Chapter Thirteen

Presley had to mentally replay Ari's words a couple of times before they sank in. And they didn't sink in well.

"Shit," he muttered, and he wanted to follow it with a string of bad profanity, but then he looked at Ari's face.

That arrogant sonofabitch was loving this. He was loving it as he watched Victoria and Olivia. They were speechless. Stunned. Gutted. Presley didn't want to give the asshole the satisfaction of seeing him that way, too, so Presley reined it all in, and he put on his cop's face.

"Get out, Ari," Presley told him.

Ari laughed and looked ready to spew more of his venom, but Victoria put a stop to that.

"Get. Out," Victoria snapped, and she sounded a lot stronger and significantly louder than she had just minutes earlier.

Ari lifted his chin. "Why should I?" he taunted.

Victoria looked him straight in the eyes. "Because I control what happens to your father's estate, and I will cut you off at the knees. Not a penny. First chance I get, I will ruin you."

Ari certainly didn't laugh at that, but he still looked ready to challenge her. Then, he must have realized that he'd stepped in the shitstorm he'd started. He spat out some profanity, and without giving any of them a glance, Ari stormed out of the room.

"Is it true?" Olivia asked, and Presley saw the tears streaming down her face. "Is it true?" she repeated, her voice cracking over a sob.

Victoria nodded and seemed to take a moment, trying to compose herself. Presley was doing the same. Hell. This had been another gut punch.

"Yes," Victoria muttered. "It's true. I did give birth to Presley and you. I'm your biological mother."

"But…" And that was all Olivia managed to say for a couple of moments. "You can't be."

"I am," Victoria assured her. "And I'm deeply sorry you had to find out about it this way."

More silence. More tears. Presley was actually thankful that Victoria's attention was on Olivia because he needed the time to steady himself. The woman looked on the verge of completely losing it.

The woman , he silently repeated.

But she was more than that. She was his sister.

Hell.

That required to take another deep breath, and he was glad when Billie moved closer to him and brushed her arm against his. Just that subtle contact helped him rein in the worst of the emotions, but it was going to take a while for him to process all of this.

"Does Dad know?" Olivia asked, and she pressed her trembling hands to her mouth while she waited for an answer.

"He knows," Victoria said, and she cleared her throat. "Jesep and my parents were friends, and when I got pregnant, Jesep told them that his wife always wanted a daughter, and they hadn't been able to conceive again after they had Ari. In fact, they were in the process of doing an adoption application."

Presley could see all of this playing out. Rich, snobby parents, their teenage daughter pregnant, and rather than try to raise their own grandchildren—or help Victoria raise them—they preferred to give the kids away. That way they didn't have to deal with the gossip.

Maybe her parents had thought they were giving Victoria a fresh start. A clean slate, so to speak. But obviously something had gone wrong for him to end where he had.

"So, your parents pressured you into handing over your child to Jesep and his wife," Presley finished when Victoria had been quiet again for several long moments. "Except it wasn't just one child."

Victoria made a sound of agreement. "When I got the ultrasound results and saw that I was carrying a boy and a girl, Jesep said he wanted the girl. He said he also had a close friend who wanted the boy." She stopped again, and a groan tore from her throat. "Jesep wouldn't tell me the name of his friend, insisting the couple wanted to keep the adoption private, but he swore to me they were good people and would love you as their own."

"Clearly, that didn't happen," Presley muttered. "So, something went wrong. What?"

She took a glass of water from the table next to her bed and drank several sips before she answered. "I needed a C-section for the delivery, and I ended up being fully sedated. After I woke up in recovery, my mother was there, and she said the babies were already with their parents."

Well, shit. That had to have knocked Victoria for a proverbial loop.

"My mother insisted that I was to put all of this behind me and never shame her or my father again. I didn't even get to see either of you," Victoria added with her voice outright shaking now. "You were just gone."

Presley wasn't immune to those tears in her eyes. Nor the ones in Olivia's eyes. But he needed answers.

"How did I end up in a fire station?" he came out and asked.

Victoria shook her head and drank more of the water. "I'm not sure. I didn't know you had been abandoned there until you told me right here in this hospital room. I just assumed Jesep's friends had adopted you as planned." She stopped, groaned." I need to ask Jesep about that," she added in a mutter, and her expression said she was dreading that conversation.

"Dad knew you had given birth to me," Olivia said in a hoarse whisper. "Mom knew."

"They did," Victoria verified.

"And they never said a word. They never told me…" Olivia seemed to freeze. "The bone marrow. That's why you and I were a match."

Victoria nodded. "When you got sick, Jesep contacted me and asked me to be tested. I did it, and I was a donor match. Jesep was…grateful," she said after seemingly searching for the right word.

"So, you married Jesep to be with your daughter?" Presley concluded.

"Yes. But he insisted I never tell Olivia the truth."

Presley recalled Victoria saying that Jesep had never wanted Ari and Olivia to think of Victoria as their mother. Ironic since she was Olivia's child and not Jesep's.

"Oh, God," Olivia blurted. "He knew. Dad knew. You knew," she said, looking at Victoria.

"We did, and I'm sorry we didn't tell you," Victoria insisted. "You had the right to know, especially after your mom died."

Olivia shook her head. Not a gentle motion. But a frantic denial. "I can't do this. I just can't." She said, throwing open the door and bolting out of the room.

Angel was right there, and Presley and he exchanged a glance before Angel set off after Olivia, no doubt to make sure she was all right.

"Ari," Victoria spat out. "He should have never done this."

"How did he know?" Presley asked.

Victoria opened her mouth but closed it. Her forehead bunched up before she whispered, "I have no idea."

"Would Jesep have told him?" Billie pressed.

"I wouldn't have thought so, but maybe Jesep said something when I was a hostage."

"Maybe," Presley agreed. "But I can't see Jesep mentioning me to Ari. Olivia, yes, but not me. That means Ari would have had to do some digging, and finding that kind of info takes time."

Victoria stared at him. "You believe Ari found out some other way. But how?"

"Don't know yet, but consider all of what's happened in the span of a couple of weeks. Jesep changes his will, cutting out Ari and Olivia and leaving everything to you. I doubt they'd be happy about that."

"They weren't," Victoria was quick to confirm. "Ari left in an angry tirade much as he did today."

"Don't doubt it," Presley commented. "He could have sulked for a while, but at some point, he might have started to consider how he could fix this. And maybe one fix was to kidnap, and kill, you."

Victoria moaned, but she didn't look that surprised. He wondered though if she'd considered the rest of what might have been Ari's plan.

"Ari might have been worried about your bio-son having a claim to your estate, so that could have been why the kidnappers requested me. As Billie pointed out, she could have been added as a distraction, so that I might not be on top of my game."

The kidnappers had been wrong about that though. Billie hadn't been a distraction. She had only given Presley more reason to get Victoria, their fellow operatives, and her out of the attack alive.

He could practically hear Victoria trying to wrap her mind around all of that. "You believe Ari planned to have Olivia killed too?"

"Maybe," he settled for saying.

But there was a huge question mark there. Because if Ari hadn't honchoed the kidnapping, then the next logical suspect was Olivia.

Olivia had seemed genuinely shaken up over learning that Victoria was her mother and that Presley was her twin brother. It could have all been an act though. In fact, Olivia could have known about her bio-mom for years if she did any checking into the bone marrow transplant. Olivia could have kept it a secret.

Until her father's will.

Then, she could have set the plan into motion.

It twisted at him, but Presley knew he was going to do more than just consider that theory. He was going to have to look at Olivia as a person who wanted both Victoria and him dead.

"What about Jesep?" Billie asked. "Could he have arranged for you to be kidnapped?"

Victoria certainly didn't jump to deny that, and just considering it tightened all the muscles in her face. "I don't know. The will was a shock. I mean, it doesn't make sense. Jesep said he wanted Ari and Olivia to make their own fortunes like he did, but he bought his business with old family money."

Presley recalled reading that in one of the reports on Jesep, but he was having trouble coming up with a motive. He couldn't see Jesep wanting the publicity or the sympathy something like this would get him. Unless…

"Tell me about your will," Presley said. "Who inherits when you die?"

Victoria looked stunned for a couple of seconds. "Jesep, but I had it worded to include any child I might have, either biologically or adopted."

Bingo. That could be a powerful motive, especially since Victoria was just as wealthy as Jesep.

"So, we're back to square one," Billie said on a huff. "Ari, Jesep or Olivia could be behind the kidnapping. Or Hattie," she tacked onto that. "She's a woman involved in a case that Presley and I worked when we were cops."

"Four suspects," Victoria muttered. "And the three of us were probably meant to die at the creek." She didn't wait for Billie or him to respond. "You need to talk to someone else. Someone who might be able to give us answers."

"Who?" Presley couldn't ask fast enough.

"Your biological father," Victoria said, eventually.

"But you said he wasn't part of this," he reminded her.

"He's not. Not directly, anyway." Victoria groaned, but she kept her gaze pinned to his. "His name is Joe Malloy. And he's the stepfather of the two men who kidnapped me."