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When we knock on the door to Max’s hotel room, Aiden squeezes my hand. I look up to him. “You okay?” Our drive here was in silence. I don’t doubt both our minds were too busy flashing images of what ifs.
I let out a deep exhale. “Yes. You?”
He nods slowly, unsure. “You’re here, so yes.”
“I love you.” I offer a reassuring smile.
Max opens the door, holding it wide so we can walk in. The room is a suite, so it has a living room and a separate bedroom. Ryan is sitting on the couch, his knee bouncing up and down. That’s a bad sign. Aiden pulls me with him into the room, and we sit in the couple chairs Max has set up around the coffee table. I sit down slowly, feeling like we’re walking into an intervention. Ryan glances at Aiden and then his gaze lands on me. There’s something wrong. Aiden must feel it, too.
“What the hell is going on?” He narrows his eyes at Ryan and then turns his attention to Max, who sits down on the couch.
“You’re not the father,” Max declares. Aiden’s body deflates like a balloon was just let loose. I want to stand up and jump up and down. I knew it.
“Holy shit,” he rasps, grabbing my leg. Relief settles into his face, and he manages a soft smile. I put my hand over his and squeeze.
“But…” Max starts, pulling our attention back to him. But, what? We only needed a yes or a no. There shouldn’t be a but. “I told my guy to run a familial DNA test since we were pretty sure Aiden wasn’t the dad. You just never know.” He looks at me and I nod in understanding. I would’ve done the same thing. We run familial DNA tests all the time. “There was a match.”
“That’s good. At least Jessie can’t lie about who the dad is then,” I say.
“It wasn’t an exact match. The match is a relative of the father. Of course, you know we can’t determine which relative though,” Max says to me. I nod again, wondering where this is going. Max leans forward on his knee, weaving his fingers together. The seriousness of his expression is almost frightening.
“Max, you’re not one to usually beat around the bush. What the hell are you holding back?” Aiden asks, mimicking Max by sitting forward.
“Presley is related to Travis.”
Wait. What? I jerk my head to Aiden and then back to Max. I don’t think I heard that right. I couldn’t have heard that right.
“What did you say?”
“She is somehow related to Travis, which means—”
“I know what the hell it means,” I snap, standing up and walking around. My eyes bounce from spot to spot. Never in my wildest what ifs did this scenario ever go through my mind. How? Who? I spin around, looking back to the guys. Ryan has a look of guilt as he fidgets with his watch, Max is staring at me, and Aiden’s head is lowered. “What don’t I know? What am I missing here?”
Aiden jumps up and walks to me. “Sweetheart.” There’s panic in his eyes. I take a step back.
I put up a hand to stop him. He knows something. “No! If Travis isn’t the father, who else is related to Travis other than me? Because I’m sure the fuck not the father!” I scream, frustrated they’re holding something back.
Aiden runs his hands through his hair, looking up briefly before our eyes lock. He blows out a sigh. “You have a brother.”
The words suspend in the air like time stopped right as he said them. I gasp and my eyes widen in disbelief. “What?” My voice is barely audible.
Aiden swallows, looks at the guys, and then back to me. “I…forgot.” His voice trails off and his eyes plead for understanding.
My head cocks to the side. I’m taken back by his answer. “You forgot?” I say sarcastically. “How do you forget something like that, Aiden?”
I feel hurt and betrayed by the man I love more than anything. I don’t understand. How could he keep this from me? I open my mouth to say something but snap it shut. The tightness in my throat prevents words from forming. I shake my head, whip around, and storm out of the hotel room. I just had the air knocked out of me, and I’m having a hard time breathing.
“I have a brother,” I say out loud to no one. The words are foreign on my lips. It feels like I’m lying to myself. I pace the hotel floor hallway and hear a door open behind me, but I don’t turn around. I know it’s Aiden. When I get to the end of the hallway, I look out the window and see nothing. I’m blinded by deceit. My mind is too busy trying to grasp this new information thrown at me. After a few moments, I turn back toward Aiden. He leans against the door, hands in his pockets, eyes cast down.
My feet move like I’ve got weighted shoes on. I’m trying to understand why he wouldn’t tell me, but I can’t come up with anything. When I finally make it to him, I whisper, “Why?”
“Addison…” he pauses for a beat and lifts his head, meeting my eyes. “You have to understand. See this from where I stand. I found out about Travis’s son when I first started working for him. He had me check up on him every few months to make sure he was fine. He was one of many people in Travis’s world that I checked on for him.” I cock my eyebrow at the word many. “He’s his only son. Anyway, fast forward two and a half years later when I finally find out Travis was your father, it was the furthest thing on my mind at the time.”
I think back to that day, how we’ve come full circle. We’re here because of that week. After he found out Travis was my father, Aiden went to the beach house and that’s when Jessie claims they created a baby.
“And then you were kidnapped.”
He stops talking and lets me gather my thoughts. I pushed him away for months. And when he came back, we had the Lexi situation. I drop my head. We’ve had a rough couple of years.
