Chapter 39

Kali

"What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be halfway to LA?" Marcus escorts me inside his ten-bedroom mansion on his private estate.

"I changed our flights by a couple of hours. I needed to speak to you urgently." I told Wade a white lie. Although it's not, it's a gigantic, ugly lie. I hate keeping secrets from him. But this is big. Too big for me to wrap my head around. I will be able to soon. As soon as I process this mess. But for now, I said I needed to work due to a small crisis management issue for a client.

Unbeknown to him. He's the client.

And my secret boyfriend.

"What did he do this time?" Marcus grumbles while rolling his eyes.

I hold my tongue and pull out a piece of paper from my jacket pocket to show him instead.

"Oh hell, is it bad?" he asks, sounding anxious.

I lower my voice so as not to be heard. "Is having a secret love child bad? I think so, yeah." I hand him the printout of the DNA results document Lola sent me.

His skin turns ashen. "Where did you get this?" The paper in his hands begins shaking. "No one was supposed to find out." Marcus sways on his feet and reaches out to hold onto the wall to steady himself.

A member of Marcus's housekeeping team walks down the marble staircase. "We should talk somewhere a little more discreet, don't you think?" He ushers me quickly into his home office.

Resting my back on the chair opposite Marcus as he sits behind the desk, I school my emotions when, in fact, the fires of hell are raging through my body, every cell within me ready to explode at any minute. Annoyed at Marcus for harboring such a gigantic secret for so long and worried how Wade will react to this news.

Elbows on the desk, head in his hands, he's staring down at the DNA results. He's shook.

Which is exactly what Wade will be when he discovers the truth about Zane being his half-brother.

"You're lucky Gladiola, AKA Lola, trusted me with this and didn't go straight to the press." Lola doesn't have a nasty bone in her body. She's not after money, because it turns out she has lots of her own which she recently inherited from her father. And all she wants is to be Wade's sister; to be a family because without her dad, who died only a few months ago, she has no one. It's that simple. Wanting to fulfill her father's last dying wish, she wants to apologize on behalf of her father too. I can't imagine what carrying that secret around with him must have been like. I feel sorry for him. He lost out too. He lost his wife, who he loved, and had a son that turned out not to be his. How awful.

That saying Wade says is true; hurt people, hurt people.

I'm grateful Lola trusted me with this information. Together, we agreed to keep it under lock and key. For now.

To protect Wade. Until the time is right. Which is what Lola wants and I support her.

He's only just finding his feet again. Learning to deal with his emotions and making incredible progress of coming to terms with Gretchen's death. Throwing this at him now is not the right time.

And I will do everything in my power to prevent this life-changing information from coming out in the press. Not now, certainly not while Wade is flying high. The tides are changing for him and he's about to have the best month he's ever had since we started his publicity campaign.

It's a private and delicate matter, which I want to keep that way until the time is right. It needs handling in the right way.

I take the lead on our conversation. "I believe you know Ritchie Ramsay?" Marcus's jaw twitches as I drop his name. "Of course you know him. After all, he is Lola's father, Miranda's ex-husband, and your ex-business partner." Fresh out of college, with the help of their fathers, they invested in a small chain of restaurants, which they grew together and went on to open a string of coffee shops and wine bars.

That was, until Ritchie discovered his best friend was having an affair with his wife, and Wade was Marcus's, then kicked both her and Wade out on the street. With nowhere to go, she moved into her father's house.

"Lola is Miranda's daughter?" he asks, confused.

"Yes."

I got a little more detail out of Lola before I came here. She doesn't need to work, doesn't need the money, she just wanted a position within the admin team to get closer to him. All she wants is a family. A brother. And to make her feel like she's not alone. Although part of me wishes she had just told him who she was from the minute she found out, maybe she is what he needed. To show him he isn't alone. He has a whole family. Which will come as a complete surprise to him. I'm not sure how he will take it.

"Ritchie told her everything?" Marcus mumbles, as if asking himself.

"Yes." I'm blunt to the point of being rude. "He died a few months ago, and he told her before he passed away."

"I never meant for this to happen." Marcus is quieter than I've heard him.

"Did your dick just slip out of your pants and inside her panties by mistake?" I'm past the point of caring if I'm being unprofessional and crass.

"It was a mistake."

"That you continued to make, over and over again. You met Wade at his grandfather's house, didn't you? I know this because he remembers a man who visited every week." I put two and two together myself. "It was never a onetime thing. He saw you. Not once, not twice, but dozens of times. Lucky for you, you're unrecognizable now. And it would seem he was too young to remember you." His brown locks long gone have been replaced with silver strands, which I know because of the photos scattered on the unit behind his desk of him when he was much younger.

"Tell me, do you wear colored contacts for a reason? In fact, don't answer that." I already know the answer. The private family photos sitting proudly along the console table behind his desk confirm everything I need to know.

Wade inherited his father's unique eye color, like the brilliant blue of the Caribbean Sea. If Marcus didn't wear contacts to cover them, and if Wade were to see his personal photos in his home office, Wade would figure out who he was in a heartbeat.

Since I learned Marcus was Wade's biological father, I realize how similar Wade looks to Marcus. Zane has his mother's genes, blonde hair, brown eyes. Pity he didn't inherit his mother's sweet personality.

"Did you ever have any intention of telling him you were his father?" I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.

He shakes his head. "I honestly don't know."

"And is that why you put a support team together for him? To help him? Was it guilt or genuine concern?" I silently pray it's the latter.

"I care about him." His brow knits together in confusion. "I really do care about him."

I want to believe him, I really do. And I can see the effort he went to putting together a support team to save him. Maybe he's telling the truth. I hope so for Wade's sake.

"How did Lola get Zane's DNA?" he asks, staring at the results in front of him.

"Lola used Wade's toothbrush to collect his DNA and sent it off to cross reference it with her DNA as well as Zane's blood from the shirt Wade wore the evening Zane attacked me." Still yellow and green in places, my bruises haven't fully disappeared.

I admire Lola. Biding her time, she waited for the opportunity to present itself. Zane attacking me was a blessing in some ways, allowing her to gather the sample she needed.

"This will kill my wife."

"I wish you had thought about that before you had an affair." I hate cheaters, but I really like Marcus. I feel so conflicted. "I thought you were a good man with high morals. I've always admired the way you run your business. Please tell me it was only Miranda."

"It finished a very, very long time ago, and it was only ever Miranda." His voice is indignant and then he continues, "Ritchie couldn't accept Wade as his own. Once he knew he was mine, it was game over for him. He hated me, which made him hate Wade and Miranda. Lola is Ritchie's. I know this because Miranda and I stopped seeing each other for a while after Wade was born." He swallows hard and stares off into blankness. "The three of us signed a non-disclosure agreement. We agreed to keep their divorce under wraps, and I gave Ritchie my shares in the businesses we owned as part of the agreement. Miranda walked away with nothing."

"She didn't leave with nothing. She had Wade," I say.

"That's not what I meant. Stop twisting my words. I meant she didn't have any money, so I looked after her financially—for years—to make sure Wade got everything he needed. Ritchie and Miranda came to an amicable agreement: Ritchie fought to keep Lola and Miranda took Wade." Splitting the family in two. How awful.

"Why did Miranda give Lola up so easily?" I can't understand any of it including what made her the way she is with Wade. She's a spineless, heartless woman.

"She never wanted children, told me so herself, but I thought it was just something she said, because she was so flippant. Wade was a mistake and then she only had Lola to shut Ritchie up. It's what he wanted."

A mistake?His words make my stomach roll.

"It seems she wasn't that interested in either of them," he says as if everything is starting to click into place. "She always maintained she wasn't made to be a mother. I thought she was simply struggling with being a new mom and adapting. But I was wrong. I didn't know how badly she treated Wade until recently. I promise, Kali." He pauses for a beat. "I genuinely thought Wade was well looked after by Miranda. I didn't see the full picture. I was wrong. I fucked up."

"Ritchie was your business partner and your best friend. What made you do it?" I still can't believe it.

"I don't know. Miranda was fun, uncomplicated, sexy." That's a shitty excuse, and he knows it. "A very good actress it would seem." He loosens the tie around his neck as if it's strangling him.

"And your best friend's wife. I call that complicated."

"We fooled around before she married Rich. I was sworn to Nicki long before then. Because our fathers owned the Eagles, it was just sort of expected that we would get married without question, which we did."

This is so messed up.

My heart aches for that three-year-old little boy.

And like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle all coming together to give me the whole picture it suddenly dawns on me that Wade's recurring dream was really a memory. He witnessed his mother crying on the doorstep of the house.

It's the same scene that plays out in his nightmares... Only the screaming woman, who I assume is his mother, isn't crying from the loss of her child. She was crying for the loss of the lifestyle she thought she was going to lose out on. Only she didn't because her father bailed her out by providing a roof over her head, while Marcus provided the money she needed to keep the lifestyle she had become accustomed to.

Marcus runs his hands through his hair, messing it up. He looks riled.

They are all to blame for their actions. Although they did it to save their businesses and their reputations. There was so much at stake. If the press had found out or if Marcus' father had found out what he did, he may never have inherited the Eagles or any of the other family businesses.

Nicki and Marcus come from wealthy families. As did Ritchie, but Miranda was a disposable asset as such.

And poor Wade was caught up in their cover-up.

But the rest of them; they were to blame.

Miranda, for not being able to stay faithful and having an affair with her husband's best friend.

Lola's father, Ritchie, for taking a machete to their family, ripping them in two.

And Marcus for not doing the right thing and stepping in to be the father he should have been to Wade. Not to mention the damage his mother did. Depriving that beautiful boy of a childhood.

Wade and Lola—even Zane—are the innocent ones who got caught in their crossfire.

When Wade finds out Zane is his half-brother, that's going to go down like a shit sandwich. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

"There are three innocent people involved and I don't know much about Lola yet, but I know her well enough, and I'm going to make sure she gets the family she deserves." I continue, "Zane, well, you know how I feel about him. Regardless, he has a brother you haven't even told him about. And Wade." My poor man. "Had it not been for Gretchen, he would never have been taken care of. Miranda was and still is a terrible mother. Do you have any idea the things she has said and done to that poor boy?"

He stares down at his shaking hands. "I told you, I didn't know. I never wanted that for him. If I had known?—"

"Don't finish that sentence because you don't even know yourself what you would do. You can't be certain, Marcus." I tear up, feeling sad for my beautiful Wade. "You can't change the past." But how I wish Wade's were different.

"You're right, Kali." He sounds defeated. "Our lie just got bigger and bigger and as the years went on, I could never work out how to tell him. I signed a stupid NDA."

"Which Ritchie broke so he could tell his daughter the truth. I understand why you never wanted anyone to find out about you and Miranda. I know you were protecting the businesses you have and Nicki from the heartache. But if you had really cared about him, you would have claimed him. He's yours, Marcus. Yours by blood, and he's a beautiful, talented man. With a gorgeous soul and a huge heart, which we have Gretchen to thank for. You should build that woman a temple and worship the shit out of her because she deserves it. He is who he is because of her. Not you. Not Miranda. Her."

I can tell torment is eating him from the inside out when he says, "Miranda told me that she blamed Wade for everything. Some days, she said she couldn't even look at him. I didn't think she actually meant it literally. I thought it was a feeling, not how she treated him because of her guilt or anger because him being born was the reason her marriage ended. I didn't know she was verbally abusive until Wade told me. I thought…"

I open my mouth in dismay. "You were wrong about everything, Marcus." My words are vicious. "And the only ones at fault are you and Miranda. An innocent child is not to blame for your adultery." I throw words of hatred at him like stones, and his silence sends my temper soaring. "And the worst part is Wade can't work out what he did to make his mother hate him so much. Turns out he did nothing. It was all on you two. Is that why you put together a support team for him? Was it out of guilt?"

"No." His voice is strong and confident.

I was right. It's only ever been about one thing. "The Eagles reputation." I state, pushing my chair back and get ready to leave. I feel sick to my stomach.

"How much money do you want?" Pulling open a drawer from his desk, he lifts his checkbook and lays it on the table.

I let out a maniacal laugh. "You're joking, right? Marcus, none of this is about money."

"God, I'm sorry." He looks disgusted at himself. "I just thought."

"You thought wrong. I will not be bought. I step forward and lay my hands flat on top of his desk, leaning over him, and through a tense jaw, I set the record straight. "I don't want any of your money, however, what I want is for this to be kept quiet until the season is over because this..." I stab the piece of paper with the DNA results in it. "Will destroy Wade. And I will not let anything, or anyone stand in his way on the road to success. I'm going to make him a star this season. And take this as my notice. I don't want another cent from you. I will work with Wade for the rest of the season for free and I want you to cancel my contract with you and your other businesses. Working together is an issue for me and I can't forgive you right now for what you've done. I might do with time, but for now and always, my priority is Wade." That contract is worth over a million dollars a year for the business, but I don't care. Once we launch the talent management side of the business, we'll be fine. And if not, I'll go back to modeling if I have to. My stomach churns like a blender at that thought. I don't want to go back to modeling, but I will if it means doing the right thing by Wade.

"Kali, please don't do this."

"We have until the end of the season to work out how to break this news to your family. More importantly, Wade. But right now, I have a plane to catch." I straighten my spine. "You will agree not to tell Miranda about this conversation."

"I agree."

"And Wade and I are dating."

"I thought as much."

"You will turn a blind eye to our relationship. It will not affect Wade's position on the team."

"It's a non-issue. You have my word." Which doesn't appear to count for much these days.

"He's a great man."

"I know."

"I'd like to think that you are still one of those too."

"I'm not a bad man, Kali. I've just made some pretty bad decisions."

"You have a few months left to redeem yourself. You need to figure out how to fix your mess."

Although, that seems impossible.

I finish, "And you need to speak to Lola. She deserves an apology, too."

"I will."

"Thank you for your time. Now I have a plane to catch."

"I'm sorry, Kali."

But I can bring myself to forgive him.

Will I ever be able to?