“Looks like you’ve got a bit of a dilemma.” Ms. Patti linked her arm through hers and patted it gently. “Sit down, and you can tell me all about it. Then we’ll figure out exactly what we’re going to do to fix things.” With the determination of a drill sergeant, Ms. Patti marched her into the kitchen and seated her at the long table before Serena could open her mouth to say a word.
She wrapped her hands around the glass of iced tea, unsure where to start. The last time she’d had a sit down with Ms. Patti, she’d allowed the older woman to convince her to stay in Shiloh Springs, though her every instinct screamed to hightail it out of town. She should have followed through on her first option, because now she’d been hustled from her own home, practically shanghaied and overwhelmed by the testosterone of the Boudreau men, and moved summarily to the Big House before she could utter much more than a token protest.
Not like I’m going to protest if it means I can spend a little while longer with Antonio before my world turns to cow patties.
“Would it help if I told you I don’t care about your past or what you’re running from?” Ms. Patti slid into the chair across from hers, and placed a platter stacked high with banana nut muffins in the center of the table. “Sugar, there ain’t a single thing you can tell me that’s worse than what’s rolling around inside your head right now. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it together.”
Serena breathed out a deep breath. If only it was that easy. Simply tell Ms. Patti and things would magically be fixed, and poof, all her problems would disappear. Unfortunately, real life didn’t work that way, at least not in her world.
“I’m not sure where to start.”
“The beginning’s usually best, but start where you’re comfortable, and we’ll fill in the blanks later.” Ms. Patti reached across and placed a muffin in front of Serena. “I’ve always found stuffing my face full of sugar and carbs makes most problems a little less scary. Besides, I made too many and you’ve gotta help me get rid of some of these.”
Serena laughed and started picking at the wrapper around the muffin. It was a miracle she’d gotten through life without somebody like Ms. Patti there to help smooth away all the ugly stuff. The woman had become more a mother to her than her biological mother had ever been.
“I guess the first thing I should tell you is Serena Snowden isn’t my real name.” There, I said it out loud. No going back now.
“I know. I’m the one who did a background check on you when you came to work for my company, remember?” The smirk on Ms. Patti’s face raised the little hairs on the back of Serena’s neck. How could she possibly have known? She’d paid a fortune to a black-hat hacker to create her new identity, and it should have been foolproof.
“Sugar, I knew from the moment you walked through the door there was more to you than somebody looking for a job. You were looking for roots, a place to settle, whether you realized it or not. I recognize the signs. Trust me, after all the boys who’ve been through this house over the years, I’ve learned how to recognize a lost soul when I see one.”
Serena gave a ragged chuckle. “I thought I had everything covered. Shows how clueless I truly am.”
“Hush.”
“I can’t believe you’ve known all along I’m a fraud. I—I can’t stay here. I can—”
“You can sit right back down in your chair, that’s what you can do. Rafe and Antonio think you need to be here, so you’re staying. Besides, I could use another female around this place. Sometimes it gets a little much with all these men traipsing through at all hours. Nica drops by when she can, but she’s up to her eyeballs with school, so visits have been few and far between lately.”
Serena stared at the woman seated across the table, and read the sympathy and understanding in her gaze. There was something else there too, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Okay. This is just between us, right?”
“I have the feeling Antonio’s gonna want to know your story, but I won’t say anything. Not until or unless you tell me it’s okay. Except, if you’re running from the law, I’m going to have to tell Rafe. I won’t let your put his career in jeopardy.” Ms. Patti’s eyes narrowed for a moment, before she leaned back in her chair again. “Nope, I can’t see you ever doing something illegal, at least not by choice.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong, Ms. Patti. I promise. Well, maybe it depends on a person’s definition of wrong. Nothing against the law, unless you consider running away from witness protection breaking the law.”
“Witness protection? Like federal government-mandated, new identity-type protection?”
Serena nodded. “I need to back up a bit. I told you my real name isn’t Serena Snowden. It’s Sharon. Sharon Berkley.” She waited to see if Ms. Patti would react to her revelation. When she didn’t so much as twitch a muscle, Serena continued. “My family has had lots of run-ins with the law, both local and federal. The biggest criminal of the bunch is my uncle. You might have heard of him—Big Jim Berkley?”
At her revelation, Ms. Patti’s eyes widened, though she didn’t say a word, simply motioned for her to continue.
“My uncle is a horrible man. Even the government doesn’t realize the reach he has, or the number of people who blindly follow him. My parents, my cousins, aunts, everybody listened to every malicious word spewing from his lips like it
