Page 88 of Stolen Love

“So the DNA?” Nathaniel asks, latching onto the idea of proof.

“Ivy remembered while we were sitting in the limo. Dizzy might have said something to set her off. She was screaming and thrashing. She wouldn’t calm down. And then she hit her head and knocked herself out. It was heartbreaking for Dizzy.”

“How’d Ivy get home?” Rebel paces a tight square. “We were all there. How did none of us notice? How didn’t security?”

“Look at me.” He points to himself and then me and then Rebel. “Look at you. Do you think I couldn’t fool your security team into believing I’m either of you? And it was late. While you were slumbering, I pretended I was you and that she’d needed some air and to talk, but had fallen asleep on my shoulder. Not one of your security team blinked an eye. I carried her to her bed and helped her into pajamas. I used suggestion to block out anything after our meeting.”

“Christ, this guy.” Riot shakes his head.

“While I was doing that Dizzy became unbalanced and destroyed everything in the limo.”

“Fucking hell.” West makes me feel a little unbalanced too.

“The sample was useless. Ivy was tucked up tight in her bed. I had to restrain and sedate Dizzy to get her to leave without making any more of a scene. I decided it was best to lie low for a while.”

“Is that why she has bruises?” Ivy noticed them and they bothered her so much she offered Dizzy to stay with us for as long as she needed.

“Yes,” West says. “Unfortunately.”

Rebel and I exchange glances. West seems to care about Dizzy a hell of a lot and considering the few things we’ve learned about their lives so far, it makes sense.

“What did you mean when you called Alec inbred?” Nathaniel asks.

“He’s our half-brother,” West says. “I found out a few years ago, just before our father died. He told me that he picked the wrong son to raise. That he should have raised Alec as his heir.”

“I need to sit down.” Rebel drops onto the end of the bed and cradles his head in his hands.

“Yeah.” I reach for the closest surface to support me. “That’s—”

“Fucked up,” Riot says. “Do you think Alec knows that y’all are related?”

“I… I have to think that if he did he would have thrown it in our faces.” Right? He would have said something.

“Do you? Is that what you think?” Rebel blows out his cheeks. “Because there is no way on this green earth that I would ever admit to being related to that bastard out loud.”

“There’s also his questionable parentage.” West nods. “If he is aware of it… it’s probably not something he would want anyone to look into.”

“Ivy really isn’t Nicole’s daughter,” Nathaniel says the words like hearing them out loud will cement them in his mind. The fact that we’re finding out that we share genes with our enemy seems to be missed by him entirely.

“If she and Dizzy are indeed sisters…” West scrunches up his face and then releases. “Then no.”

God, I hope they’re sisters. God, am I really praying that hyper, obsessive Dizzy and my sweet Ivy are sisters? Fucking hell. “We need to prove it.”

“First… we need to find them,” West says.

There’s a knock on the door and we all turn into statues except Rebel who moves to the window.

“Summer?” I raise a questioning brow.

“No.” He presses his lips together as he tugs the curtain aside a crack. “We made the decision that it would be best for her to be out of harm’s way. I put her on a plane home to her brothers as soon as the ambulance didn’t make it to the hospital.”

I scratch my jaw. Wouldn’t have thought he could talk her into that. “It’s probably for the best.”

“It’s me.” Adira’s stage whisper comes in loud and clear through the flimsy door.

Nathaniel opens it and steps aside.

“We’re fraternizing with the enemy now?” Adira frowns at the lawyer as he enters the room and shuts the door. He’s changed out of my clothes and into a black on black ensemble that includes low booties and a black bob. “What is Satan’s little helper doing here?”

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