Page 68 of Mine to Love
Yet in the morning light, she wasn’t so sure.
She’d tossed and turned all night, thinking about all the things her father had done, both good and bad. She’d slipped from the bed at three in the morning and googled her mother. What she’d found had been utterly horrifying. That bitch had changed her name and her history, erasing her dad, her, and Gabriel from her life. She’d created a completely new identity for herself and now lived in Denver, married to some man twelve years younger than her, helping to raise his three kids.
Bitch wasn’t a strong enough word.
When Miles had found her, he tried to stop her from continuing down the rabbit hole, but she was obsessed. So, he sent a message to his brother, Rhett. Who found out even more.
It had been her mother who had gone to Charlie. Her mom who had informed Charlie of the deal her father made with Old Man Livingston. And her mother had her own deal with Charlie. She got a payout when Charlie got his hands on Livingston Development.
The problem, though, was she’d done nothing illegal and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to her mother. Miles had told her through the wee hours of the morning that karma was a bitch and karma would catch her mom eventually.
God, she hoped so.
She leaned across the counter and pulled out Miles’ earbud.
“Hey. I was listening to that.” He glared.
“I might need a little help with something.” She turned her attention to her brother. “Gabriel, I need to talk to you about something.”
“I really hate it when you start conversations like that.” Gabriel dropped his spoon in his bowl. “And if you’re going to treat me like a child, I’m going to go play video games.”
“I’m not going to do that,” she said. “Now that Charlie has been arrested and is out of our lives, I need to tell you how that was possible, because I don’t want secrets between us.”
Miles set his phone on the counter and cocked a brow. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“As sure as I’m in love with you.” She sipped her coffee, daring him to comment on that.
He didn’t.
But Gabriel smiled like a big kid in a candy store. “Love. That’s a big word.”
“It is and I wouldn’t use it if I didn’t mean it,” she said.
“Do you love my sister?” Gabriel asked, staring at Miles.
“I do.” Miles nodded. “And I love you too.”
“We’re a package deal,” Gabriel said. “But if you hurt my sister, I’m coming for you.”
Miles wiped his face with his hand. “I hope that never happens.”
“Okay. Now that we have that out of the way,” Liberty said. “While Miles’ family was looking for you, we had to do some digging to find out all the things that Charlie was doing that were illegal, which led us way back into the past.”
“Don’t talk in circles. I hate that.” Gabriel fisted his hands.
“All right. I had to reach out to Dad,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Daddy? You spoke to our dad?” Gabriel asked softly as he rocked back and forth. “Did you talk to Mom too?”
“I did not.”
“Good.” Gabriel let out a long breath. “I don’t like Mom. She was mean. She locked me in my bedroom when people came over and wouldn’t let me out. But Daddy would come in and play games with me. He would tell me that he thought Mommy was mean too and that he didn’t want to hang out with those stuffy people anyway.”
Liberty gasped. “You never told me that before.”
“You never asked.” Gabriel stopped rocking.
“I guess I didn’t,” she said. “You should know that Mom and Dad are divorced and they don’t speak at all anymore.”
