“I do?”
He gave me a nod. “I never wanted it to happen this way,” my father continued, looking down at the desk. “All this time, it’s always been my one regret. What kept me from your mother and you.” He shook his head. “Looks like I seem to repeat my mistakes. Do you resent me, Adalyn? Does she resent me as well?”
I opened my mouth, but something stopped me from speaking. She? “Mom? Why would she resent you for this?”
My father’s brows met in question. He wasn’t talking about Mom.
“Who are you referring to?” I asked. And because there was something at the back of my head, something that started to buzz, I added, “Who should resent you, Dad?”
Andrew Underwood seemed so openly confused for a second that when he answered, it was nothing but a rasp. “Josephine.”
My heart stopped for an instant. Josephine? But it couldn’t—
“What has Josie to do with selling the club?”
He paled.
My knees faltered then. I leaned my hand on the chair, gaping at him. Taking in his expression. He looked like a ghost. And that reminded me of what my mother had said. The letters.
Your father has secrets.
Then more started toppling in, flooding me with memories. Facts that hadn’t been pieced together.
You’ll leave tomorrow. On an assignment… It’s something I’ve actually been thinking about for a while.
There’s some kind of a guardian looking over Green Oak.
Robbie doesn’t like to talk about it, but he was—and maybe still is—in a lot of debt.
“You’re Green Oak’s angel investor.” My throat worked but the lump remained lodged there, making it hard for me to speak. I clutched Cameron’s ring. Then, something else Josie had said that day barreled right into me. Something that couldn’t mean what I thought it did. But it had to. “What are you trying to tell me? Why did you bring up Josie? I need to hear it. Out loud.”
He stared at me, and then he said, “Josephine is your half sister.” And the confirmation felt like a bucket of water had been thrown in my face. “She’s my daughter,” he added, and there wasn’t a trace of guilt in his voice or his face. There wasn’t shame. Or remorse. Longing. There was nothing.
Nothing at all.
“I thought you’d realized,” he said. “I thought that was why you were here and what had prompted that dramatic entrance. You said you knew everything.”
I… didn’t think I could breathe. I had a sister. A half sister. Dad had another daughter. “You thought I knew about Josie? But—You…” My gaze roamed around his face. It was impassive. “You’re not surprised or angry. You’re fine. I…” My head was whirling, shooting thoughts left and right. Piecing things together and tearing others apart. I gasped for air. “Were you hoping I’d find out about Josie?” But it couldn’t be, could it? “Was that why you shipped me off there?”
“Yes and no,” he admitted quickly. Far too quick for me to process. “I sent you there because Green Oak seemed like an experience you could benefit from. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t assume you’d put it together.” He shrugged. “I guess I was wrong.”
His words reverberated in my head as I stared into my father’s eyes. They were Josie’s light blue eyes. Only they lacked everything hers had. A powerful emotion rippled through me at the realization, at how obvious it had been, at how he’d just put me down for not piecing it together.
He always did that. Put me down. Hid things.
“You guess you were wrong?” I repeated, something rioting in my chest. Something that had nothing to do with how I’d just been heaving for a breath. “You sent me out there knowing I might find out about a half sister you’ve been hiding from me, knowing I’d interact with her, possibly befriend her, and you shrug it off like that?”
“Once more, I thought that was why you were here,” he said. And God, there was so much noise in my ears. My head. I couldn’t think. I missed Cameron’s hands, anchoring me to the world. “I’ve been expecting this for a while now.”
I briefly closed my eyes, gave myself a few seconds to sieve through the surge of ugly and overpowering emotions climbing up and down. “I was here because I heard rumors of you selling the Flames. To David. Because I know about him using you. Using me. Because I thought I was somehow responsible for him forcing your hand.”