Page 82 of The Woman

Phoenix

“Calm down,” he replies, pressing a hand to my chest. “I didn’t realize.”

My whole body feels like it’s shaking with anger, adrenaline, and who the fuck knows what else, and he’s telling me to calm down?

“Didn’t realize what?“ I grit out. “That you were destroying Avery’s life? My life?”

The pressure from his hand on my chest increases as I try to press in closer again. But he remains composed, keeping me at arm’s length.

“I didn’t realize you carried the gene as well. I thought you were the one who reported Avery.”

My mind tries to play catch up as I stare at my father, confusion stirring through my head, not allowing it to grasp his meaning.

“Gene? And what do you mean you thought I reported her? I thought it was you.”

Shaking his head, the expression I’m so familiar with makes its appearance, and he steps away from me, walking over to the window where he looks out in thought.

“I don’t know who reported her. It could have been anyone who saw her.”

Blowing out a breath, I rub a hand down my face, frustrated that I’m no closer to finding her than I was before. Frustrated that I have nowhere to place this anger. Frustrated because I don’t know what’s going on.

“Why did you bring me to this place like some criminal? And what gene were you talking about?” I ask.

His hand lifts, smoothing over the top of his hair. “To answer that, I guess I should start at the beginning.”

Still irritated, I answer, “That might be an idea.”

His head bobs a few times, nodding to himself while still lost in a far-off gaze out the window.

“You’ve never seen your grandfather’s woman, my birth mother,” he starts. “And that’s because after I was born, he found out she was a WOUN and had her sent away. I’m not sure what happened to her, but he didn’t want her back.”

My brows dip together, and my eyes drift to the ground as that information settles into my mind. My grandfather picked a WOUN.

“What he didn’t know was that she passed on part of those WOUN genes to me; with it, a predisposition to feel certain things far more acutely than other men, even to think a little differently from other men. And the tendency to be attracted to women of an unusual nature.”

My gaze flies back to him, surprise causing my heart to pick up speed. He turns around to face me again, and despite that shocking revelation, I just know that he’s not even half done.

“I told you the story about him choosing my woman at first.” After my short nod, he continues, “The one he chose for me wasn’t a WOUN, but the one I went back for, your mother, was.”

I run my fingers roughly through my hair and find myself lowering back onto the chair. I saw it coming after his first comment, but it still managed to catch me off guard.

“The woman who gave birth to me was a WOUN?”

He leans back against the windowsill and watches me closely. “She is.”

“How did I not know any of this?” I wonder out loud. “You say I carry this gene as well? Why not tell me sooner?”

“We didn’t know you did, not until now. We also didn’t know what to expect from someone who had a WOUN mother as well as a father who was born from a WOUN. You were always a serious child and, for the most part, hard to read. We assumed it skipped you. Besides, this isn’t something that can be spoken about freely.”

Pushing away from the window, he walks over to the fireplace and runs a hand over the mantle above it, deep in thought.

I find it quite ironic that he should find me hard to read when I’ve always thought that of him. I’m the one that went my whole life knowing none of this. Not even a hint of it.

“I tried to figure it out without being too obvious after you picked Avery,” he continues. “But the only thing I knew for sure was that you hadn’t had sex with her – in the beginning, at least – and you almost seemed to be displeased with her. That had me curious but still unsure. My suspicions rose again the night of the gala when I saw what you were doing with her, but other than that, you seemed the same.”

I think back to that night and how I had been so focused on getting a reaction out of Avery with my fingers. How deliriously pleased I had been when I had her come on them.

“You told me not to do that again.”

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