Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
He’d been sitting in a chair in his hotel room, but moved to the bed to get more comfortable, propped his iPad on his lap and settled in to listen.
Looking gorgeous for work, her long blonde hair hung over one shoulder in a long braid and she had a full face of makeup, though he liked her just as much, if not more, without any. Hell, he just plain liked her, though he suspected the feelings floating inside him were already something more than that.
“How did Linc find out about me?” She repeated his question and he remained silent, not wanting to say anything that might make her clam up. “When Kenneth Kingston…I can’t bring myself to call him my father, died of a heart attack, Linc was the one who’d looked after his estate. I guess the man was old school, at least in his dealings with my mother.” Her mouth twisted at the word. “Linc found eighteen years’ worth of canceled checks written to Tiffany Michaels.”
“Your mother,” Nick said, because it was obvious.
Aurora nodded. “Linc hired a private investigator, who tracked her down.” She shifted in her seat and drew a deep breath. “My whole life, I thought she was dead.” She looked Nick straight in the face. “Why else wouldn’t she have come for me after my grandmother died?”
Nick’s chest squeezed tight. The pain in her voice, and her expression, gutted him. He was furious at himself for asking her about this when he couldn’t comfort her in person. He needed to hold her in his arms and soothe her pain, not have a screen and the entire country between them.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
She closed her eyes and damned if a tear didn’t leak from one eye. She grabbed a tissue from the side of her desk and dabbed at it, her cheeks flushed with what he sensed was embarrassment. Dammit.
“Do you want to stop talking about this?” he asked in a gruff voice. “I never should have pushed you.”
She shook her head. “I’d rather get it over with.”
He nodded but his jaw was clenched so hard, he thought for sure he’d crack his teeth. “I’m here.”
He forced out the words, feeling inadequate. But he’d started this conversation and her pain was worse than his.
She sniffed and twirled her braid around her hand. “I guess it’s obvious at this point. My mother accepted monthly child support checks, cashed them, and used them to live her best life.”
Nick ran a hand over his face. “She admitted this?”
Aurora nodded. “She didn’t want to be saddled with a child. Apparently, Kenneth wanted her to get an abortion. But she refused because she knew he’d pay her to keep silent. He didn’t want his wife finding out about me.”
He blew out a harsh breath. “What about after your grandmother died? I’m sure the state tried to contact one of them?”
Her eyes filled again and she dabbed at the corners with the already damp tissue. “My mother didn’t want me. She refused to take me and signed off on all parental rights. And I guess part of the financial agreement between Kenneth and my mother was that he not be named on the birth certificate. So, to all appearances, I had no parents, so I went into foster care.”
“Fuck.”
“The story gets uglier, so buckle up,” she muttered.
God, he was an asshole. “I’m listening,” he said in as comforting a voice as possible.
Aurora drew a deep breath before speaking. “A year or so before he died, Kenneth paid my mother a visit, informing her he wouldn’t pay her another dime after I turned eighteen. God knows why he even cared at this point. I mean he’d already been shelling out money for so long and he could afford to do it forever.”
Nick waited for her to gather her thoughts and continue.
Eventually, she shrugged her shoulders. “When Kenneth found my mother, he discovered she hadn’t been raising me at all. So I’m sure that made him feel even more justified in cutting off her funds immediately. After all, why wait for my birthday?”
His jaw hurt from how hard he’d been clenching it. “I assume your mother didn’t take that well?”
“No.” Aurora picked up a pen and began rolling it between her palms, as if to calm herself down.
Once again, his need to touch and comfort her was almost overwhelming but there was nothing he could do.
“According to Linc, Kenneth had been suffering from early dementia and had begun making erratic, secret deals, things Linc couldn’t understand when he discovered them after Kenneth’s death. So maybe deciding to visit my mother had just been one of those impulses. Or maybe he just wanted to exert some control over her. But he failed. My mother threatened to tell his wife about me.”
Nick’s stomach churned even more. “Something tells me your mother wasn’t his only mistress. Tiffany would be opening a huge can of worms for your father if she told his wife.”