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Chapter 15
GiftsChapter 15 —A Pawn in their Game-1
Alden narrows his eyes at me and looks back at Kent. I’m a little shocked, | admit, that he hasn’t addressed me yet. | standawkwardly in front of him and Daniel quietly takes my hand, giving it a squeeze of support.
“Is this for real, Lippert?” Alden asks, a threat behind his glare.
Kent nods slowly. “We did a test. It’s a 99% genetic match for paternity. | can show you the paperwork upstairs, and you canhave it verified by your own doctors. But, with that kind of proof at hand, Alden.” He spread his hands out, hoping Alden takeshim at his word. “Why would | lie?”
Alden nods and returns his gaze to me, staring for a moment. Then, he shocks me again by breathing out a huge breath of airand rubbing a hand down his face. “Damnit, but you look like your mother,” he mutters.
eyes.
My mouth falls open when | see the glimmer of tears in his My heart goes out to him, then. He’s a solid rock of a man, but | cansee that deep feelings run beneath.
“Where is she?” he demands.
Surprised, | blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “She died,” | say, grimacing inwardly at my bluntness. Alden’s face fallsminutely. Surely, after all these years, he knew it would be unlikely that she would be alive, but still — he’s upset by the
“When?” he asks.“Years ago,” | whisper, sorry to be the one to tell him. “I was young — I had just turned six.”
| feel horrible — | had no idea that he cared for her as much as he clearly does. | had assumed she was
what had Fiona called
herself? a goomah. His mistress, or his girlfriend, not someone he really | cared about.
“How?” He asks, crossing his arms over his barrel chest.
“Acar accident,” | say, my voice hardly more than a whisper now. “They said...they said she went fast. No pain.”
He nods sharply and then turns his head away, gathering himself together. “And where has she been laid to rest?” Alden asks,not looking at me.
“In a small cemetery by our home — in the churchyard. | can take you there, if you like,” Isay, my voice gentle.
He’s angry then, instantly, his emotions snapping from sadness to anger at the flip of a switch. He turns his burning eyes to me.“In a churchyard?” He shakes his head. “He didn’t respect her, then, the man she left me for,” he growls. “To bury her inachurchyard, when she deserves to lay in state, ina mausoleum.”
| find my own emotions turning, then, from pity to anger. How dare he suggest that David was anything but an angel in our lives?actions as | take a step forward. Daniel holds my hand tighter, in a warning that comes too late —
“He was nothing,” Alden growls.
“He raised me
“He KEPT you from me,” the words rip from Alden’s mouth.
Realizing my mistake, | cower back, my eyes going wide. Alden takes a heavy step towards me, intimidation in every muscle ofhis body.
“Tell me the truth, girl,” he says, taking another step. “Did he know about your parentage? Did he know where she came from,who your real father was?”
Unable to deny it, | stay silent, keeping my face still.“| thought so,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me. “He kept you from me, my daughter, not his! And he should die for it.”
I realize, suddenly, that I'm afraid of this man. That if this is what he’s like the first time meeting his daughter, then | can’t imaginethe kind of things my mother must have gone through. She must have experienced moods that made her decide to pack up andleave him, to give up everything she’d ever known to keep me away.
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Chapter 15 —A Pawn in theirGame-2
And yet here | was, in the place she’d so desperately left. Why did | let myself get so wrapped up in this world? | cower awayfrom my father.
“Enough,” Kent's voice rings out behind me, cool and calm.Alden turns angry eyes to him but Kent holds his ground.
“I'm pleased to announce,” Kent says, his teeth gritted, making clear that his pleasure is only a formality. He nods pointedly atthe ring on my hand, “that our agreement, years ago, to unite our families through marriage is holding strong. Your daughter isengaged to my son. | anticipate that the wedding will be swift, in the next few months, if it can be arranged.”
My father’s growl is low in his throat. “This is a trick,” he says. “How can they be engaged, when you just found her yesterday?”
Daniel is quick to answer. “We met before, by some miracle,” he says, giving Alden a small but earnest smile. “We were alreadydating, actually.”
No mention, conveniently, of the fact that we broke up.
| look between Daniel and his father, and then over at mine, and suddenly realize that Daniel is in on this. He and his fathercarefully planned this meeting, this conversation. In one swoop, they gave Alden back his daughter and claimed me as their own.
lam suddenly angry again. It doesn’t matter what | want at all, whether or not | want to marry Daniel. Because Daniel, too, is aplayer in this game, moving me around like the pawn that | am.
| open my mouth to protest, but Alden interrupts me.
“Good,” he says, looking between the three of us, perhaps realizing that he has no real leverage in this game. “This is the bestarrangement. A uniting of the families.”
He turns his attention back to me and | see his face soften again. Truly, he is a man of many moods and swift changes.
“It is wonderful to meet you, daughter, on this the occasion of your engagement.” He gives me a formal little bow and raises myleft hand to his face, kissing both my fingers and the ring.
When he releases me, | give him a small smile. Then, | surprise myself by speaking, despite my wariness around him. “I - I'd liketo know more about my mother,” | say in a rush.
He raises his eyebrows, surprised. When he says nothing, |continue.
“David — my dad — he didn’t talk about her a lot. | think talking about her past made her sad. But, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d...like toknow more.” | twist my fingers together, anxious.
He nods slowly, putting his hands inhis pockets. “And I'd like to know youmore, Fay. You are my dau htenamyblood. It’ only rightYw hould spendsme time together, get to knoweach other,” he glances at Daniel herefor amoment, “though | understandyour fiancé is your priority now, as ahusband The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
should be ”| look between them, not understanding the politics. But Alden continues before | can figure it out.
“We'll spend some time together,” hesays, rocking back on his heels andconsidering me, a little fondness.anhis face. "Get tq. kndw edotrother.Andy th gh it may take me sometime,” he rubs his hand across hischin, frowning and considering, “I'll domy best to tell you what | can of yourmother. She was...a remarkablewoman.” The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
I give him a small smile and his eyes go sentimental, soft. “Beautiful, Fay,” he says softly. “You’re beautiful, like her.”| bite my lip, tears coming to my own eyes.
One thing was for sure — | wanted toknow more about my mother, aboutwhat drew her intg WiS Word Ww atforced. Sut Knowing more couldopen so many doors to the mysteriesof my life, my identity. The content ison NovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
But at what price would that knowledge come?
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