Page 101 of Dearest Protector

I didn’t bother texting her back.

I hit the button to call her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked the second she answered.

“Nothing. Honestly,” she answered, sounding like she hadn’t been to bed yet. “I shouldn’t have texted. I just felt like…talking.”

“You could have called me,” I pointed out. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

There would never be a time that I wouldn’t wake my ass up if she needed to talk.

“Were you sleeping?”

“Yeah. I woke up. Now tell me what you want to talk about?” I cajoled.

“I got the information on my DNA sample,” she said, her voice troubled. “It’s not a big deal. For some reason, my father put his information into that service, too, and I got a direct match to him. He was alive until two years ago, Ben. He was fromNew York City. We were actually in the same city at the same time.”

And…he’d died in that city while she lived there.

She didn’t say that, but I was certain it was on her mind.

Ariel had told me that she’d submitted a sample of her DNA so she could see if she could find out who her father was, and I’d really hoped it wouldn’t be bad news.

“I couldn’t find out much about him,” she added. “All I could find was his obituary. But I guess at least I know who he is.”

Nah.Fuck that. All this had done was to bring up more questions for her.

Like…why had her mother lied to her?

And...had her father known that he’d fathered a child?

Plus…was her father really so horrible that she was better off without him?

“We can find out more,” I told her. “I know a good private investigator who isn’t busy trying to put Leland Brock in jail anymore.”

She paused before she asked hesitantly, “Would you mind asking him to find out more information? It probably shouldn’t matter, but I’d like to know a little more about my father. I know he’s gone now, and there’s nothing I can do about that, but I still have…questions.”

Would I mind?

Hell no, I wouldn’t mind.

If I were her, I’d want to know more, too.

“You know I don’t mind,” I said. “Text me what you have, and I’ll call the investigator first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you. Go back to sleep, Ben. We’ll talk tomorrow. I could have waited to contact you,” she murmured.

“Wait!” I demanded before she disconnected. “Are you really okay?”

For her, this wasn’t a small thing, even though she acted like it was nothing that important.

She’d just found out that her father had been alive for most her life, and she’d never met him.

“Yeah. I guess all this has just thrown me for a loop. I don’t understand why Mom never told me,” she said, sounding confused and a little brokenhearted.

Shit!I hated that.

“We’ll find out, sweetheart,” I promised. “You couldn’t sleep?”

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