Page 29 of Broken Promises
“Did they document births in the records?” Devlin inquired.
“I heard a rumor once, but since I didn’t spend time in the houses, I don’t know if it was true or not,” Lucian began. “One of the families had a priest on the payroll, and I overheard that he was helping adopt the babies born in the houses. He’d find families who wanted a baby, and they would sell them, oftentimes getting rid of the mothers to keep them quiet.”
My eyes grew wide and I pushed my chair back from the table, needing to stand. Rhys stood next to me, but I shook my head and walked to the far corner of the yard. For a few minutes, no one approached me, and when I felt someone behind me, I instantly knew it wasn’t Rhys. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw James approaching slowly. I could see Rhys sitting with Devlin and Lucian, and all three appeared worried.
I turned back around and exhaled deeply, needing to push the images out of my head. James cleared his throat behind me, and I looked at him again before stepping to the side. He walked next to me and looked at the bush full of azaleas that I was using as a way to center myself.
“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” he asked casually.
Glancing at him, I replied, “How can people be so cruel? And to know I’m . . . part of all of it, it’s just overwhelming.”
“I was where you are fifteen or so years ago, when the Syndicate was still a threat. I listened as Devlin told me stories of his father’s cruelness and how evil he was.” He turned to face me as he explained. “But you’re not Sergey, and you never will be. You’re the best part of your Granny and nothing will change that. You can’t focus on what happened in the past, but you can learn from it, and what I’ve learned is that often, good people are born to bad situations, and no matter what happens, you have to keep looking for the silver lining.”
“Is that what you do?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“Either that or I shoot someone, but something tells me we differ on that point.” He winked at me, and I shook my head. “Do you feel like going back, or do you need a few more minutes?”
Sighing, I looked at the table and back to James. “I guess we should go back. I don’t want to keep you from Regan for too much longer.”
We started to walk back, and he asked, “Have you met her yet?”
I shook my head, “Not yet. Everything between us is still so . . .”
“New? Uncharted? Unknown?” He stopped about halfway back and said, “While he irritates the fuck out of me, Rhys doesn’t give himself enough credit for all the good he does. If it wasn’t for him, Rylee, Stella, and Grace, our friend’s wife, wouldn’t be as strong as they are. And it’s all because of him. So, when he fucks up, and he will, give him some leniency. He’s new to sharing and sometimes doesn’t know how to turn the asshole part of himself off.”
I chuckled as we kept walking. “I’ll remember that.”
We got back to the table, and I sat down, only for Rhys to lean over and ask softly, “Are you okay?”
I nodded and looked across the table at my brothers. “I’m sorry for that. It’s just hard to hear some of the things he did andwas a part of and not think about his blood running through my veins.”
“None of us are Sergey, and you have no need to apologize,” Lucian declared, and I looked from him to Devlin.
“Is it true what I’ve heard about your company?” I asked Devlin, and James perked up to listen.
“What have you heard?” he inquired with a smile.
“Rumors are, you have reverse access to every camera your technology is in, allowing you to run facial recognition scanning.”
“True,” he affirmed.
“And is it true you can see inside areas monitored by your cameras?”
He looked at Rhys before bringing his blue eyes back to me. “That’s also true, but I’d deny it if asked by anyone else.”
“If I gave you a picture of my mother, and we ran it through an aging filter, would you be able to have your system look for her?”
He leaned forward and his smile turned up as he said, “I can and was planning on doing that, once we find a good enough picture of her.”
I stood from my chair. “Give me a minute, please.”
Walking into the house, I went to close the door only to have it held open. I glanced to see Rhys walking in behind me, so I turned forward and walked into my office. Opening the closet door, I looked at him as I pointed to the top shelf. “Can you grab that yellow box for me?”
“Of course,” he replied and stepped in front of me.
I expected him to retrieve it but was pleasantly surprised when he pulled me into his warm chest and hugged me deeply first. Sinking into the embrace, I felt at home in his arms and questioned how I made it this far in life without knowing thiskind of a connection. Pulling back, he leaned over and kissed me softly before stepping back.
He grabbed the box and handed it to me. “Somewhere in here, I’m pretty sure there’s a picture of her.”
