Page 135 of Corrupt Game

“Look, I get that you shouldn’t trust me. My dad isn’t goin’ to let me go, not ever, but if we can get Collette back to you, then I’ll settle for that.”

She knew the correct names and was right about me not trusting her. I could only hope that she hadn’t frauded Andrew into a relationship.

“Just come to Sandymount. There’s a touristy coffee shop—the Coffee Spot where we’ll be in public. I have green hair, and you’ll be able to spot me when you get inside.”

She hung up before I could protest further.

The board by the door held a couple of sets of keys. When I walked outside and beeped the key fob, one of the cars lit up.

With renewed concentration, I took into account that I needed to stay on the other side of the road. It had been a while.

The new burner phone had GPS on it, so I punched in the town's name and coffee shop. Sandymount was about a twenty-minute drive from the farmhouse. The terrain started to change quickly from farms to urban.

The shop wasn’t crowded because I’d arrived between the morning rush and the lunch rush.

Sure enough, there was a woman with bright green hair facing the room.

“Heather?” I questioned, walking over to sit across from her.

“Yes, and you must be Ian. Andrew described you exactly.” She held out a hand, and I took it.

She had soft green eyes, and light freckles across her nose, with fair skin. She was pretty, and exactly who I would’ve pictured my friend falling for.

Sadness graced her features. “I’m really sorry we never got to meet when he was alive.”

We stopped talking when a waitress came over to take our orders.

“Tell me how you met?” Colette would want to know..

“We both got into the same hired car because we’d ordered one. It was a thirty-minute trip and somethin’ about him just pulled me in. Before I knew it, I’d gotten out with him and we were going to dinner.” A dreamy look filled her face and she looked off as if she were gazing at a memory. “That’s all it was—a dream. It could never be anything more than that.”

“If he had lived, it would have been a lifetime together for the two of you. Even with horrible odds, he was still trying to find you.” I wanted her to know that Andrew would never have left her on her own with the baby.

Her shrug of hopelessness echoed the feeling that kept trying to build in me when I thought about Collette’s situation. “The universe was against us. My father would never have let him live, no matter if he had gotten me away from here.”

I wasn’t someone who generally believed in happy endings, but Andrew was someone that deserved to have one. He was the better person out of the two of us.

“At least you have the baby to remember him by.” I offered it as a consolation prize.

“Oh, you don’t know?” A tear streaked down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. “My father took the baby from me. Then instead of having him sold to the people he wanted to sell him to, my sister snuck him out and gave him to someone completely off my father’s radar. I don’t know where he is except that he’s in a better place and won’t have to deal with being a mafia boss’s unwanted grandson.”

Heather started to choke up and collected herself.

My heart crashed against my chest. That was terrible, and it would hurt COllette so much.

“That’s horrible. I know he’s your father, but can we kill him for you?” I paused after he words left my lips. “I’m sorry, he’s your dad. That was rude.”

“No,” she laughed. “Andrew said you’d say something like that. He didn’t mean to keep Collette in the dark for long. We were just wrapped up with each other at first. Then my father started takin’ steps to look for me. That put the kibosh on anythin’ goin’ public about our relationship. Andy was so excited that we were goin’ to have a baby.” She got a dreamy eyed look again. “He wanted to have a family.”

I took in what she had to say. Andy always wanted a family. He died for it. As I was wiling to die for a chance at that with Collette.

“At least the baby has a shot at a good life with a nice set of parents. I will be content with that.”

“And you’re okay with that?” I asked tentatively.

“My father killed my fiance. He’s kidnapped your girlfriend and may decide to kill her. Do you really think that’s the best place for a child to grow up?” The hate coming out of her eyes reminded me of myself.

“I just know that growing up without parents really sucked. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. It’s horrible, but I get where you’re coming from.”

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