Chapter Twelve

It didn't surprise Billie that Presley once again went into the bat out of hell mode as he drove to the hospital. Victoria had dropped a bombshell, and it was the bombshell that Presley and she had wanted.

I think I know who was behind my kidnapping.

Finally, they might get some answers about this ordeal that Victoria had been through. Of course, Presley and she had been through part of it, too, and they needed to know if they were the reason this had happened.

Billie remembered the hatred she'd heard in Hattie's voice, and if Hattie had actually orchestrated the kidnapping, then maybe Victoria had learned that. The kidnappers had held her a long time, and all it took was a slip of the tongue to reveal something that they might not have intended to reveal.

Presley turned into the hospital parking lot and found a space that wasn't far from the ER doors. They hurried in, threading their way to her room, where they saw Angel standing guard at the door. He showed no signs of surprise at seeing them, which meant Victoria had probably told him they were coming.

"Is Jesep or her stepkids around?" Presley asked him.

Angel shook his head. "They all left about an hour ago. Not sure when they'll be back, so whatever Victoria's got to say to you, try to make it fast. She doesn't say much of anything important whenever they're around."

"Does she seem scared of them?" Billie asked.

Angel lifted his shoulder. "Maybe. She sure as hell seems a lot better when they're not here. Don't get me wrong. She needs to be in the hospital, but I don't think she's as weak as she makes out to be to Jesep and his kids."

Interesting, and Billie wanted to know why that was. But Presley and she also needed to take Angel's suggestion of doing this fast.

"It's Billie and me," Presley said, giving a single knock on the door.

"Come in," Victoria replied.

The greeting was quick, and when they stepped into the room, Billie saw what Angel had meant about the woman maybe doing better than she was leading her family to believe. She didn't look the picture of health, but she was fully sitting up, and there was some color other than the bruises on her face.

"Thank you for coming," she said, and even her voice was stronger. She set aside a tablet that someone had obviously brought in for her since their last visit. "I'm not sure how much time we have. Jesep is talking to his doctor to convince him to come to Outlaw Ridge and take over my care."

"You can't just tell him no?" Billie pressed.

Victoria shook her head and seemed to offer a silent apology about that, making Billie wonder if Jesep was abusive to his wife. But that serious topic would apparently have to wait because Presley launched right into the reason for this visit.

"Who's responsible for your kidnapping?" he threw out there.

The woman closed her eyes a moment. "I'm not certain, but I suspect Ari could be behind it."

Bingo. Billie suspected the same thing. Then again, that suspicion also applied to Jesep, Olivia, and Hattie.

"I don't have any proof," Victoria went on a moment later. "But Ari hates me, and I feel in my gut that he would like me out of his father's life."

Billie didn't groan. Not out loud, anyway. But she'd been hoping for more than a gut feeling here.

"Has Ari said or done anything to make you believe he'd hire those kidnappers?" Presley asked.

"No," she said but then paused. "He's been acting strange though. For instance, last week he was talking on the phone when I walked into the room, and he just hung up on the caller. And later that day, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He told Jesep he had a business meeting in Austin, but when I spoke to his PA about another matter, she said there was no meeting, that Ari had gone home for the day."

Again, nothing major. Still, Billie couldn't dismiss the fact that Victoria said that Ari hated her. That was motive.

"What about Olivia?" Billie pressed. "How does she feel about you?"

Victoria drew in a weary-sounding breath. "Well, I can't imagine she's pleased with her father's new will."

Billie and Presley exchanged a glance, and it was Presley who spelled out the question. "Olivia knows about that?"

"Yes. Both Ari and she do. Jesep told them in a family meeting. He decided he wanted his kids to earn their own fortunes the way he did through hard work and no trust fund." She clamped her teeth over her bottom lip a moment. "The will has put another wedge between Ari, Olivia, and me."

" Another ?" Presley questioned. "What other wedges are there?"

"The obvious one of me being the stepmother and Jesep encouraged them to keep me at an emotional distance. He's never wanted them to think of me as a mother, that if they did that, it would somehow replace his first wife."

Billie heard the hurt there. Maybe the resignation, too. What she wasn't hearing was any reason for Victoria to stay married to Jesep.

"When was this meeting to tell Ari and Olivia about the new will?" Billie asked.

"Last month," Victoria muttered, and Billie could tell from the woman's tone and expression that she thought maybe the new will had played into what'd happened to her.

"So, both Ari and Olivia have a reason to want you out of the way," Presley concluded.

Victoria sighed. Nodded.

"And Jesep?" Presley went on. "Does he have a motive?"

"No." That response came quickly, but then she sighed. "Not that I know of anyway. Our life together has been far from perfect, but we've been married for twenty-eight years. He's never asked me for a divorce, and as far as I know, he hasn't cheated."

Not exactly resounding confirmations of a marriage that'd lasted so long. Definitely no mention of love.

"You were young when you married Jesep," Billie commented.

Victoria nodded. "Twenty-four. Jesep was forty-one."

"And you met when you became Olivia's bone marrow donor," Presley added, obviously his attempt to get the woman talking. So far, Victoria wasn't painting a full picture of her life as a Wessington.

"No, I'd met Jesep before that," Victoria corrected. "He and my father were friends and had done business together." Another pause. "Look, I don't expect you to understand this, but my father admired and respected Jesep, and I wanted to do something my father would approve of."

"Uh, by marrying Jesep?" Presley asked.

"I did. I had failed my parents in so many ways. I thought I could do something to make him, well, not look at me as if he was sorry I was his daughter."

"You failed your parents by having me," Presley murmured. Billie didn't hear any hurt, but she knew it was there. Abandonment and rejection could cause plenty of childhood scars.

"I, uh, acted out a lot," Victoria said. "The pregnancy was just one of the things that disappointed them. And you weren't to blame," she quickly pointed out.

Presley made a sound as if he couldn't quite buy that, and he doled out some more questions. "Tell me about my bio-father. Is he connected to any of this?"

Victoria was shaking her head before he even finished speaking, but she didn't get a chance to add a verbal answer because of the loud voices in the hall. Or rather one loud voice anyway.

Ari.

"I will see Victoria now," Ari snarled.

"Let him in," Victoria insisted. "I don't want an altercation."

Billie couldn't rule out the possibility of their being one. Angel wasn't the sort to take crap from anyone, and Ari sounded as if he was on the verge of picking a fight.

Presley went to the door, opened it, and nodded to Angel, who stepped aside so Ari could rush in. But he wasn't alone. Olivia was right on her brother's heels.

Ari didn't seem surprised to see Presley or her in his stepmother's room. In fact, Billie got the distinct impression that he'd not only known they were there, but it was the reason he'd been so adamant about seeing Victoria.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ari demanded, directing that at Victoria. "Why are you talking to them?"

"They saved my life," Victoria said, which, of course, wasn't an answer that placated a clearly riled Ari.

Olivia wasn't in the anger mode, but she did seem confused at her brother's reaction. She tried to take hold of Ari's arm, but he threw off her grip with far more force than required. It caused Olivia to stagger back, and she might have fallen against the wall if Presley hadn't reached out and steadied her. She muttered a thanks that got lost in her brother's words.

"Are you working together with them?" Ari snapped. "Is that why they're here? You need to tie up some loose ends from your fake kidnapping?"

Victoria's forehead bunched up, and she seemed confused. Welcome to the club. Billie was experiencing the same thing. Apparently, Presley, too, judging from the question he hurled at Ari.

"Why the hell would you think the kidnapping was fake?" Presley aimed a glare at Ari.

"Sympathy, for one," Ari fired back. "So that Olivia and I won't hate her for Dad's will. Well, we do hate her, and faking her abduction won't change that one bit."

"Sounds as if you should hate your father since it's his will," Presley argued.

Ari smirked. "Who do you think talked him into doing that?" He pointed to Victoria. "She somehow convinced him to leave her everything."

"I didn't," Victoria spoke up. "And I didn't fake my kidnapping." She held up her bandaged hand to remind him of what the kidnappers had done to her.

That didn't ease his smirk one bit. "A small price to pay to hang onto your husband."

Anger flashed through Victoria's eyes, and Billie was glad to see it. So, the woman had a spine after all. "I don't need to feign a kidnapping to do that," she said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, yeah?" Ari challenged. "What happens when Dad finds out about him?" He hiked his thumb in Presley's direction.

That drained the courage from Victoria's face. Not from Presley's though. He moved directly in front of Ari.

"Explain that," Presley said, his voice low and dangerous. It wasn't a request but an order.

Ari did take a step back, but he didn't tone down his expression much. "I know you're her kid," the man said.

Oh, shit.

And Billie muttered a few more words of profanity.

Apparently, Olivia was experiencing a whole lot of surprise, too, because she gasped, and she volleyed stunned glances at Victoria and Presley. "Is it true?" she asked her stepmother.

Ari spoke before Victoria could. "Yes, it's true. Victoria got knocked up when she was a teenager, had him, and tried to hide her secret by giving him away. Well, secrets don't always stay hidden."

"How did you find out?" Billie asked just as Olivia said, "Does Dad know?" The shock was still straining her voice.

Again, it was Ari who answered. "No. I was going to tell him, but before I could do that, Victoria was kidnapped. Convenient, huh? And convenient, too, that the kidnappers requested her son to do the ransom drop."

"It wasn't convenient," Victoria murmured. "It was a nightmare, and I didn't arrange it because you were going to tell Jesep about the child I had. I had no idea you knew. How did you know?" she pressed, paraphrasing Billie's earlier question.

"I have my ways," he said. The smug SOB. He was practically gloating now over Victoria's obvious distress. "Like I said, secrets don't stay secret. Do they?" he asked, not directing that at Victoria or Presley.

But at Olivia.

"No," Victoria blurted, and she would have bolted from the bed had Billie not rushed to her to keep her in place. "No," she repeated, frantically shaking her head. "Please, Ari. Not like this. Please ."

What the heck?

Billie looked at Presley to see if he knew what this was about, but he didn't. In fact, the only two people in the room who seemed to know what was going on was the gloating Ari and the terrified Victoria.

"Please, don't," Victoria repeated on a sob.

But Ari ignored her and turned to Olivia. "Victoria got knocked up when she was a teenager, and she had him." He tipped his head to Presley. "And you. Twins. Sorry, little sister, but Victoria is the bitch who gave birth to you."