telling the story. I explained about the boxes and how I’d brought them home. I’d put everything into a pile in chronological order rather than the order I’d found them in, and I handed over each piece as I explained what it said and what I was filling in with educated guesses.
When I finished, I stopped talking, and we sat in silence as she went through everything more closely. It was hard not to watch her face as she read, study the nuances of her expressions. I knew her well enough to know that sort of attention would make her uncomfortable, so I simply sat and waited, looking at nothing.
“Well, damn.”
“If what’s there wasn’t so fucking awful, I might’ve laughed at that response.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I plan on using what’s there to expose my family’s lies, but I figured your clients could use it too.”
She looked more than a little bit dumbfounded. “It definitely answers some questions.”
“And brings up some other ones.” I rubbed my face with both hands. “Like how my however many greats uncle probably fathered a child with a slave.”
“I have to double-check with my client to give any names, but I can tell you that one of the things I was supposed to be looking for was a way to get DNA from a Traylor to be compared to DNA we already have.”
Shit. It sounded to me that if they’d sent her looking for my family’s DNA, then the odds were in their favor that they’d match.
She licked her lips. “If you’re willing to do it, I’ll reach out to them.”
“I will.”
She gave me a strange look I couldn’t read. “Shouldn’t you talk to your family first?”
I scoffed. “They’d just try to cover it up. Best let the lawyers handle it.”
“Oh shit.” Even though we’d just woken up, Nyx sounded tired. “The lawyers.”
I turned toward her so that our knees touched. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Yesterday, I started looking into the law firm that hired me, and it turns out they’re A. Check & Associates.”
“Check? Shit. That’s the name of my family’s lawyer.” I didn’t like the direction this was going.
“I know.” She pressed the heel of her hand into her eye. “I looked into that too.”
I frowned. “The law firm that hired you is connected to the law firm my family uses?”
“Oh, it gets better than that.” Her voice had an edge to it. “Two of the sons at Check & Sons – Ambrose and Art – moved to Rochester and started A. Check & Associates.”
Art.
Art Check.
Her molesting asshole of a stepfather.
Motherfucker.
I couldn’t say anything for a full minute, but when I finally could speak, only three words came out.
“What. The. Fuck.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.”
“That’s an understatement.” I shook my head.
“I’m going to look into whether or not there’s a conflict of interest,” she said stiffly. “If there is, I’ll advise my clients and the Huxleys to find a different lawyer.”
I reached over and took her hand, squeezing it until she looked at me. “This is about more than your clients, Nyx. Unless you think it’s a coincidence that a lawyer from Rochester found you in New York.”
“I don’t.” It was her turn to squeeze my hand. “Ambrose never hurt me, but I don’t understand why he sent Min to me.”
“Do you want to talk to him? Confront him?”
She thought for a few seconds, chewing her bottom lip before meeting my gaze again. “I don’t know yet.”
“Well, if you do, I’ll go with you.” I put my hand on her cheek. “You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”
Twenty-Four
Nyx
I’d never expected to go back ‘home,’ but here I was at Rochester International, walking out of the terminal, my hand tightly held by the man at my side. When he’d told me he’d go with me to confront Ambrose, I’d appreciated the offer, but I hadn’t really expected him to do it.
The earliest flight we’d been able to get was for today – Tuesday – which made it even more surprising when Bradyn bought two tickets. He’d assured me that Shadae and Brew wouldn’t have a problem with him being gone a couple days, especially once they found out he was going somewhere with me, and he’d been right. We hadn’t told them about what he’d found since I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle giving over information now that I knew Ambrose was the one behind hiring