Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Rufus was totally aware of, but didn't acknowledge, Molly casting glances in his direction from below her long lashes as she sat in the passenger seat beside him while he drove his SUV to the address Linus had given him. Having access to the security feeds in all the buildings they guarded, Linus had also confidently informed him that Serena Jenkins had entered her apartment on the sixth floor two hours ago and hadn't left again since.

Rufus didn't respond to Molly's glances because he knew he had already done and said all that he could to show Molly he wanted to be with her. Just as he had assured her that none of this was her fault. That he was here for her, beside her, and that he would remain there.

He'd done all he could to reassure her of his support. Now it was up to Molly whether that gave her the courage she was going to need to get her through the ordeal of confronting Serena Jenkins.

Because, despite the outcome of today being set in stone—the arrest and incarceration of Serena—Rufus also accepted this meeting with the woman who had stolen his daughter was going to be a traumatic one. Not just for him, but for Molly too.

He was surprised—but at the same time not—when he saw his cousin Magnus casually leaning against the side of the apartment building as he and Molly approached after parking the car.

Magnus gave every appearance of scrolling through the feed on his cell phone, but Rufus knew him well enough to know that his cousin was always completely aware of his surroundings and the people in them. Magnus would have taken note of the SUV and Rufus's presence behind the wheel, with Molly seated beside him, the moment it came into view. Just as Magnus knew they were now walking toward him.

His cousin was a big bear of a man, four inches over six feet tall, with a thick beard covering the lower half of his face. The bulge of muscles in his arms and chest wasn't lessened in the least by the perfectly tailored dark suit he was wearing with a crisp white shirt and silver colored tie.

Rufus knew that Linus had to be the one responsible for contacting the eldest of his twin brothers, and as Magnus had been in Paris at the time, it had probably been at the same time he had initially texted Rufus very early this morning.

Magnus being the protective bugger that he was would have lost no time in traveling across the Channel so that he could be supportive and at Rufus's side for whatever came next in this complicated situation.

Because they had all shared the devastation Rufus had suffered when he had lost Beth and Emily all those years ago.

Just as they had also felt the same absolute joy when Rufus was reunited with his daughter so many years later.

Those two events had tempered most of Rufus's decisions in life, and all his cousins would know just how angry he was going to be now.

"Been using the company-owned jet again for personal travel?" Rufus drawled, his firm hold on Molly's elbow to keep her at his side.

Magnus straightened and put away his phone so the two men could hug. "What else is it for?" He grinned unapologetically, looking at Rufus with the exact same green-and-turquoise-colored eyes as his own before the intensity of that narrowed gaze moved curiously to Molly.

Rufus put his arm protectively about her shoulders. "This is my Molly." He ignored the sudden tension in her body to continue meeting his cousin's gaze, knowing there would be a challenge in his.

Magnus's brows rose at whatever he saw in Rufus's eyes. "Wow, and to think it's only been a couple of months since I was last in London."

Rufus shrugged. "Molly, this big lug is my cousin Magnus. Magnus, this is?—"

"Your Molly," his cousin drawled as he took her much smaller hand in his bear-sized paw.

"Exactly." Rufus nodded, not quite sure whom he was challenging, Magnus or Molly, but he had no intention of retracting the claim.

Molly was his.

She might not have accepted that fact yet, but with time, he had every hope of wearing her resistance down until she did.

"My name is Molly Harper," she said clearly and firmly, her chin held high as she met Magnus's gaze. "The woman Rufus is about to confront, the woman who stole Emily from him and Beth all those years ago, was named Sarah Harper before she changed her name to Serena Jenkins. She's my mother."

Much as Rufus admired Molly's show of courage, he knew she didn't need to use it right now. He had just told Magnus what she was to him, and he knew his cousin wouldn't ever question his choice.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Magnus acknowledged. "So…" He rubbed his hands gleefully together. "Are we all ready to go and do this?"

Rufus eyed his cousin derisively. He was sure that in another lifetime, Magnus had been a warrior of some kind, possibly a Viking considering his size, because his cousin certainly did love a fight. "I don't suppose asking you to wait here for us is even worth mentioning?"

"You suppose right," Magnus confirmed as he strode forward and opened the glass door for them to precede him into the reception area.

"We're going up to the sixth floor. Do not inform any of the tenants there of that fact," Rufus coldly instructed the two men on duty at the reception desk. "Not a single one of them," he added firmly.

Until Rufus was informed otherwise, all the guards working in this building and the animal center would be kept at a distance and treated as the traitors they were until he learned otherwise.

* * *

To say Molly was a bundle of nerves as the three of them went up in the elevator to the sixth floor, where Linus had obviously told Rufus her mother owned an apartment, would be a severe understatement.

That nervousness was added to by the unexpected presence of Magnus Wynter.

She had thought Rufus was big at several inches over six feet tall, with a muscular torso and arms. But Magnus Wynter was even taller, bigger, and gruffer.

He also hadn't so much as flinched when Rufus told him that Molly was his .

Or when she'd told him of her connection to Emily/Mia's abductor.

Molly was grateful for Rufus's firm hold on her arm as they stood outside Apartment 610 waiting for Serena Jenkins to respond to the ringing of the doorbell. Which was no doubt a surprise to her when she hadn't received notification she had a visitor from the men on the reception desk downstairs.

Nor would the older woman be able to see them through the spyhole in the door into the hallway, because Rufus had placed his other hand over it.

Which was probably why Sarah/Serena hadn't responded yet or opened the door.

"Step back," Magnus instructed impatiently, waiting until they had done so before lifting his foot and kicking so hard against where the door lock was placed that it broke and splintered. The door swung open and crashed noisily into the wall inside.

He easily caught the door as it swung back. "After you," he invited Rufus and Molly as if he did this every day of the week.

For all Molly knew, he did.

Serena Jenkins was nowhere in sight when they entered the sitting room of the apartment. Molly barely had time to note the luxurious furnishings—her mother would hardly settle for less—before Rufus took her with him as he strode down the hallway to enter the kitchen. Which was also empty. But there was another hallway leading off it, with three doors, only one of which was closed.

It was in front of this door that Rufus came to a halt. "You can choose to unlock the door, or it will meet the same fate as the one into the apartment."

By the anticipation on Magnus Wynter's face, Molly knew he was hoping for the latter.

There was complete silence from inside what must surely be a bedroom.

"I'm counting to three— So pleased you realized I don't make idle threats," Rufus said with satisfaction as the door opened to reveal Serena.

She moved back to stand at the foot of a king-size bed, which was covered in a silky peach colored duvet. She wore a silk blouse and tailored trousers and yet another pair of those high-heeled shoes with the red soles. "You have no right to break into my apartment," she told them haughtily.

Rufus released Molly's arm to step into the older woman's space. "You didn't have any right to steal my daughter from me, but I don't recall that stopping you."

She turned to glare furiously at Molly. "Whatever she's told you is a lie?—"

"Molly didn't tell me anything that hasn't been substantiated by information gathered by the same man who initially traced both you and your bank account to the Cayman Islands," Rufus assured harshly.

The color drained from Serena's face. "You have no right?—"

"Sing a different tune, love," Magnus advised. "That one is starting to sound a little old. On second thought, don't bother. We know you abducted Emily twenty-two years ago, and a boy named Ronan seventeen years ago?—"

"Along with dozens of other babies in between." Rufus drew in a deep breath before continuing. "Forgive me, love," he pleaded with Molly.

She blinked. "What for…?"

"This," he said softly before turning back to Serena Jenkins. "You took another baby twenty-seven years ago, whom you decided to name Molly and claim was your daughter. Until you decided she had grown too old to be of further use to you, and you simply abandoned her," he added in a hard voice.

Molly turned to Rufus sharply, knowing by the pleading apology in his eyes that he was only stating what he knew to be the truth.

Had Linus given him that information earlier?

She turned back to Serena. "Is that true?" If it was, then it meant she wasn't related to the older woman at all. That she didn't have any of this monstrous woman's DNA inside her.

Serena's top lip turned up scornfully. "Of course it's true. Look at the two of us. Do you see any family resemblance between us?" she added derisively.

No, of course she didn't. Serena was tall and either a blonde or a redhead, with hard brown eyes, whereas Molly was short, with glossy black hair and blue eyes. But she had always assumed that must be because she looked like her father rather than her mother.

Truthfully, this second possibility hadn't even occurred to her.

And it should have, Molly realized crossly, if not before, then definitely since she'd learned that Emily wasn't the only baby Sarah Harper had stolen. That there had been many others, including Ronan.

Now including Molly.

"Why did you keep me?" she choked.

Serena shrugged her narrow shoulders. "I made a mistake when I took you. You were such a tiny little thing, I thought you were younger than you were. The client didn't want a six-month-old baby, and by that time, I'd realized how drawn people were to you. You were past the demanding newborn stage, and no one else wanted you, so I decided to keep you. For years, you became my perfect accomplice."

"One who had no idea you were using me in that despicable way," Molly defended.

The woman gave a hard smile. "Well, you know it now."

Molly could see that Sarah Harper/Serena Jenkins felt absolutely no remorse for what she'd done. To Molly, or any of those other babies and their parents.

She turned to Rufus. "How long have you known?"

He grimaced. "I suspected it was a possibility when you told me about Ronan, but Linus confirmed it during his last telephone call," he admitted.

"And you didn't think that should have been the first thing you told me after you'd ended the call?" She glared at him as she directed almost the same accusation to him as he had to her earlier today. "I'm only kidding, Rufus." She chuckled ruefully when he looked concerned. "The truth is, I'm so euphoric at the thought of having no blood connection to this monster that I don't care how or when you learned the truth." She turned to the woman who had never been a mother to her in any way. "I hope you burn in hell for the hurt you've caused so many people."

"Doubtful, darling," Serena drawled as she sat on the end of the bed and crossed her legs at the knees. Her calm expression was one of complete confidence. "By the time I've finished making a deal for the information I have on where and when those babies were stolen and relocated, I doubt I'll serve more than a light sentence in a low-security prison," she concluded smugly.

"About that…" Rufus murmured. "The internet has come a long way since its inception several decades ago. To the extent it is currently allowing my cousin to put together, with the assistance of when money was paid into your bank account, a comprehensive file of the when and the where, and the relocations, of every child whose life you changed. By the end of today, I have every confidence he will have the details of every single one of them. I suspect, even though it might take him a little longer," he continued evenly, "that he will soon also have the name or names of the people or organization who employed you."

"Why you?—"

"Ah-ah, naughty, naughty." Magnus had stepped forward to grasp the hand, and fingernails, Serena had curled into talons before launching herself at Rufus.

She struggled against that hold. "Let me go, you bastard!" she screeched as she attempted to kick him with the pointed toe of her shoe.

Magnus's arms were long enough that she came nowhere close to hitting his shins. In fact, she looked slightly ridiculous attempting to do so.

Molly ignored them to look at Rufus. "Linus really is that good?"

"He really is that good," Rufus confirmed, taking a step toward her. "Molly, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier. To be honest, I was still trying to process it myself, let alone decide how best to tell you."

"Please don't apologize," she dismissed. "I really am too happy at knowing I'm not related to this woman in any way to care about the minutiae of how we came to know that information."

All that mattered was that she was free of any connection to the monster who was Sarah Harper/Serena Jenkins.

She stilled as another idea occurred to her. "Has Linus also discovered who my real parents are?"