Page 3 of More than Need

She faltered. “What?”

“I’m gay. The child can’t be mine.” He’d never slept with a woman in his life. If she had some idea in her head that he’d been a random man she’d slept with in some seedy club in the dark, he had news for her.

“I know it’s not yours,” she said slowly, frowning. “Do you recognise this?” She thrust the photo at him.

Riley took it automatically. A generic hospital photo, like the kind he’d seen dozens of times. A woman on a hospital bed held a child wrapped in a blanket, looking tired like she’d just givenbirth, which she likely had. The photo had to be old; the colour was significantly faded. “No.” He went to give it back, and she wouldn’t take it. What did she want him to do with it? He didn’t deal with missing person’s cases, and she could have asked at the front desk.

“That’s my mum.”

Riley scratched his eyebrow. “And the baby is you?” he guessed. He’d prefer if she got to the point sometime soon; he had important work to do. And a report to bin.

“No, it’s you.”

Everything tilted. The photo crinkled in his grip, and he let go of it like it burned.

It’s you.

That’s my mum.

No. Not possible.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to—”

“You’re my brother.”

Riley stood, heart beating wildly. He swallowed back the lump in his throat as he braced his hands on his desk and said hoarsely, “Get out of my office.”

She went to step forward, and Gideon moved, putting himself directly between them. “I don’t think so,” he said, lifting a hand in a “stop” motion.

“I came to talk to you.”

“For what purpose?” Riley asked flatly. If he’d wanted to know about the woman that had given birth to him, he would have looked for her. Would have asked his own mum about her. He hadn’t, because that person meant nothing to him. This woman had no right to come in here with any of this.

Her face fell, lips parting. “Because you’re my brother, and I wanted to meet you.” She said it like he should understand that. He didn’t.

“I don’t care.”

Gideon’s hand slid back on the desk, the tips of his fingers brushing against Riley’s. He shouldn’t have taken as much comfort from that small move as he did. An anchor in the storm.

“I didn’t know you even existed until like four days ago, and I wanted to—”

“Gawk at me like an animal in a zoo?”

“What? No!” She put her hands over her stomach as though reminding him of her pregnancy would somehow endear her to him. It wouldn’t. He had a family already; he didn’t need or want hers.

Riley pressed more firmly against Gideon’s outstretched hand. “Gideon.”

Gideon understood immediately, straightening. “Yes, sir. Visit’s over, ma’am, it’s time to leave.”

“Why?” she asked, ignoring Gideon’s attempt to herd her out of the room.

“Whatever you’re looking for, you aren’t going to find it here,” Riley said coldly. “I have no desire to know who you are. Who that woman is. Unless you have business with the police, we have nothing to talk about. If you do, Detective Senior Constable Clark here will be happy to assist you.”

Riley hardened his heart against the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. He wouldn’t be moved by her display. She had created this situation by coming here without his permission, without so much as a fuckingwarning. She might have wanted to meet him, but he had zero desire to meet her, and she obviously hadn’t bothered to take anyone else’s needs into account when she’d created this fantasy of meeting him. Riley had five pain-in-the-ass siblings that he loved. That he’d grown up with. Two parents who had loved all of him, even the parts that weren’t so pleasant.Theywere his family.

She left without another fuss, and Riley exhaled the second Gideon closed the door. He stared at the wall, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

It’s you.

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