Right on cue, Lorcan O’Shea and his two personal bodyguards entered the room. “Sloane! I’ve been worried sick. Are you okay? How bad is it?” he blurted.
“Dad!" I groaned. "You didn't have to come,” I said and did nothing to hide the fact that I did not want him there.
“You were shot by a crazed fan, nearly bled to death, and had to have surgery. Where else would I be?"
Bronze rose to his feet. "Let's step out and give them some privacy." I glared at him and each of my traitorous brothers as they left me alone with my father—who I decidedly did not want to speak to.
Once the room was cleared, my dad pulled a chair next to my bed and took a seat. "What's going on? I get the feeling you're upset with me."
I crossed my arms over my chest and tried my hardest to keep myself from bursting into tears. Because they were going to be angry tears, and I hated it when I cried angry tears.
“Come on, Sloane. Nothing ever gets resolved without proper communication. Now, out with it, lass. Tell me what's wrong so I can take care of whoever was stupid enough to attempt to take the life of a member of my family."
“That shit right there!” I exploded and jabbed my finger in his direction, surprising myself by my outburst. “You can't just kill everyone who crosses you or your family."
He brushed non-existent lint from his suit and used the lapels to readjust his jacket. "I can if I don’t get caught."
“Dad!” I groaned and flopped back against the scratchy, crinkly pillows.
“If you would start talking to me, you wouldn't be forced to listen to my dad jokes."
“Fine!” I huffed and exhaled slowly. “Damn it,” I whispered when I felt tears fill my eyes.
My dad moved closer as his face morphed into one of grave concern. “Whatever it is, honey, tell me so I can fix it,” he insisted.
“You can't fix it!" I screamed. "You cheated on Mom and had a child with another woman, and now she's dead! Not even you can fix that!"
“What on earth are you talking about?" he demanded and got to his feet.
Exhaling in resignation, I said, "Sit down, Dad, and I'll tell you everything." After taking in a deep breath, I did just that, as quickly and robotically as I could, but my emotions eventually got the best of me.
“Don't tell me you didn't know about her! I remember when her mother came to the house and asked you for money when she was pregnant. You told her to leave and never come back, or you would kill her and the child.”
“Sloane, you’re mistaken,” he started.
“No I’m not! I remember her!”
“Stop and think about it for just a minute. You said you didn't recognize Adelaide when you saw pictures of her. That's because the woman who came to the door wasn’t Adelaide.”
“Then who was it?”
“Phyllis Banner.”
“What?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “But I thought Paige wasn't my sister. Are you telling me she is?”
“No, Paige isn’t your sister. There's absolutely no way for that to be possible because I never slept with Phyllis.”
“But, you admit to sleeping with Adelaide?”
He sighed. “Sloane, now isn’t the time, but you and I need to sit down and have a discussion about your mother and I. For now, I’m going to stick to the facts, and we can discuss the details later.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Adelaide and Phyllis were best friends who were hired as summer interns at my company. Within a few weeks, I began having an affair with Adelaide. Phyllis was also interested in carrying on with me, but I declined her offer. Apparently, that started, or continued, an ongoing rivalry between the two.”
“If you never slept with Phyllis, why did she come to the house and say she was pregnant with your child?”
“I don’t know. I always assumed she was trying to cause trouble between your mother and me because she never got what she wanted from me,” he said, trailing off at the end.
“Are you thinking it might be something else?”
“Now, I’m wondering if Phyllis knew Adelaide was pregnant.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Neither do crazy bitches, and that’s what they both were. Honestly, I wish you would’ve asked me about all this. I could’ve told you Paige wasn’t your sister.”
“But what about Heidi? You really didn’t know about her?”
His eyes softened, and he cupped my cheeks like he used to