Sacred Vow (Angels Halo MC Next Gen #5) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,3

bridge of her nose, as if she had a bad headache. “A novice could do a search of my maiden name and find out who my parents were. I was the one who exposed Calvin’s corruption after all.”

“What does this have to do with you cheating on Dad?” I demanded.

Her gaze jerked to mine. “Cheat? On Colt? Are you insane?”

The fury in her voice and on her face made my own anger at her deflate a little. “Are you saying you aren’t?”

“I love your father more than anything or anyone—with the exception of you. I would never cheat on him.”

Some of the tension straining my muscles began to ease, leaving my entire body feeling a little achy. “Then what have you been doing? You’re dressed like that—” I waved my hand at her outfit “—and sneaking around. Where is your car?”

“It broke down on the way home. The stupid onboard computer did an update recently, and I’ve been having issues ever since. I called Raven. She had it towed to the shop and drove me home.” She released a heavy sigh. “She knows everything now too.”

“Knows what?” I cried. “Mom, what the hell is going on with you?”

“I was trying to tell you, but you started accusing me of cheating on my husband,” she snapped. “So, just be quiet and listen, will you?”

I clamped my lips shut and nodded, motioning for her to go on.

“I got the call from the social worker, asking about my parents. At first, I didn’t know what to think, just figured she was a nosy bitch looking for a story to sell to make a few bucks.” She pushed her hair back from her face, and I noticed she looked exhausted. “But when I started telling her to mind her own business, she turned everything upside down.”

“How?”

“Turns out, I have a sister I never knew about.” She glanced away, her throat working. “Had a sister,” she amended. “She died, about eight years ago.”

I crossed the kitchen, wrapping my arms around her. Without hesitation, she hugged me back. “I’m so sorry, Mom.”

“She was given up for adoption after her mother gave birth to her. Apparently, she’d been underage when she got pregnant. Barely sixteen.” Her arms tightened around me. “That bastard had sex with an underage teen. A little girl.”

“I’m glad he’s dead,” I whispered.

“Me too,” she agreed.

We were both quiet for a few minutes before she spoke again. “My sister was adopted quickly because she was a baby. She grew up and married a man she met her first year of college. They had a daughter. Delaney.” She stroked her hand over my hair lovingly. “But according to the social worker, my sister and her husband were killed in a gas line explosion while on vacation. Delaney was with them, but she survived. Although she did end up with a debilitating injury from the accident.”

“What do you mean?” I murmured as gory pictures filled my head. Could my cousin have lost a limb or been disfigured?

“This is all according to the social worker, but from what she told me, Delaney lost her hearing completely during the explosion. She’s been totally deaf ever since.”

Sympathy filled me. “But she’s alive,” I tried to reassure my mom.

“Yeah, honey,” Mom agreed, giving me a tight smile that quickly turned into a frown. “The social worker explained that the only living relatives she could find at the time were Delaney’s father’s sister and her husband. They took her in, but the social worker didn’t feel right leaving Delaney there. So, she’s been searching for the past eight years in hopes of finding someone else who could take the girl. It was only recently that she found the connection to me and, in desperation, contacted me.”

I stood there listening as she told me how Delaney’s uncle by marriage was a drug dealer who was suspected to be part of a prostitution ring. The social worker had kept up with Delaney for the past eight years, but she recently had lost contact with her. She was eighteen now, had aged out of the system, but the social worker seemed truly caring and concerned for Delaney.

Mom had met up with the social worker, and the two of them had been trying to find out all they could about the man who was supposed to have been taking care of my cousin all these years.

“Why don’t you just tell Dad about all this?” I asked when she told me she’d found out plenty about