Page 69 of A Billionaire Dom

Davin

Grandad askedme to call Dad while he reached out to my brothers, which made sense since I’d always been better at managing my father, but it also made me think that part of the reason he’d done it was because he knew that, of all of us, Dad would be the one to have issues with any suggestion of infidelity on Grandad’s part. No matter what the truth turned out to be, I had a feeling today wouldn’t be easy for any of us.

By the time everyone was on their way, it was evening, and my patience had all but disappeared. Only having Linsey there kept me from going to Grandad and demanding to know what he was lying about.

While I would’ve preferred a different sort of distraction, Linsey kept me busy in the kitchen, helping Cynthia put together a light supper since we had no way of knowing how late we’d be talking. I just hoped it wouldn’t devolve into Dad lecturing me about the fact that I hadn’t come back to work after leaving before lunch. Or questions about who Linsey was and why she was here.

That last concern was put to rest when Deklin and Damon showed up with Sofi and Jae. They might be surprised that I’d brought someone with me, but at least Linsey wouldn’t be the odd one out, and I could get the easier awkward part out of the way.

“It’s good to see you again,” I said as I took Linsey’s hand and pulled her forward. “Damon, Jae, you remember my girlfriend, Linsey Keller? Linsey, this is Deklin and his fiancée, Sofi Stafford.”

My brothers managed to keep their expressions under control while Sofi and Jae greeted Linsey, but I knew they’d want the whole story later. After we heard what Grandad had to say, however, I wasn’t sure if my love life would continue to hold much interest. Linsey didn’t seem surprised by my word choice, though, and when she smiled at me, I didn’t care what anyone else thought.

Then Grandad came in with a stranger, and all of the focus that had been on Linsey and me shifted. Except the guy with him wasn’t a complete stranger, at least not to me. It was JP, the young man who was here the last time I’d stopped by.

Shit.

I really hoped he wasn’t who I thought he was. If Dad didn’t like the fact that Grandad had married a woman so much younger, hereallywasn’t going to like having a half-brother who was probably Damon’s age.

Then Dad came in, and the tension in the room immediately skyrocketed.

Grandad cleared his throat before Dad could say anything. “Now that we’re all here, I’d like you to meet JP Ives. Who he is and why he’s here will be explained shortly. Let’s all have a seat.”

When Linsey settled on the arm of the couch where I sat, I wrapped my arm around her waist, and she leaned against me, the movement so natural that it took me a moment to realize why my family kept giving us sideways looks.

Fortunately, Grandad called the attention back to himself before anyone could start asking questions.

“I know you’re all going to have questions, but I’m asking that you hold them until I’m done with the story.” He glanced at JP, then looked to Linsey and me. “In 1993, a man named Mark Titan was fired from Holden Enterprises for sexually harassing his co-workers. Obviously, that didn’t make him very fond of me. His wife at the time, Heidi, still worked for me. One morning, not long after Mark was fired, I found Heidi in the parking lot trying to cover a black eye with makeup. She told me she ran into a door.”

Linsey’s hand on my shoulder squeezed. She’d been right that Mark had abused Heidi.

“It took a month or so before she trusted me enough to tell me that Mark hit her, usually in places people couldn’t see. I tried to get her to leave him, but she was terrified. That summer, she began spending more and more time at the office. One day, Mark showed up and vandalized my car, shouting about how I’d been having an affair with Heidi. At the time, Rachel thought I was cheating on her, so the rumor carried some weight.”

Dad was already scowling, but he wasn’t interrupting, so that was good.

“I wasn’t. Heidi and I had never been more than friends. I was just an employer who wanted to help his employee get out of a difficult situation. When Mark punched me, I had him arrested for assault and vandalism, thinking maybe I could convince Heidi to press charges against him for abuse. At least, that was the plan until, two days after Mark’s arrest, Heidi came to see me. She was pregnant.”

I felt more than saw my family tense.

“And before you ask, no, I was not the father. I was telling the truth when I said we hadn’t been having an affair. But I was concerned about her. She didn’t have a support system, no one to stop Mark from hiring a lawyer if she tried to take his kid from him.”

The picture was falling into place for me, and I assumed for Linsey as well. The rest of the people here, I didn’t know, but I knew Grandad wouldn’t stop with the story half-told.

“I hired a private investigator to help me set up a new identity for Heidi under a new name, in a new state. I provided her with the money she needed to establish herself. And I helped her disappear.”

A soft breath went out of Linsey.

Grandad, however, wasn’t done. “When Mark got out of jail and found her missing, he blamed me. The cops investigated, but Heidi was an adult, and there was no evidence of foul play. People thought Mark had done something to Heidi because she’d been cheating, but of course, there was no proof of any of that either. Eventually, he moved away from Houston, and the case went cold.” He took a breath and continued, “It was too dangerous for us to stay in touch, but I had my PI set up a way for me to continue helping her financially. I didn’t know anything about the baby or about the life Heidi lived after she left Houston. That is, I didn’t know until a couple weeks ago.”

He looked at JP.

The young man shifted uncomfortably but didn’t look away from any of us. None of us doubted who he was, but we still waited for him to tell his part of the story.

“My name’s Jude Platon Ives. My mom’s name was Mellissa Ives. At least that’s always what I’d thought it was. There’s no father on my birth certificate, and she always said she didn’t know who he was. It made her sad when I asked, so I stopped asking. When I was older, I started thinking that she might’ve been raped, but I never asked.”

This was brutal. I couldn’t imagine what this guy had been going through.

“About a year ago, she got sick, and in the last few days of her life, she’d drift in and out, the pain and medication making her mind hazy.”

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