Page 177 of Captivated

“Nate, give me that.”

He jerked his hand out of Sol’s reach. “No. I have to see for myself.” His voice cracked. He slid his finger over the screen, scrolling until he found what he was looking for.

There it was, that damn photo.

Then he read what was under it in small letters.

Nate’s throat seized. He couldn’t hear anything over the roar in his ears.

“Caleb Streeting with his wife Emma, and their children, Belinda, Naomi, and Nathaniel.” He choked the words out. He stared at the man standing beside his father, Dad’s arm around his shoulders. “He… he even looks like me. What did they do, go to rent-a-kid? Search through all the orphanages and youth homes until they found a boy who could pass for me?”

Lord, he hurt. The pain was so acute, it felt as though someone had stuck him with a sharp object.

Yeah, that would be my biological dad, sticking a metaphorical knife in my back.

“I have fucking hadenough.” He pushed the words through gritted teeth, loud and harsh in the quiet space. “Ineverwanted to be found.” His chest heaved. “I’ve spent years—years—building a life that hasnothingto do with him. Withthem.” He stabbed at the photo with his finger. “I clawed my way out of the wreckage that man made of me.”

No one moved. Nate couldn’t even hear them breathe.

“And now he’s out there pretending it was allfor my own good?” He shoved the photo into everyone’s face. “This fuckingpiece of shit is telling people hesavedme?” Nate hurled the phone, and it smashed into the far wall, breaking into pieces that skidded across the floor.

Zeeb was staring at him as if he were some wild animal, and maybe he was. His throat felt raw, his vision swam. Nate stared at him, his stomach roiling.

“Hebrokeme, Zeeb!” he screamed. “He sent me away like garbage. Locked me up with people who made me hate everything I was, who told me my body was disgusting, that loving another man was a disease.” He gulped. “Ibeggedhim to bring me home, to at least visit me, and he never came. Not once.”

The faces of the men around the table were pale, their eyes wide. Even Butch’s usual sharp tongue had been silenced.

“And now there’s someother kid—some stand-in. And the whole country’s supposed to believethat’shis son? That he has a happy ending? That he’s running for office to protectfamilies?” Nate choked out the words. “Helied. He erased me and now he’s lying about it to the whole goddamnstate. Thecountry.”

Something collapsed in his chest, something fragile that had only just been stitched back together.

“I want to end him,” Nate whispered, his hands shaking. “I want to walk onto the news and tell the whole damn world who he really is. I want to rip his lies apart until he has nothing left. No campaign. No platform. No fake son.” He locked gazes with Zeeb. “Iwanthim to feel what I felt. I want him to lose everything.”

Zeeb thought he’d seen Nate at his lowest ebb. This was a whole new level.

Nate was a violent storm, raging, burning, scarcely holding himself together. Every word he spoke seemed to rip apart old wounds, still raw beneath the scars. He was trembling, his arms rigid at his sides, almost as if he was trying to stop himself from falling apart.

Zeeb gripped his shoulder. “Nate.” He kept his voice soft.

Nate didn’t hear him.

“I could go public,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. “Write a letter to the paper. Hell, show up at his next rally and call him out.Thatwould destroy him. There’s time. The election isn’t until November.”

“Youcoulddo that,” Zeeb said in a gentle tone. “But it won’t fix what he broke.”

Nate froze. Gaped at him. “So what, I’m just supposed to sit here and watch himlie?”

“No. You speak your truth.” Zeeb took a deep breath. “But not like this.”

“Zeeb’s right,” Sol murmured, and Zeeb threw him a grateful smile.

Nate stared at Zeeb, his eyes rimmed red, his jaw clenched. “Then how?”

Zeeb withdrew his arm and cupped Nate’s cheek. “Not as a weapon. Asyou. The real you. The man who made it out. Who found strength no one thought he had.Thatstory...that’swhat matters. That’s what the world needs to hear.You, not him.”

Nate’s lip trembled, but he looked away.

Zeeb had to get through to him.

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