Page 104 of Broken Halo
Trig’s face swings around to me, his eyes searching mine.
Shit. It can’t be.
“Dad, I’ve wanted to meet him forever. Faye talked about him all the time—”
There’s another gasp in the room and this time it’s not mine.
It’s hers.
30
Sentimental
I hate that show about hoarding. There’s nothin’ wrong with keepin’ stuff that means somethin’.
Ellie
After I lost the baby and was in the hospital, Trig didn’t leave me for two days. He stayed by my side, he slept by me and he put up with my family. It didn’t matter how much my father demanded, how much my mother cried, or how much Jen begged our parents to leave us alone, he never wavered.
When he kissed me goodbye and promised to be back in an hour, I had no idea that would be it. That my own father would threaten me by threatening Trig. I didn’t know which hurt worse at the time, losing Trig or what my own father did to me.
It might not be on the same scale or have the same ramifications, but when someone you trust betrays you, it hurts nonetheless.
If this scene had a set of lungs, by the look on her face and that of her parents’, it would be screaming from the hilltops.
“Oh shit,” she gasps.
“Oh shit is right, Quinn,” I bite back, her name tumbling off my lips like a curse.
I look between her and her parents as my brain circles and spins, trying to reason why this would make sense. The woman standing beside her is small and petite. With her sleek dark hair, warm skin, and beautiful black eyes, the woman, who must be Dr. Tommie Endo, appears confused but in a different way than I am.
She looks to the young woman I’ve called my office manager, and most recently, friend, asking, “Do you know them?”
Aleron doesn’t look confused. He turns angry and it’s rolling off him in spades. “You know them?”
Trig puts a hand up and tries to be a calming force. “Wait a second, now.”
I don’t wait, I can’t. I take a step forward, but this time Trig is the one who has to catch my arm to hold me back, doing a much better job than I did. “She works for me.” I look to my office manager and wonder who in the universe I can believe anymore. “If your name is even Quinn Bowers. If you’re their daughter, we know your name is Rino.”
“Bowers? Who in the hell is Bowers?” Her father loses all control and swings his glare back to me. “And how do you know her given name?”
My employee opens her eyes and they implore mine. “It’s Quinn. I swear. I’ve never gone by Rino. It’s a family name.”
I bring my hands up to my messy hair and shake my head. “Please tell me this is a coincidence. That you had no idea who Trig was before I hired you and you decided to give me a fake name for shits and giggles.”
Quinn frowns and throws her hand out toward Trig, who’s now holding me around the waist, pressing his front to my back. “What does he have to do with it? I only applied for the job because of you.”
Trig’s arm goes tight around my middle and he demands, “What about her?”
“You work for her? You told us you were volunteering at the counseling center at the women’s shelter,” Aleron growls.
“Al.” Tommie looks to her husband, and I swear, she’s paled. She shakes her head and her voice is weak when she has to reach out to hang on to the wingback chair the color of a ghost, which is fitting, since it matches her new complexion. “I knew this would happen.”
Trig ignores them all and raises his voice. “Why in the hell did you apply for a job just because of Ellie?”
Quinn’s blue eyes shift between us and her parents, landing on her mother with remorse and pure guilt. “I’m sorry, Mom. So sorry. When Faye got sick, I was upset. She was so sick and couldn’t even communicate anymore. I went into her suite where she and I would hang out at night before you both would get home from your rounds. There were still some of her things in there. She was gone, I didn’t think there would be any harm in going through them … and I found a letter.”
“Shit,” her father spits and looks to his wife. “You were supposed to get rid of everything.”
