Page 62 of Pure Seduction (Chamberlin Brothers 1)

“No…” I shook my head and took his hand in mine, and this time I made sure I had a firm grip. “You were never an inconvenience. Not ever. You were my purpose. My reason to be alive and happy at a time when everything felt so…hopeless. You remember me telling you that my mom was sick, right?”

Jake’s lips remained tight as he gave a clipped nod.

“It was right around the same time I found out you were coming into our lives. I was scared and excited but at the same time sick with worry about my mom. But I knew I needed to tell Noah somehow that he was going to be a father.”

I swallowed and looked off over Jake’s shoulder to the picturesque scene below. It was amazing how such a beautiful place could harbor such ugly secrets. I’d struck a deal here seventeen years ago, and today it was finally going to come to light.

“I came here, to the winery, to see if Harry would give me any information on Noah. I knew it was a long shot—Harry had made it clear that I wasn’t what he had planned for his son, and that didn’t change when I finally met him face to face.”

“Fuck Harry,” Jake said, and his cheeks flamed with agitation.

“He wasn’t a very good man, I agree.”

“That’s putting it nicely.”

“Yes. It is.” I angled my face up so I was looking Jake in the eye, knowing that what I had to say next was going to hurt the most.

“But when I went to see him, I told him about you. I told him that I wanted Noah to know. But Harry wouldn’t hear of it.”

My eyes blurred as I continued to stare into Jake’s unwavering gaze.

“He wouldn’t budge, not even an inch. But I was determined to find Noah and tell him myself. Harry knew that, though, and wasn’t about to let it happen. He wanted Noah to be free of all burdens so he could one day run the family business with a perfect little wife by his side. So he offered me the one thing he knew I couldn’t refuse to make sure that all happened…”

“He offered to help your mom.”

“Yes.” The word left me on a gasp, and I brought a hand up to cover my mouth as I nodded. “He promised to take care of her. That she would get the best care and he’d take care of all her bills. And we were poor, Jake. We lived day by day the best we could, so the promise of her health? An extra day or month to live?”

I squeezed my eyes shut as the overwhelming guilt and sorrow filled me.

“You had no choice.” Jake brushed a tear away from my cheek, and the understanding in his too-wise-for-his-age eyes was more than I deserved. “And we were the sacrifice. Me. Noah. You?”

My shoulders shuddered as I tried to swallow back the tears re-forming. “Yes. I promised not to tell anyone who your father was, not even you, in exchange for her.”

Jake bit the inside of his cheek as his eyes became damp, then he pulled me into his arms and held on tight. I could feel his shoulders shake, then he rested his chin on my head. I waited to see if he wanted to say anything else.

Several minutes passed, and I couldn’t quite get a read on him, but when he finally did speak, his words shocked me.

“I would’ve done the same thing.”

I pulled back a little and looked up at him, confused.

“If you had been sick and that was the only way to help you. I would’ve done the same thing.”

I cupped his cheeks and shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know.”

“I should’ve done something else, anything else.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” I worried my lower lip and then took a step back. “Do you have any questions for me? Anything you want to ask?”

Jake slipped his hands into his pockets, and for the first time in as long as I could remember, I allowed myself to see the resemblance to his father. Blond like me, Jake had inherited my fair complexion and coloring. But his dark eyes and several distinct mannerisms were all Noah—if you were looking for it.

“About a million things,” he said. “But only one right now.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you going to tell him?”

I’d known that was coming, but I still wasn’t prepared for the way it made me feel. My heart began to thump and my hands turned clammy. “I think I probably should, don’t you?”

Jake shrugged, trying to appear unaffected. But his twitching jaw told me otherwise. “Probably.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

Jake eyed me, then said, “Do you still love him?”

Words failed me as I stared into his eyes, because for the first time since Noah’s return, I allowed myself to acknowledge the fact that I’d never stopped loving him. But instead of pushing me, Jake offered me his hand.

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