere else. I knew Jason wanted me gone, but I didn’t want to let that happen until I knew you were safe. He would have me killed, as soon as he could as long as he saw me as a threat. He hated the idea that I was pregnant, even when he doubted who the father was. Although, he knew all along who helped make you.
“When I heard the news that you were going to be married off to Jackson, I knew you’d be in good hands with that man, but I was certain that Jason would have other plans for you. That man only has eyes for his own needs and wants. Just like his brother.
“So then Chase proposed that he’d marry you when he got the first chance, and I gave my blessing as much as I was able to in the state I was in. I knew he’d take care of you, give you everything you deserved. I hoped that Chase would eventually get the chance to do just that." She paused, letting the words have time to soak in.
“If Jason was the man he always tried to proclaim to be, he’d have married me and we’d have been a family. It would have been where you would be a princess and treated as such. But since he was the devil himself, that was never a possibility. So I knew if Chase, the Prince of the Marcel Family, took you as his wife, you’d get to be the Princess you were meant to be from the start.”
She could remember all too well the lies Jason shot her way. Lies of his love. Lies of the opened doors their love could open together. But in time, the only thing Jason wanted was a pet that did nothing but stayed quiet, doing all of his cruel inhuman demands. He was nearly twice as bad as his brother, which Emma had only met twice, both times that had
almost ended her life.
“Jason’s dead,” Summer said, wanting to let her mother know he was no longer a threat to any of them.
“Oh?” she responded, shocked. “When?” she hadn’t known, which was probably for the best anyway. She, like Kayla, liked to stay out of the business part of the family.
“A few days ago,” Summer said, looking out into the woods. Surprisingly, she felt lighter all of a sudden, knowing that the devil was no longer lurking behind her everywhere she went.
“Good. It’s about time. I hope he rots in hell,” Emma stated, her voice laced with hatred for the man.
“He will,” Summer said with a smile, knowing that with her shooting him, it helped her heal even though she fell a step back for doing so. But now, she knew she was stronger. She could live. She could – would – survive and be someone worth Chase’s love and attention.
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