The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,369

married, got pregnant with me, but my father…her husband went missing before I was born.”

“What?”

“She was alone, disowned by my grandfather and shunned by her husband’s family. So, she gave me to her brother to raise as his own. And she moved to Italy to start her new life.” He sounds like he’s reading from a script, but the devastation in his eyes is very real.

I barely feel the bite of the ceramic shards digging into the soles of my bare feet as I walk back into my apartment and grab my jeans and a t-shirt from my closet. I don’t know why I’m getting dressed but I feel the need to be ready

“I don’t…How? When… did you find out?” I stumble around the questions and rifle through my drawers for a t-shirt.

He lets out a long, weary sigh and grips the back of his neck with his hand and closes his eyes. I trap the phone between my shoulder and cheek so I can step into my jeans while I wait for him to answer.

“Two weeks before Gigi was shot.”

I stop in mid-motion and the phone clatters to the floor and spins halfway across the room.

“Shit, hold on,” I call and run to scoop it up, but my heart feels like it paused at his answer. “Before we saw you in Mexico?”

“Yes.” His expression is regretful, but unapologetic. “I couldn’t say anything, Stone. Not without talking to Remi first. And until last week, I didn’t even know where he was.”

A chill of dread washes over me at the mention of Regan’s twin.

“What has Remi Wilde got to….” The answer to my question comes to me before I can finish asking it. One of the curses of a quick mind is that nothing comes to me in a soft cloud of thought. Thunderbolts are more my mind’s style, and this one packs the punch of a thousand of them at once.

Hayes stares at me and waits for me to say what is so obvious.

“Not Lucas Wilde?” I ask it, but it’s less of a question and more of a desperate plea for him to say I’m wrong.

He nods and my head starts to spin.

“How is that even fucking possible.”

“Stone, I’m not finished, please,” he shouts to cut off my senseless stream of questions. But it’s not his raised voice that ties my tongue. Hayes, never, ever says please.

I brace myself for whatever could be worse than the bomb he just dropped.

I close my eyes, drop my head into my hands. “Go on,”

“Lucas Wilde is my father. Also, he’s not dead.”

I drop back into my chair and stare at my brother in total disbelief.

“He barely survived an attempt on his life. And when he was found, he had no memory of who he was. He’s been homeless since.”

“Someone tried to kill him?”

He nods gravely.

“Who? Do you know?” I press when he doesn’t look at me.

When he does, I wish I hadn’t asked. His eyes are wet with tears.

“His father, Stone. His own father. Because he married a Rivers. I thought our grandfather was an evil son of a bitch for cutting off his own daughter…Old Man Wilde was a fucking maniac. How Remi and the rest of them survived living with that monster is beyond me.”

I blink in disbelief. “That can’t be. He and Regan were really close.”

“He fooled everyone.” His voice is laced with disgust.

“How’s Regan?”

He shrugs, his eyes grow wary. “I don’t know. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to her.”

“Well, what about Remi, or Tyson?”

A small smile lifts the corner of his mouth, and it plucks a nerve to see that when he showed no feeling when I asked about Regan. “They’re okay. Remi’s back in town and holed up with his girl. Tyson is…Tyson. He was pissed, blew off steam, and now he’s thrown himself into his work.”

“And what about Regan? Or does she not count because you disapprove of her?”

His eyes narrow. “Remi and I were close before this. Regan and Confidence are friends. Maybe, she’ll go see her. If you’re hoping that somehow this will make me more inclined to forgive her for your little…whatever, don’t hold your breath. Marcel is a friend, and he deserves better.”

I want to tell him what I know about that man, but I doubt he’d believe me, and I don’t want to betray her confidence. “I’m not sure why you think she’s done anything you need to forgive her for. And you have no idea what kind