Chapter 5 (1/2)

I flinch as the images haunting my nightmares flow behind my eyes. As I relive what those drunken soldiers did to her all those many years ago.

“There wasn’t any testing done? How do you know you’re even my father?” I can’t believe this question is being asked.

“I know it. You know it, too. Everyone always said how much you looked like Ken, but I know it’s my blood that runs through your veins. The timeline doesn’t add up for him to be your father. There is no way that she was pregnant by him.”

I focus on the trees outside, and my phone starts to buzz again. “Why now? Why are you telling me this now?” I ask, my voice rising, my barely existent patience evaporating.

“Because your mum has grown paranoid. Ken mentioned something to me two weeks ago, asking you to get some blood testing done to help Karen, and I brought it up to your mum—”

“Testing for what? What does Karen have to do with any of this?”

Vance glances down at my leg, then at his own cell phone resting on the middle console. “You should answer that. Kimberly is calling me as well.”

But I shake my head. I’ll call Tessa as soon as I’m out of this car.

“I really am sorry for all of this. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, going to her house last night. She called me, and I just . . . I don’t know. Kimberly is to be my wife. I love her more than anything—even more than I ever loved your mum. It’s a different type of love; it’s reciprocated, and she is everything to me. I made a huge mistake seeing your mum again, and I will spend my life making up for that. I won’t be surprised if Kim leaves me.”

Oh, spare me the sad-sack act. “Yeah, Captain Obvious. You probably shouldn’t have been trying to fuck my mum on the counter.”

He glares at me. “She sounded panicked and she said she wanted to make sure her past was in the past before her wedding, and I’m a poster boy for terrible decisions.” He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, shame clear in his voice.

“So am I,” I mumble to myself, and reach for the door handle.

He reaches for my arm. “Hardin.”

“Don’t.” I pull my arm away and get out of the car. I need time to process all of this shit. I’ve just been bombarded with too many answers to questions I never even knew to ask. I need to breathe, I need to calm down, I need to get away from him and get to my girl, my salvation.

“I need you to get away from me. We both know that,” I tell him when he doesn’t move his car. He stares at me momentarily, then nods, leaving me on the street.

I look around the street and notice a familiar storefront halfway down the block, meaning I’m only blocks from my mum’s house. My blood is pounding behind my ears as I reach into my pocket to call Tess. I need to hear her voice, I need her to bring me back to reality.

As I watch the building, waiting for her to answer, my demons battle inside me, pulling me into the comfortable darkness. The pull is stronger and deeper with each unanswered ring, and soon I find my feet carrying me across the street.

Pushing my phone back into my pocket, I open the door and walk into the familiar scenery of my past.