Page 104 of Their Domme

“Wrenn is dead, isn’t she?” Thomas broke the silence, and I looked down at him. His gaze was so solemn and innocent, with tears bright in his eyes. I couldn’t find it in myself to lie to him no matter how hard the truth might be.

“Yes, she probably is.”

Thomas swallowed hard and nodded a few times before falling silent. We didn’t have to wait long before Ansel pulled up, and I got into the back with Thomas. No one spoke as Ansel got us on the road again, leaving the city and heading toward his home.

“The doctor is coming to the house?” I asked.

“Yes,” Ansel replied, meeting my gaze in the rearview mirror. “I tried to call Nic, but she didn’t answer her phone. So I guess we’ll see what happens when we get there.”

A small weight hit my chest at that point, and I looked down to see Thomas had fallen asleep, his body sliding with the turning of the car. I shifted him slightly and wrapped an arm around his shoulder so he wouldn’t move more than was necessary. The poor kid deserved some peaceful sleep.

My heart felt heavy, full, and I knew we were so fucking screwed. Nic’s brother… her son… was safe, but Wrenn was dead. Despite everything that had happened between them, I didn’t think it would be easy news to deliver, and given the state this boy was in, he has gone through hell and back.

When my and Ansel’s gazes met in the mirror, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. This was going to lead Christopher right to us.

But this time, we’d be ready.

Nicholette

Sunday

Curled up with Oli on the couch, I only got an hour or two of sleep before I needed to pee. After that, I knew sleep was impossible, so I wandered into Ansel’s study. Papers were scattered all over the place—inheritance documents from Maeve, the information she’d found out about my parents… who I thought were my parents, and background on Thomas.

Thomas.

I pressed a hand to my abdomen and tried to ignore how I could feel my stomach turning. The kid I loved with my whole fucking heart was myson, the result of both a rape and pregnancy that I didn’t remember. Had I been drugged, or had my brain hidden this in the furthest dark recesses of my mind to protect itself and give me a chance at a normal life? My hands were shaking so badly I put the papers down, breathing deep to steady myself. My mind was still spinning. I knew that barely any time had passed since learning that heart-wrenching secret, but I had a feeling time couldn’t make any of this better no matter how much had passed.

A knock on the door made me jolt, and I whipped my head up in time to see Oli in the doorway, watching me with concerned eyes that noticed too much.

“What’s wrong?”

“You should be asleep,” I admonished as I tried to catch my breath and slow my pounding heart.

“So should you.” He walked over and wrapped a hand around my throat, squeezing just enough that I felt the strength in his hands. My breathing started to slow, and my heart gradually calmed as he rubbed his thumb over my pulse point. “This helps Bodhi when he’s having a hard time calming down. I figured it might work with you too. What’s going on, Nic? What did I miss?”

“We killed Joe. Found out a bunch of things I wasn’t prepared for.”

“Like Christopher?” Oli asked, his voice controlled. He maintained the steady grip around my neck, which was all the closeness I needed right now. It hadn’t occurred to me that I should wake one of them up, that even though their presence wouldn’t solve the problems we still needed to deal with, the comfort they could give me might make those obstacles seem a little less insurmountable. Given how much trouble I’d had sleeping without them, I should have realized that my body and my brain were well trained by now. My men had this secret to reaching the instinctual parts of me that wanted to feel and react, and it seemed like they all knew some way to rein in my crazy when I needed it.

“No. Thomas.”

“Your brother?” Oli tilted his head, curiosity bright in his hazel eyes.

I swallowed hard, squeezing my eyes shut as I forced out an answer. “My son.”

Immediately, the hand around my throat loosened, and I opened my eyes to see Oli going pale. He stumbled back, his ass hitting the desk . “Son?”

“My mom… Miranda…” I waved off my stumbling over what to call her. “She couldn’t get pregnant. Had the hardest time. Then they got me… Apparently, Mirandadidlove me until I gave Joe something she never could—a child. I’ll never know if it’s true or not without a test but… Yeah, it was a lot.”

Oli didn’t say anything in response, so I cautiously took a step toward him, making sure he was still breathing. “Atlas and I opened the envelope. The one that Blake had. With the results.”

“What did it say?” I asked as I reached out, my need to touch him overtaking my caution. He pulled me in, his hands on my hips and his head resting on my breasts.

“He’s my brother.” The words were so soft I wouldn’t have heard them if he wasn’t right in front of me.

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” Oli rambled as I ran my fingers through his hair. “I have a lot of thoughts and feelings, and as fucked up as it is, I’m glad we have all of this shit with your stalker to deal with so I don’t need to face this quite yet.”

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