mental list about everything that I know about Gigi Rivers. Other than she’s Hayes Rivers’ aunt and that she lives in Italy, and that she was estranged from her family for years, there’s not much information about her. And the word is that she and the family reconciled when her brother died. She raised Hayes in Italy from his teens until he came back last year. Something clicks, the way it does when I finally find the last piece of a puzzle.
I remember the paternity test Jules mentioned.
Oh my God. It can’t be.
“You said they had a kid. You have a half sibling? Do you know where they are?” I ask in a neutral, but hopeful voice. I need him to dismiss that impossible thought.
“Yeah, I know.” He looks at me, his eyes glinting and his lips set in a thin hard line.
“You do?” My eyes nearly bug out of my head.
“But, it’s not for me to tell you. That is not my secret.”
But with those words, he gives it away. It must be Hayes. It makes so much sense. He’s just unwittingly given me the answer to the scoop I came down here to chase. This story would be explosive. Except, of course now, I can’t write it. I just promised Remi and I would never ever violate his privacy like that.
Now, I just have to make sure no one else finds out, I’ll tell Jules there’s no story. Go back to New York and hunt down something else to help me clinch that job. I fall backwards in my seat.
“I know, it’s totally crazy, right?”
“Yeah. Totally…” I trail off as another question hits me. “So where’s your dad? Is he still with Gigi? Did he move to Italy with her?”
“No, he didn’t. But I don’t know where he is. Gigi says he left the house to head to town for work, but he never showed up there and he never came home. She was pregnant with… their kid. She had the baby, went to Italy and planned on taking this secret with her to the grave.”
“Holy shit,” I exclaim louder than I intended and give him an apologetic wince.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound excited. It’s just crazy.”
“Yeah, it’s crazy. So crazy that I’ve decided I don’t want anything to do with any of them.”
“So, that’s why you went to see her in the hospital?”
“No. I went because Hayes is my friend. She got shot, almost died. Then he led me into a room and left me there so she could tell me something he’d known for weeks.” He grinds his fist into his palm. “Just thinking about that day makes my blood pressure spike. I’m so fucking pissed at everyone, Kal.”
“I can’t even imagine,” I say; I feel totally helpless.
“My whole life is a fucking lie. My mother robbed me of really knowing who my father is. My grandfather, who I thought was my best friend, let me believe my father was dead while he played the grieving father. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d fucking kill him.”
I put a hand on his chest to stop him from talking. “Wait. So, are you saying your father’s not dead?”
“No. I’m not saying that. But, I have no proof that he is either. I’ve been here for months now. No one remembers him or Gigi. Ms. Jameson, who cooks for me thinks she remembers Gigi, but not him. I came out here expecting to find answers easily and there’s just nothing.”
“Why didn’t you call me? I’m like the missing person specialist. I know we haven’t spoken in eight years—”
“Eight years, six months and twenty-one days, but who’s counting?” he adds with a dry chuckle. “And the last time I saw you, I told you I couldn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Um, these are sort of extenuating circumstances, don’t you think?” I chide him.
He looks at me hard and long, his expression stony. “Honestly, Kal. I just wanted to be alone. Wanted to not be Remington Wilde. To see who I was if I wasn’t Lucas’ son. They built this legend around him and then pushed me to live up to it. It wasn’t even real. I threw myself into my work to build something worthy of the name I was given. And now, it’s like it all means nothing. So, I came here hoping to just have some fucking peace of mind.”
He closes his eyes and I feel a huge wave of sympathy for him. But I know