He swallowed and pulled her closer. “There’s also a letter from a fertility clinic and a copy of Max’s birth certificate. You got your revenge for me not staying, didn’t you?”
She tried to tug free of him, but he gripped her tighter. “Please, Ash. Let me explain.”
“Explain?” he yelled. “How can you explain that you deliberately kept the truth from me all these years? Was it always about the money, Lainey? Did you want it so badly that it didn’t matter which brother gave it to you?”
With a strength that surprised him, she jerked free of his hold and slapped him. Her eyes blazed with fury. “How dare you talk to me like that!”
His cheek stung where she’d hit him, and he rubbed it. “You stole my son from me, Lainey. How could you do that?”
“You have the gall to ask how I could do that? You really are a selfish hypocrite,” she hissed. Her lips curled in disgust. His heart pounded in surprise at the chill her icy stare sent spiraling through him. It was as if she’d plunged an icicle into his heart and twisted it until it left a gaping hole.
“Yes, tell me why you did it,” he finally managed to say.
She took a deep breath and moved closer to him until she stood so close he could smell her perfume. “When you came to my house that night to tell me you were joining Firebrand, I wanted to tell you I was pregnant. I thought maybe you’d stay if you knew, but then I realized that nothing was going to change your mind. You didn’t care about me or what I might want or need. All you could think about was getting back to your buddies and getting on with that glorious lifestyle you had chosen for yourself. You were arrogant enough to think that I would put all my needs aside and send you off with a smile and a promise that I’d be waiting. But I couldn’t do that.”
“You sure couldn’t,” he interrupted.
“Be quiet!” She pounded her fists against the sides of her legs. “The next few months after you left were horrible for me. I didn’t have any family I could turn to, and I had a difficult pregnancy because I suffered from
hyperemesis gravidarum. That’s a problem some pregnant women have with extreme nausea, vomiting, and electrolyte disturbance. I was so sick I couldn’t get out of bed. Richard and your father broke into my house, found me unconscious, and called 911.”
She stopped to take a breath, and the sorrow in her eyes pierced his heart. “Go on,” he said.
She swallowed and began to speak again. “I know you and your father never got along, Ash, but he was very kind to me. He said that he loved you, although you didn’t think so, and that he loved his grandchild. He wanted to take care of us. So he brought me home, and he and Richard took care of me and gave me a place to live. After a few months, Richard asked me to marry him. I said yes because I didn’t think you would ever come back, and I wanted our baby to have the life and the name he deserved.” She paused for a moment. “And Richard loved me. It was the first time since my parents’ deaths that I had somebody who cared enough about me to put my needs first and make me happy.”
Ash couldn’t meet the stare she directed at him any longer, and he whirled and walked a few feet away from her. He raked his hand through his hair and turned to face her. “So did you love Richard?”
She lifted her chin, but her lips trembled. “Yes. Not like I’d loved you, but I did love him. So think whatever you want to about me, but Richard doesn’t deserve anything but your love. You made your choice when you left us, and Richard took care of the mess you left behind as he always did. He gave Max and me a future, one I had never dreamed of. Maybe I was wrong for not telling you, but at the time I was so hurt because I felt like you had deserted me that I told myself it wouldn’t make any difference, that you didn’t care about anyone but yourself. Through the years I came to believe it even more, but Richard never did. He often said that you deserved to know the truth, but I always said no. So don’t blame Richard. He loved you so much he couldn’t bear to think of you not knowing you had a son. Hate me if you want to, but if you have any human feelings left in that stone-cold heart of yours, maybe someday you can come to realize how thankful you should really be to have a brother who loved you so much.”
Before he could speak, she jerked the door open and walked from the room. He stepped to the hallway and watched as she disappeared into her bedroom and closed the door. After a moment, he reentered his room, closed the door behind him and leaned his head against it. With a groan he covered his face with his hands.
Everything Lainey had said replayed in his head, and he flinched at the angry words she’d spoken. Selfish hypocrite, she’d called him. Was that what he was for feeling robbed of his son? No! Max was his son, and Lainey wasn’t going to keep him from his real father any longer. He wasn’t given the chance to be a father ten years ago, but now he knew the truth, and he didn’t intend for his son to grow up calling Sam Black dad.
If Lainey thought she could keep Max away from him any longer, she had another think coming.
<><><>
Several hours later Lainey sat in the back seat of her car, her hands clasped in her lap, and glanced over at Max beside her, his eyes half-closed. He’d barely climbed into the car before he’d popped his headphones on and turned on the music he’d downloaded on his mp3 player. Although his lips moved, the only sounds he’d made since they left the house were his frequent attempts to punctuate the recording with his own rendition of a rock star’s growl.
In the front seat Casey sat beside Ash who hadn’t spoken to her since their argument earlier. Every time she remembered how angry he had been her stomach clenched. Had she been wrong to marry Richard? He would have helped her and Max even if she had refused his proposal, but at the time she couldn’t think of a reason to refuse. In her highly emotional state she had wanted someone to make all her problems go away and take care of her, and Richard had offered to do that. And he had been successful. From the day she married him, he had never failed her. He saw that her every need was met.
She had been surprised, though, after his father’s death when he told her he wanted to teach her about the electronics business his father had built from the ground up. Later she realized he had done it because he feared his cancer would return, and he wanted his family’s company kept safe for Max.
She had worked hard to learn everything she could about the business, and if things continued as they were going now, it would all pay off big time in a few months when the company launched its newest product, a new technology tablet that cost a tenth of others on the market. It promised to open up new educational opportunities for the poorest countries in the world to have the same advantages as all others. And DeHan Enterprises would make a lot of money in the process.
Just thinking about all the work that had gone into this project made her happy, but the smile on her face quickly froze when she glanced at the rear view mirror and saw Ash’s eyes reflected in an angry stare at her. She straightened in her seat and cleared her throat.
“How much further is it to where we’re going?” she asked.
Ash didn’t answer, but Casey turned her head and smiled. “The entrance is about a half mile away. We should see it soon.”
Casey had no sooner finished speaking than Lainey caught sight of a wire fence that stretched across the road and disappeared into the distance in opposite directions. A large gate blocked the gravel road they’d been traveling. As they drew nearer, two men wearing camouflage and holding automatic weapons stepped into the road in front of a small sentry house.
Ash pulled to a stop at the checkpoint and rolled the window down. One of the guards bent over, peered inside, his eyes shaded by sunglasses, and nodded when he saw Ash and Casey. “Heard Casey was moving you and your family in today, but we thought you’d be here earlier. We were gettin’ a little worried about you. Glad you finally made it.”
“Thanks, Monroe. We got off a little later than we’d planned. Reese said you’d be at the gate.” Ash jerked his thumb toward the rear of the car. “He’s behind us.”
The man glanced at the car behind, then turned to his partner. “Open the gate for these guys.” The gate swung wide, and Monroe motioned them to drive forward. Ash gave a slight salute as they drove past, and the guard returned it.
She and her son were entering what Ash and his band of brothers called a training center. It suddenly dawned on her that all the Firebrand members she’d encountered, including Ash and Casey, were well-trained. . .as killers. Her heart constricted as if an icy hand had grasped it and was squeezing the breath from her. A few days ago she and Max had been living a quiet life, and now they were being hunted by a vicious drug cartel lord who wanted to kill them.
Casey’s voice from the front seat jerked her from her thoughts. “There’s the administration building.”
Lainey stared out the window at the structure looming before them as Ash turned the car into the drive leading up to the front entrance. He pulled to a stop and glanced over his shoulder. “This is where you’ll be staying”
Lainey nodded and gathered her purse that sat on the seat between her and Max. Before she could turn to the door, it opened, and Reese Alexander smiled at her. “Welcome to Firebrand Training Facility, Mrs. DeHan.”
She’d met Reese once years ago when she and Ash had dinner with him and Colt Hanson in St. Claire. She’d liked him then but hadn’t seen him again until today when he showed up at her house to follow them out to this facility.
She smiled and stepped out of the car. “Thank you for allowing us to stay here, Reese. And please call me Lainey. I expect we’ll be seeing each other a lot while we’re here.”
He returned the smile. “I hope you’re right. It will be nice to have a woman around.”
Lainey glanced past Reese at Casey who had just gotten out of the car. She blinked in response to Reese’s words, and her lips trembled. Lainey’s heart lurched at the hurt she saw in Casey’s eyes. She took a deep breath and smiled at Reese. “But you already have a woman here, and I look forward to getting to know Casey better. She’s been a tremendous help to me and my son.”
His eyebrows lifted, and he glanced over his shoulder into Casey’s eyes. She lowered her eyelids, pulled her sunglasses from her pocket, and slipped them on. “I’ll help Ash get the gear inside,” she said.
Before either of them could respond, Casey pushed past them and disappeared around the back of the car. Reese stared after her for a moment before he took a deep breath and inhaled. “Well, why don’t we get you settled?”
Lainey glanced around for Max, but he was already entering the building beside Ash. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the expression on Max’s face reminded her of how he looked on Christmas morning when they opened presents together.
She hurried after the two with Reese and Casey behind and stopped inside the lobby where Ash and Max waited. Whatever they’d been talking about was still being discussed. As she got closer, she heard Max’s excited voice. “Really? You’d let me do that?”
Lainey stopped next to him and frowned. “Do what, Max?”
His face beamed with happiness as he looked up at her. “Uncle Ash says I can bunk with him if it’s okay with you. Isn’t that great, Mom?”
She frowned. “I don’t think so. I want you with me.”
He tilted his head to one side and stared up at her. “Aw, Mom, please let me. I want to stay with him.”
Before she could respond, Casey called out. “Hey, Max, come let me show you the TV room.”
Lainey mouthed a thank you to Casey as Max ran toward her. She nodded and looped her arm around Max’s shoulders as she steered him down the hall. When they were out of earshot, Ash spoke up.
“Lainey, first let me say that I’m sorry about the way I reacted earlier. It was quite a shock, but I’ve thought about it on the way out here. I’m still having trouble understanding why you kept me in the dark about Max, but I know you’re a great mother. Now all I want is to get to know my son a little better. That’s all I’m asking, Lainey. Reese has given us three rooms upstairs. Max and I can stay in one right next to you, and Casey will be on your other side. What do you say?”
Ash’s dark eyes bore into her, and the breath almost left her body. She’d denied it for years, but she couldn’t anymore. Max was the image of his father, in looks and in how he could get his way with her.
After a moment, she nodded. “Okay, Max can bunk with you for the time being, and I’ll stay next door.”
Before he could respond, she heard Max and Casey approaching. “Hey, Mom,” Max called out, “you should see the TV room. They’ve even got a pool table.”
Ash smiled down at Max as he came to a stop beside them. “Maybe we can shoot some pool while we’re here. In the meantime your mom has agreed for you to stay with me for a while.”
Max grabbed her around the waist and squeezed. “Thanks, Mom.”
The elevator doors opened before she could answer, and they stepped inside. Max chattered all the way on the short ride to the second floor.
Five minutes later Lainey stood in the room she’d be living in for a while and looked around. The bed looked comfortable enough, and there was a small sofa against one wall, a bureau where she could put her clothes, a desk with a chair, and a wall-mounted television. Not the accommodations of a five star hotel, but enough for men used to rugged living.
She heard voices in the hall outside and opened the door. Ash and Reese stood there talking. Ash looked up in surprise when she appeared. “Lainey, do you need something?” he asked.