Page 131 of Destiny

“It’s a long, sad story,” Doc says. “Brittany is not well, and ever since Brock and Joe visited my property in Wyoming, I’ve had her under the care of a psychiatrist. She’s currently hospitalized.”

“Where?” Dad asks.

“A facility in Denver. One of the best.”

“Did she go voluntarily?”

“She did, but not until after I made it clear what would happen to her if she didn’t.”

“That she’d probably be arrested,” Dad says.

“Yes.”

“Did you work this out with Joe?”

“No. This was my decision.” Doc pulls documents out of the envelope. “Though Joe knows. I told him as soon as this folder crossed my desk this morning.”

“And what was his take?”

“He’s deferring to you on everything, Ryan. Because you’re Dyane Wingdam’s—that’s the name I knew her by—son.”

“So everybody’s going to know now,” Dad says. “Just what Ineverwanted.”

“Dad,” I say, “it doesn’t matter. You’re still a Steel. And you may have a full-blooded sister, who is also a Steel. None of this matters anymore. We are who we are.”

“Ava,” Mom says, “your sister doesn’t know any of this yet.”

“She’s strong. She’ll be okay.”

Mom doesn’t look like she believes me, and I know from experience that it will be difficult for Gina. Hell, it was difficult for me. But Gina is strong. She will be okay.

“All right,” Dad says. “Tell me. Tell me everything you know.”

“I don’t know a lot, but here is the information that I just got. There aren’t any names, but it appears that this Fleming Corporation was behind the attempt on Talon’s life.”

“Shocking.” Dad rolls his eyes.

“My daughter was a lot more involved than I would have preferred her to be. Her psychiatrist says she has a personality disorder that will be hard to treat. However, she’s willing to do the work.”

“None of us wants the nurse who tried to poison my brother to be charged,” Dad says. “She did it under duress. Her daughter was threatened.”

“Yes, I know. It’s all here in these documents.”

“Tell me,” I say to Doc, “what does Brittany say about Pat Lamone?”

“They’ve been on-again, off-again for so long, but she hasn’t said anything about him recently.”

“He’s responsible for some bad stuff when he was younger,” I say. “He poisoned my cousin Diana, and he drugged Rory and Callie Pike and took compromising photos of them.”

“Yes. Brittany told me. And she told me about her involvement in the same thing.”

“Statutes of limitations have long passed,” Dad says, “but we can’t let Pat Lamone get away with this.”

“I don’t know that we have a choice,” Mom says. “He’s a Steel. And he’s Lauren’s son. And if Lauren turns out to be—”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Dad says, turning back to Doc. “What about this trafficking ring?”

“From what I can understand from all this,” Doc says, “and you’re welcome to look at it, everything is supposed to cease to exist upon Wendy’s death.”

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