The look on her face told me she hadn’t heard anything Clint had said but only what I had said.
“Cassie,” I started.
But she turned to Cecilia. “I knew, I knew this was a bad idea. Don’t worry about me, I’ll get an Uber home.”
I pushed past Cecilia and caught up with Cassie in no time because she couldn’t move at her normal pace.
“Cassandra, listen to me,” I said.
“No way, Gabe. How long have you known my mother cheated on my Dad? Huh?”
“Five minutes ago,” I snapped.
Her lips quirked to the side with a look calling bullshit.
“I’m serious, Cass. I heard Ryan hitting your mother up for more money, then her refusal, along with the threat to charge him with money-laundering. When Ryan pointed out it would implicate, if not incriminate your father, too, she said ‘Two birds, one stone’. I didn’t know for certain she was your mother until he mentioned you might be charged, too.”
Her chin dipped. “Really?”
My eyes widened as exasperation filled me. “Yes, really! I made moves to invest in the club specifically so you and your Dad wouldn’t be in the line of fire.”
“You couldn’t have just told me all that on Monday?”
I looked past her for a moment, but when I met her eyes again I shook my head. “Would you have believed me? I hadn’t even officially met your mother. And seriously, Daughtry, that was no time to lay that on you. With my temper as bad as it is, I have no idea—”
“I’m so glad you brought up your temper. Gabe, you’ve got a real problem, and I’m sorry, but we can’t continue with the way you react –and sometimes overreact to things.”
“What?” I whispered.
“You heard me. I would say we could go back to being just friends, but that won’t work.”
“Cassandra,” I turned my head to the side as my throat clogged and I cleared it. “It was a misunderstanding. You didn’t tell me what you suspected Ryan was doing.”
“I still didn’t tell you. How do you know—”
I tore my hand through my hair. If I didn’t stop that, I’d end up with early-onset baldness like Vamp and need to shave my head. “Your dad is the client, Cassandra. He shared your suspicions with Clint. Brock running into you at the chop house happened because he followed your mother. He knew she had a reservation; what he didn’t know was that you would be accompanying her.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Dad’s... Why would he investigate my mother?”
I rested my hands on my hips so I wouldn’t reach out to her although I itched to hold her. “He investigated Ryan, but your mother paying the club a visit prompted a look into her.”
The narrowed eyes turned into a squint. “Without telling my father that was happening? I do not think so.”
“Believe it,” Clint said from the mouth of the hallway. “He said he wanted answers, and he didn’t care what we had to do to get them. Tailing your mother didn’t prove anything initially, until Gabe told us about what he overheard. And he only did that because you spotted Brock at the Chophouse, Cassie.”
“What does me seeing Brock have to do with anything?”
I gentled my gaze on her. “Honey, after you gave Brock what-for, it hit me that he wouldn’t just show up at a place like that. And really, who gets to the Kres and immediately has to leave? Not anybody I know, but I could see him having to get away from you. Which meant, he was tailing your mother. I called him on it, he didn’t want to fess up to it, but I shared what I had heard.”
She put her hand on her side and exhaled. Instinctively, I moved to her and guided her to a nearby padded bench. Once she sat down, I squatted in front of her. “Honey, do not exhaust yourself over this. I am sorry about not telling you, but do you see the bind I was in? I had to protect you from being accused of money-laundering.”
Her lips pressed together and I knew she saw my side of things, she just didn’t want to own up to it. To my surprise, her eyes skated to Clint, who had come closer. “My sister’s... only my half-sister?”
Clint sighed. “I’m sorry, Cassandra, but yeah. And I can’t say any more about that. Your father’s still in the office with Mr. Oteros, but he knows you’re out here. He hasn’t even spoken to your mother.”
She hung her head and exhaled. “I can’t go home,” she mumbled.
I cupped her chin with a hand. “Say that again, honey?”
Her tormented eyes caught mine. “I can’t go home. If she... if Sera’s not his, I don’t want to be there when that gets discussed. And I can’t go to my apartment because of the fucking, fucking stairs.”
I pressed my lips together to prevent my grin. “Lucky for you, baby, I’ll carry you up to my place.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Gabe, I’m not down with—”
“I’ll sleep on the couch again, if I have to. But, dammit Cassandra. You are not pushing me away.”
Her lips pushed out in a semi-duck-lipped pout and I fought chuckling or kissing them in equal measure.
Cassie
I COULD SEE FROM HIS expression he wanted to laugh at me. That annoyed me, but with my world shaken to the core I didn’t have time to be annoyed.
Sera wasn’t Dad’s daughter. How could my mother cheat on my father? Then another thought struck me.
Was I my father’s daughter?
Clint stood close by, and I looked up at him. “What about me? Do I need a paternity test or something?”
He shook his head, but I held up a hand to stop him. “Sorry. Never mind. God! Now this makes much more sense. A couple Christmases ago, mother gave me one of the new genetic tests. She was really insistent I do it
