Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I’ll have a pumpkin spice latte,” she scoffs out.
“Sorry. I only brought medium roast. But I have cream and sugar.”
Finally, she opens the door. “If you’re determined to hang around here, come on in. I don’t want to stand out here on my feet.”
I walk in and realize I probably shouldn’t have. There are a couple of rifles hanging on the wall. They could very well be loaded, and although I’m a great shot, I’m not armed.
For a moment, I wish I were Brianna. She’d have some snide comment to make, something to say that would make this woman bow down to her.
That’s my little sister. A total spitfire who doesn’t take any crap from anyone.
I aim to channel her now.
“Do you want cream and sugar in your coffee?” I ask.
“Yes.”
No please? Not that I’m surprised. I take the lid off one of the cups of coffee, add some cream and a packet of sugar, stir it, and hand it to Mrs. Locke. “Here you go.”
She doesn’t thank me.
I take the lid off my own coffee. The steam rises. I blow on it, swirl it around a bit, and then take a drink.
Damn! I burned my tongue.
“So…” Mrs. Locke prompts.
I place my cup of coffee on a messy side table—normally I’d look for a coaster first, but this table is littered with rings, so I think I’m good. “Like I said, I’m a friend of your son’s. I want to ask you about your daughter.”
“I don’t talk about my children,” she says. “Before he showed up yesterday, I thought of myself as never having children.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to sweeten the pot.” I open my purse and pull out a hundred-dollar bill. “Will this get you talking?”
Her eyes widen at the sight of the money. “Are you for real?”
“Does this look fake to you?”
She shrugs. “Could be counterfeit for all I know.”
“Then I suppose you’ll just have to trust me. My name is Diana Steel, by the way.”
Her eyes widen again. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Because I’m the daughter of Talon Steel, one of the owners of Steel Acres Ranch and a principal in all of our other holdings.”
She smirks. “Then you can afford way more than a hundred bucks.”
“I can, but you have to earn it.”
She sighs and plunks down on her threadbare couch. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know why, once your daughter disappeared and you knew for sure that Dragon hadn’t had anything to do with her being attacked, you didn’t go rescue him from that fucking group home?”
She takes a sip of her coffee. She doesn’t respond at first, and just when I’m pretty sure I’m barking up the wrong tree—
“Felix and I thought about it.”
“But all you did was think?”
She glares at me. “You don’t know what it was like, to lose two children.”
I gaze at her coldly. “Seems you only lost one. The other one you gave away.”
She takes another sip of coffee. “I loved both my children.”
“Past tense? Dragon is still alive.”
And Griffin may be too, but I’m not going to clue her into that yet.
She takes in a slow inhale. “I don’t know that man who was here last night. I haven’t seen my son since he was nine years old. He could be an imposter.”
“He’s not. But if you need to know for certain, I’m sure he’d agree to do a DNA test.”
She sighs. “He looks a lot like his father. Except for the eyes. His father had brown eyes, and Dragon’s are more a greenish brown.”
“Hazel,” I say softly.
“I had no idea Dragon was still alive,” she says.
“He’s young and healthy. Why wouldn’t he be alive?”
She looks down. “You hear about things happening in those group homes.”
“You could have checked.”
“No, I could never.” She puts her coffee down, reaches for a pack of cigarettes on the table next to her. “It’s been too long. I’m not interested in that life anymore. Felix and I had to remake ourselves. We had to forget we ever had children.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” She puts a cigarette in her mouth and talks around it. “Because it was just too damned painful. Our little girl was gone. And our little boy…”
“Wasn’t gone,” I say. “You could’ve rescued him from the system at any time.”
She opens her mouth wide, letting the cigarette drop onto her lap. “No, we couldn’t have. When you voluntarily give up your parental rights, the system isn’t real quick to give them back.”
“They would’ve asked Dragon what he wanted.”
She looks down. “Maybe.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Like I said, it was too painful. It would’ve all been a reminder of what happened to Griffin.”
I scoff. “So you left Dragon there. You left him there because he would’ve reminded you of his little sister.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe you. What the hell kind of mother are you?”