Page 55 of A Billionaire Gentleman

Deklin

I steppedonto Sofi’s floor and wondered if I should have called first. Surprising her had sounded like a good idea when I’d found a straight flight from Houston to here, even if I had been stuck next to the toilets the entire time. In fact, it had kept looking better and better until right now.

Grandad had just said that she’d needed to take care of a few things. I’d assumed that meant she was coming back here to make arrangements to move to Houston, but now I wondered if the reason she hadn’t told me she was leaving was because she was having second thoughts about the job. About me. If I just showed up without warning, I didn’t know if it would make things worse or better, but I couldn’t seem to stop my feet from moving forward.

I’d gone half a dozen steps when one of the apartment doors opened, and three people came out. A tall woman in a pin-striped skirt and white blouse clutched a clipboard as she moved at a brisk pace, quickly leaving the other two behind. A dark-haired man who looked to be a little older than Davin and a boy with the same unruly hair held hands, but the boy kept looking behind him at the door they’d come out of.

Neither one of them gave me a second look as we passed by each other, but when I realized which apartment they’d been in, I turned in enough time to see them both disappear.

Questions now on my mind, I knocked on the door, and it swung open before my hand had the chance to drop.

“Deklin?” Her eyes darted down the hall the way her visitors had left. “What are you doing here?” She seemed to catch herself and smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Please, come in.”

I stepped into her apartment, wondering if she was going to come up with a lie or if she’d tell me the truth. I could practically feel her anxiety, but I didn’t bring any of it up. There were so many things that we didn’t know about each other, and I wasn’t going to make matters worse by accusing her of hiding things from me.

“I should have called,” I said. “I can go if you want me to.”

“No.” She shook her head, her fingers clutching together in front of her. “I don’t want you to go.”

The fist around my heart eased its grip. “One of the property owners we met last week wanted a meeting with either Grandad or me. When I found out you’d come back, I thought I’d surprise you.”

Her smile softened into something real, and she put her hand on my arm. “Thank you. That was sweet of you.”

“It really is okay if you want me to go,” I said, searching her face. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

She leaned in to kiss my cheek, bringing with her that lilac scent again. “You just caught me off-guard is all.” Suddenly, she frowned. “How did you get here? There wasn’t enough time for the plane to get back to Houston, then turn around and come here again.”

“I bought a ticket like a regular person.” I winked at her.

“I am so sorry,” she said with a laugh, pushing her hair away from her face. She shook her head. “Please tell me you at least managed to get first class.”

“Nope. Third class. Next to a baby.”

A mortified expression settled on her face. “You have to let me make it up to you.”

“You can let me take you to dinner,” I said.

Her cheeks turned pink. “Um, I’ve already eaten.”

For the first time since I’d gotten here, I noticed my surroundings. Dirty dishes at the sink, more than one person would need. Dirt on the rug just inside the door, and I knew it hadn’t come from my shoes. A stuffed unicorn on the couch. Pictures on the wall. Pictures of a dark-haired boy who, despite my fleeting glance at him, was the same child I’d passed in the hall.

“My son,” she said softly. “Dallas. He’s four.”

I looked over at her, but she had her eyes on a picture of the two of them, a recent one if I had to guess. I didn’t see any pictures of the two adults I’d seen.

“He was here, right before me.” I made it a statement rather than a question.

She nodded, crossing her arms in a gesture I’d seen from Aurelia, one that seemed to be more about security than defiance, a way to protect herself. “His dad and the caseworker brought him. My visits with him are supervised.”

The bitterness in that last sentence chilled me. I crossed the short distance between us and wrapped my arms around her. She didn’t resist as I pulled her to my chest, my own heart aching at the story I didn’t yet know.

“I was nineteen when I met Mead. He was manipulative, mentally, and emotionally abusive pretty much from moment one, but I’d had a shit childhood, and all I let myself see was someone who cared about me. We’d been together less than a year when I found out I was pregnant.” Her voice was muffled as she buried her face in my shirt. “We got married a few weeks later. I dropped out of college to stay at home with the baby, and I didn’t mind. I loved the idea of being a mother, of having a family, and I thought Mead did too.”

She pulled back and looked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed but dry. I pushed back her hair from her face and rested my palm on her cheek. I held her like that for a minute and then kissed her forehead before folding her back into my embrace.

When she was ready, she continued her story. “After Dallas was born, Mead started hurting me. Pinching. Hitting. Never where anyone could see, of course.”

I’d suspected it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. If I’d known any of this when he’d walked by me, it would’ve only been the presence of a child that would’ve kept me from tearing into him.

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