AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But of course we’re going to,” Uncle Ryan adds.
Brock is still red in the face, but Diana has calmed down. I try to remain calm as well. Even with my diminished share, I’ll be rich as anything.
“I’d like to say something,” Aunt Jade offers.
“What is it, blue eyes?” Uncle Talon asks.
She takes a deep breath. “This family has been through so much. Both in the past and recently. And Diana, darling, I love you and your brothers and sister more than anything, but I honestly think it’s time to try to heal from all the trauma we’ve been through. You’re all well aware that whatever your share is, it will be tremendous, and you’ll live your lives the way most of you have become accustomed to. I want to be fair, and I think I can say with certainty that we older Steels are done having children.”
That gets a soft laugh out of Aunt Ruby, but then her eyes mist over in sadness once more.
“So I propose,” Aunt Jade continues, “that we distribute equally to all grandchildren of Bradford Steel. Brock, Brad, Ava, and Gina, are you okay with that? You would all get more with the original plan.”
Hmm… She didn’t ask Jack and Pat, but who the fuck cares?
Ava is the first to reply. “Of course, Aunt Jade.”
Easy for her. She doesn’t even use her Steel trust fund.
Gina and Brad agree, and finally Aunt Jade turns to Brock.
Brock darts fire at Pat once more but finally says, “Fine.”
“This is a lot to take in,” Ava says.
“Is it ever,” Brianna agrees.
“Yes,” Uncle Joe says. “But I agree with Jade. Let’s try to heal from the past. I’ll need all my energy to fight this cancer.”
Melanie sniffles into a tissue.
“Don’t you worry, baby,” Uncle Joe says to her. “I’ve been fighting my whole life, and I don’t plan to stop now.”
Uncle Talon clears his throat. “There is one other thing while we have you all together.”
I grit my teeth and prepare for more bad news.
“Lauren,” Uncle Ryan says, “do you want to say this or should I?”
“You, please. It’s not something I’d like to relive.”
Ryan nods. “Yes, we all understand. As we all know, Pat is the result of Lauren’s”—he clears his throat—“rape by three men. We can’t be sure who these men were, but we do know that Wendy had three minions who were rapists. They raped Daphne Steel, and they raped my brother. And many others. Pat is twenty-seven years old, so the timing works out, as all three of them died a little over twenty-five years ago.”
My father draws in a breath, his jaw clenched.
And I understand why. One of those rapists was his own father.
This is all part of the horrid past we learned about recently.
But we’re back to Pat again? Then I gaze at Aunt Lauren. Her pretty face is twisted with anguish. This is killing her. It’s not her fault that Pat did the things he did. She didn’t raise him. And now she has to relive the horror of his conception.
“We have a way,” Uncle Ryan continues, “to possibly find out who Pat’s father is. I’ve discussed this with Lauren and Pat, and they both would like to discover who he is.”
“How?” my sister Sage asks.
“We all have a connection to those rapists,” Uncle Ryan continues. “Theodore Matthias was Aunt Ruby’s father. Larry Wade was Daphne Steel’s half brother, and Tom Simpson was Uncle Bryce’s father. So we will take DNA from Aunt Ruby, Uncle Bryce, and either Aunt Marj or Uncle Talon—not Uncle Joe, considering his illness—both of whom are biological children of Daphne Steel. We will compare Pat’s DNA to those three samples, and we should be able to tell which one of the men—if any of them—fathered him.”
“I have the best DNA guy in the business,” Aunt Ruby says. “He’ll get us an answer more quickly than anyone else could, and I trust him more than anyone else as well. And even if none of them are a match, Pat is still a Steel by virtue of Bradford Steel being his grandfather.”
