Page 99 of Broken Dreams

My eyes grow wide as I shake my head wildly.

“No!” I yell, surprising myself by both the vehemence of it and the sound at all.

“You spoke to me,” she whispers.

“It just depends,” Linus rasps behind me. “For some reason, even one word answers can refuse to come out.”

“Who are you?” Mom asks, and I realize we’ve been lacking in the introduction department.

“Linus Fallon,” he says, rising to walk over to me. “I’m now Linus Kelly, though.”

I didn’t even know his last name. Looking up at him, he smirks as he crouches down by me.

“Nice to meet you,” he murmurs, but I shiver, because it feels as if he’s reintroducing himself to me as well.

“Tell them about what you found out, Ayla,” Duncan says softly, prompting her to talk to me. “You also don’t need to rush off anywhere. You’d be safer here, and you know it. Give your daughter time to get to know you again.”

“Duncan Kelly,” my mother says, fire in her voice as she shoves her free hand into the cushion to hoist herself higher on the cushions behind her. “You don’t need an old woman underfoot getting in the way.”

“Yeah we do,” Callum says with a snort. “Fair warning, there’s a stripper dance pole in the dance room that used to be Grandma Deidre’s sunroom.”

“Your grandmother regularly had sex in that room, which is why it is soundproofed,” Mom says, amused. “You think I didn’t know about that? I have tea with her at least once a month. She’s the only person Hudson lets me see.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Duncan mutters. “Please stay, Ayla.”

My mom glances at me as I nod, and then finally Linus. Taking a deep breath, he takes my hand. I can tell he’s about to say something difficult to her.

“I don’t have a dog in this fight,” he begins, gazing at my mother. “However, if you’re here, you're done with her father. There’s no back and forth. You will not interfere with her safety here. She hasn’t been safe since she was fourteen years old.”

Flinching, Mom nods. I wince, but he’s right. She can’t be the reason Dad worms his way back into my life.

“How do you ask someone for a divorce when they threatened to give you to the highest bidder to rape repeatedly?” she asks, shaking her head. “What did you write on the tablet, Quinnie?”

In shock, I reach behind me, taking the tablet from Callum to show her.

“That’s the only way I’m getting out of this,” she finally says, grimacing. “A few months before you disappeared, I had a fightwith your father. He wanted to set up an arranged marriage for a man who was interested in someone who looked like you. It was ridiculous, and I said as much. I asked, ‘What about love, or allowing her to date and be a kid?’”

“Dad and Hudson told us to stay away,” Duncan grumbles, moving to sit on the couch next to us. Callum also gets up, perching on an arm of the couch by my mom’s feet.

“Which had nothing to do with you,” Mom says. “He’d been acting oddly for a year before that, communicating with an alpha in Wisconsin. I kept asking him what he was doing. He said this was for our family, because we were in debt.”

“Fuck,” Callum mutters. “He’s been making really good money. I mentioned that to Quinn, because it seemed odd that he was thriving while his daughter was missing. I didn’t know he was money laundering until you told me.”

“Yes,” she rasps. “This alpha named Miles said he’d give him business if Hudson did as he asked.”

A full body, wracking shudder flows through my body at his name, along with an unsettling fear. The air sours with the scent of burnt sugar and Mom looks at me with tears glazing her eyes.

“I don’t know his last name,” she whispers, as if it’s important.

Lifting the tablet, I take back my hand from Linus to write it out.

Kellogg. The guys know it.

Mom nods, and Morris pops his head into the room.

“I’m going to spend the night and watch out for any potential issues,” he says. “I’m going to begin hunting down this Miles guy with the emails Miss Ayla brought with her from her house. I’ll be in the courtyard if anyone needs me. Maybe I’ll also put together the swing you left in pieces on the ground.”

“Thanks, yeah, we got a little distracted,” Callum says with a shrug. “We’ll get to it.”

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