Page 103 of Rent Free

When I arrived at the facility that was caring for Emmanuelle Solomon, I found that I was in luck.

“And who are you?” the front desk attendant asked.

I offered her my hand, and she took it. “My name is Atlas Carter. I’m hoping to ask Mr. Solomon a very important question while he’s lucid enough to give me an honest answer.”

“Ahh,” she said, as if she knew exactly who I was now that I’d mentioned my name. “You’re Pepper’s.”

I flashed her a grin. “Yeah, I’m Pepper’s.”

“That boy of yours is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she jerked her head at me. “Follow me.”

I did, chatting lightly with her about her own grandkids and Forest.

When we got to the room, she patted my arm and said, “You’ll be okay.”

It was as if she knew what I was there to do.

“Good luck,” she confirmed my earlier thoughts as she bustled back down the hallway.

I turned to find the man I was searching for already looking at me.

“Sir,” I said as I offered the older man my hand. “My name is Atlas Carter, I’m…”

“The man who stole my baby’s heart.” He stood up.

He didn’t look sick.

He looked just like any other older man.

Like my own father did.

Something broke inside of me for Pepper.

How hard had it been having to deal with her mother’s passing, while simultaneously having to deal with a father who couldn’t remember the importance of that mother?

It sounded dreadful.

“That’s me,” I said quietly. “She told you about me?”

“She told me everything about you,” he admitted. “She told me about your friendship with Sage. Then she told me about how Sage had played you, like she plays everyone. She told me about how you were mean to her. She told me about how she knew you were the one when you told her your leg hurt…”

“What?” I asked.

I remembered that day I’d told her that my leg hurt.

Again, one of my compulsions.

I’d thought it sounded weird, and she’d told him that was when she knew I was the one?

“Before she died,” Emmanuelle murmured, “she told her mother that she would miss her. Her mother told her that she’d see her again. That she’d always be watching over her. She told her that one day, she would know she was there, and okay, when she had some random stranger let her know. She said ‘they’ll say the phrase: my leg hurts.’”

I blinked. “I didn’t…”

“I know.” He flashed a grin that was so familiar it made me miss Pepper something fierce.

“I’m not sure what to tell you about Sage and me,” I admitted. “I fell for the act, hook, line and sinker.”

Emmanuelle took a seat, his eyes steady on me.

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