“Wesley!” a woman’s voice called from the direction of the kitchen. “Why did I have to hear from Claudine, who read her husband’s emails, that some greedy whore was suing Sam’s company?”
Oh. God. My mouth dropped open. Wes briefly closed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe the bad timing.
A petite woman I would guess was in her early fifties strode in, her heels click-clacking on the floor. The striking brunette subtly resembled Wes, her identity unmistakable.
“Oh, hello.” She stopped and within two seconds, she’d evaluated me.
I touched my forehead, certain a sticker that read “greedy whore” was stuck there.
“It’s been taken care of,” Wes said in an even voice.
“Good. And what was the mess with the city? You didn’t tell me that, either. I swear, Wesley, you leave out all the good stuff.”
“The city business has been taken care of as well.”
This was the Wes I’d dealt with on the plane. I’d thought he was the real Wes, but it wasn’t true. This Wes dealt with the unhappy parts of his life.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Jennifer Robson eyed me like a snake ready to dislocate its jaw and devour prey.
Overprotective of her son or overprotective of his assets?
“Mara, this is my mother, Jennifer.” Flat tone and he stayed sitting.
I smiled and stood. I crossed over to the woman who was a couple inches shorter and stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Jennifer gave a limp shake, but her gaze could cut steel. “Mara? As in Mara Baranski? Are you the one who caused the trouble?”
Wes shot up. “Mother!”
“In fact, I am.” My coat became my shield against Sam’s angry ex-wife. “But as Wes said, it’s been taken care of.”
Jennifer wasn’t going to let it go. “Why the hell would you think that being in Sam’s bed gives you the right to his fortune?”
Hypocritical much?
Jennifer squared off with her and poked her finger in my face. “Are you after Wesley now because Sam didn’t work out?”
The day officially sucked.
“Back off, Mom. She came to talk to me about Sam.”
“That’s how women like that work,” Jennifer hissed.
Wes threw his hands up. “She can be designing a custom prenup for all I care. I want some answers about why Sam cut me off after the divorce.”
Jennifer drew back, her expression shuttered. “I thought we talked about how it’s Sam’s issue, not yours.”
“I think you should tell him, Ms. Robson.” My voice shook.
If I was wrong, I’d hurt someone who’d become very important to me. If I was right, Wes’s world was going to get turned upside down.
Wes swung to his mom. “Tell me what?”
His mom brushed invisible dust off her couture jacket. “She’s after your money.”
“Mara.” He towered over both of us, his expression hard.
Even on the plane, he hadn’t been as close to combusting as he was now.
“Remember, I said he didn’t come out and say—”
“Just tell me.”
Jennifer stepped closer to her son. “She lies—”
“Quiet, Mother.”
I clutched the coat tighter. “He said once he wished he hadn’t walked away from you for so many reasons. Mainly because he’d ruined his only chance to be a dad. I don’t—I got the impression he couldn’t have kids.”
I sucked in a breath and waited for Wes to figure it out. Sam had mentioned other things that had led me to the same conclusion, but with Wes’s cunning and his mom’s choked expression, he’d put the pieces together.
Jennifer’s chest heaved and she watched Wes with wide eyes.
“Mom?” His strangled word cut me deep, but I stayed planted in my spot, instinctively knowing he would shun my comfort.
“She’s lying.” Spoken with much less conviction.
“I never felt it was my place to say anything and I haven’t told anyone my suspicions,” I said. “I’m sorry, Wes.”
“Why’d you come today?” he snarled.
His rage was understandable.
“Because you wanted to know why Sam and I got along so well. He felt like he’d lost you and I never had a dad.”
“So you were the kid he never had?” Wes roared. “You were good enough, but he’d raised me and I wasn’t?”
“I’m sorry, Wes,” I whispered.
“Wes—” his mom cut in.
“Get out.”
His mom put her hand over her heart. “Wesley.”
“Not you, Mother.” He glared at me, pouring all his anger into his next words. “I think it would’ve been better if you’d been fucking him instead. Getting to him by pretending to be the kid he’d always wanted is fucking low.”
I recoiled. His words were as good as slapping me.
“Did it feel good to have the power this time, Mara? You broke up a marriage, why not break up a family?”
My arms holding the coat hung down as all the tension drained out of me. He was hurting and he had a right to. But I didn’t deserve his insults or his derision. Didn’t need to be showed that no matter what, he’d always see me as the greedy whore.
Wes
Every muscle strained to go after Mara. The hurt in her eyes.
“Talk.”
“I never…you weren’t supposed to find out.” I’d never seen my mother so subdued.
My dark hair came from her. Her eyes were more hazel than blue, but they looked enough alike that I’d never questioned how different I was from Sam.
“Were you protecting me, or yourself?”
“Wesley…” She blinked back tears. Real ones.
It struck me that this was the most real moment between the two of us we’d ever had.
“He was gone so much.” With a hand at her temple, she walked to the couch Mara had just been sitting on.
Out the window, Mara’s car sped up my driveway.
“He moved me here.” She gave a bitter laugh. “Took me away from my family, away from nice weather, and plopped me here and then was never home. I loved him. I really did. But I was lonely.” She shrugged, her small smile was so sad but shockingly genuine.
“Who was he?”
“I’ll give you his name, but he’s married now, with other children.”
Another father who wanted nothing to do with me. “Who was
