Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,101

of the hole. So, he would fight his way out. “I am going to fucking kill you.”

“He’s mine,” Rick said, not leaving any doubt how he thought a DNA test would come out.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Brandon is not furniture. He is not a possession.”

Gabe listened to the words and remembered Natalie’s comment about Linda not being a cookie. It resonated. Even humbled him a little, because he had turned Linda into the villain in his mind. Forgot her age and everything going on in her life at that time with her difficult parents and painted her as evil. Something clicked. Not enough for Gabe to turn off the rage, but it decreased to a level where he could think again.

He was about to call for cooldown when Rick pointed at Natalie. “Stay out of this.”

She shook her head. “He’s not your son.”

“Right, I get Gabe’s argument about biology.” Rick waved a hand in the air. “Save it.”

She visibly swallowed. “No, I mean he’s really not your son.”

Silence crashed through the room for a second time. They all stared at her. Rick wore a look of confusion, but Gabe didn’t care about him. He focused on her. She didn’t throw out comments just to say them. She backed up claims. She did her homework.

Gabe’s mind went blank as he searched for the right words. The hollowness inside him made it tough to hear or think about anything. He touched her arm and brought her around to face him. “What are you talking about?”

“I have the test results.” Some of the strength had left her voice. She stood in the middle of the room, more or less between them all, and kept glancing from one to the other.

“What the fuck?” Andy stepped back. Way back until he leaned against the fireplace.

“I had them done so Gabe would know.”

Gabe could barely hear her. The words faded. His emotions battled. Relief at the idea of her being right. Absolute crushing pain at the thought of her working behind his back. Doing exactly what he told her he didn’t want.

“I’m supposed to trust you?” But part of Rick clearly did. The doubt about the paternity hovered right there in his voice.

“Gabe didn’t know.” She walked over to the bookshelf next to the fireplace and removed an envelope from the top of a line of books and held it out to Rick. “And you can look for yourself. Reputable lab. Gabe is the birth father.”

She’d carried that around yesterday. Gabe fought to remember through the daze that threatened to swallow him.

Rick turned the envelope over in his hands but didn’t open it. “This can’t be.”

“Natalie?” Gabe heard the rough edge to his voice and ignored it.

Sadness filled her eyes as she held a hand out to him. “I know you’re upset.”

“No.” He jerked away from her touch, because that word didn’t even come close to covering this betrayal. He had to fight his knees to stay steady and choke back the bile rushing up the back of his throat. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Ran the test.”

He didn’t know how that was possible. He searched his mind for any reasonable excuse or a way to understand why she lied and worked behind his back. How she . . . The lightbulb clicked on. Those visits from Eli. Here he thought he welcomed the guy into his house to help her legal case when she was just playing games with his personal life.

A strange darkness fell over him. “Why would you do this?”

Before she could answer Rick’s flat voice floated through the room. “I was so sure.”

Gabe leaned over and ripped the envelope out of Rick’s hand. Then he pointed toward the door. “You, get out of my house.”

“Gabe, maybe we should talk this through,” Andy said in an uncharacteristically hesitant voice.

No, this anger Gabe could handle. The kind aimed at Rick. His offenses stood out there for everyone to see. Natalie’s . . . Gabe couldn’t wrap his head around her choices. He brought her into his life and told her how he felt. How lost he was about the idea of losing Brandon.

Damn it, he fell for her. Hard and fast and with enough intensity to knock him stupid. Maybe that explained it. The great sex and growing feelings for her blocked out what he should have seen happening right there in his house. He lowered his emotional wall and she jumped over. Jumped all over him.

“Take him outside.” He gestured for