“Don’t cry Sophia, you’re meant to be taking it easy, think of the baby.” I hear a gasp. Dad and Luke are staring at me with shocked expressions
“Shit” I whisper to Scott.
“They know now Soph.” Scott says and I turn my head back to them
“Umm Surprise” I say weakly making Scott chuckle.
“Lame Soph, real lame.” Scott tells me, like I didn’t know how lame I sounded. The moron.
While Scott goes to the kitchen, dad speaks to me.
“Soph, baby girl, how did I not know you hadn’t dealt with your mom’s death? I’m so sorry.” Luke laughs, it’s a sarcastic laugh.
“Yeah dad, when? Huh? When were you meant to have noticed? She upped and left as quickly as she could.” What the hell is this fucker’s problem?
“What the fuck are you talking about Luke?” He looks at me with so much anger is in his eyes
“You! Poor Sophia, always the golden child, it was always ‘look after Sophia’, why? In case your drug addicted whore of a mother came back? Mom took you in, she raised you, where were you? Where were you when she was sick?” Is he for real?
“Sophia was at school Luke, she was seventeen.”
“Come on Luke, get to what is really your problem.” My anger is coming thick and fast.
“My problem is you; you left and made us pick up all the pieces. You ran straight to the Army. You didn’t think of how your actions affected us!” I’m crying in anger now.
“Affected you? Fuck that, I was seventeen when mom died. You and Scott were gone, both having your own house, dad poured himself into work. So don’t you dare, don’t you dare act as if I left you, I was all alone.” I’m screaming at him now.
I feel arms around me, I look up, and it’s Nathan. I didn’t hear him come in.
“When did you get here?” he wipes the tears of my face, leans his forehead against mine
“Just now, I could hear you screaming outside, Scott rang me when you were getting sick.” I nod, I’m still so pissed.
“If you don’t mind, we were having a conversation before you barged into the house.” I feel Nathan tense at Luke’s words.
“Conversation? You made your pregnant sister cry. What sort of man does that?”
Luke lunges for Nathan. I go to raise my fist to punch him. I’ve had enough. Instead of me hitting him, Nathan gets there first. Nathan punches him in the nose; I hear the crunch and see the rush of blood. I’m in shock, no one other than dad, Luke and Scott has protected me, but Nathan did it without a second thought.
“You just broke my nose.” Luke says glaring at Nathan.
“You deserved it you fucker, how dare you take your anger out on her, Sophia has done nothing wrong, the only reason you’re even looking for a fight is because I called you out.” Scott says, I’m getting annoyed now.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Scott stands in front of the fire place, Nathan guides me to the sofa, and sits down beside me, dad takes the other side. Luke moves to the armchair, his nose still bleeding, I get up and grab an ice pack and towel, and I hand it to him and retake my seat. Scott sighs.
“About eighteen months ago, I met this woman Alex, she was beautiful, anyway I ask her out and she says yes, I take her out a few times. We were dating about three months when I come home to find her on her knees sucking Luke off.”
I swing my gaze to Luke. He doesn’t say a word.
“Well?” Dad asks Luke.
“Well, what?”
Dad stands up “Don’t take that tone with me; Well what do you have to say for yourself.”
He shrugs, he turns and I see his face, it looks remorseful, he looks to be in pain, something occurs to me.
“You didn’t know, did you?” I ask softly, he looks to me.
“Sophia, always the one to ask the questions before condemning.” He smiles at me. “No, I didn’t know, he never brought her round when I was there; I would never have done it if I knew.”
Scott looks at him, “What do you mean you never knew?” Luke stands up.
“Look Scott, Alex and I had been together for nearly a year, when you walked in on us, I never knew about you, just like you never knew about me.” I’m crying again, fucking hormones. Scott looks shaken.
“What? No, you’re just saying this to make me look bad.” Luke throws his phone at me.
“Look at the photos Soph, the dates are on them.”
I look through the photos, Nathan is looking too, there are dozens of photos with a woman, “Is this her? Is this Alex?” they both look at the photo; they both have the same pain in their eyes. There is something about this woman, she looks so familiar to me, I know I don’t know her though.
“Yes” they both reply.
I nod and continue looking; I come to the first photo and check the date,
“It says the photo was taken in November 2013.”
Scott looks to Luke, “I’m so sorry man, I never knew.”
Luke gets up and hugs him. “It’s okay; we were both taken in by her. It’s not your fault.” Scott nods.
“She looks very young.” I say, I can’t take my eyes off her. She looks so familiar.
“Yeah, she was eighteen when we started going out. I know, she is a lot younger than me. I couldn’t help it, Soph. There was something about her that I couldn’t keep away from. I know some may frown upon the fact that I’m nine years older than her.” Scott is nodding like he agrees.
“She tried telling me she was twenty-one, but I didn’t buy it. She is young but she acts a lot older, she reminded me a lot of you in that sense. How much your birth mother affected you, it made you grow up a lot faster than you should have. Alex has the same thing about her, although she never talked about her past.” He looks so torn. I don’t know how to help my brothers. They have been hurt in a way I never want to experience.
“There is one thing I don’t understand, you two live together. After all you thought Scott, why were you living together?” He sighs, then looks to Luke. It’s Luke that speaks up.
“We didn’t want everyone dragged into this, we hardly see each other, neither of us are ever home, when we are, it’s just to sleep. Sometimes we don’t even stay there. The main reason I have ignored him and haven’t resolved this is because I loved Alex, I honestly thought she was my one. Having Scott walk in and tell me he was seeing her as well, it fucking broke me. I couldn’t look at him. I was devastated. I’m finally able to see that it wasn’t his fault and wasn’t mine. I’m sorry for blowing you off for so long, it shouldn’t have gone on that long.” I watch as Scott walks over to Luke and they hug. I wait until they break apart to ask what’s been on my mind.
“Okay now we have sorted that out, you want to tell me why you were such a bitch to me?” I ask Luke, Nathan squeezes my hand, I understand he doesn’t want me upset but the not knowing will drive me crazy in no time.
“Leave it Soph, I was a dick yeah.” Hell No.
“Umm, Nope, not going to wash, now spill” He takes a deep breath.
“Fine I was jealous okay, you’re in love and pregnant. You left and did something amazing, something your kids are going to be proud of. You’re an amazing woman Soph. You’re going to be an amazing mom too.” I’m freaking crying again.
“Ugh, damn hormones. Look, Luke, you help put the monsters away. When I have this baby, they are going to know how amazing both their uncles are; one uncle helps people, the other keeps monsters off the streets. So no matter what you think Luke, you do something amazing every time you get a conviction. Don’t doubt yourself Luke, each and every single one of us is amazing, we have all accomplished so very much.” Dad is nodding his head.
“I’m proud of each and every one of you. Sophia is right, you all have achieved something completely unique in your lives. You all have chosen a profession in which you have the opportunity to protect people, I like to think that me and your mother have had a hand in helping raise you right
. But you all are very special.” Scott coughs, looking down at his shoes; Luke looks skywards both their eyes looking watery. Scott coughs again.
“Thanks dad, of course you and mom are the reason why we do what we do, isn’t that right guys?” I nod, wanting to junk punch him, like seriously; he is the only person who knows why I joined the army. Dumbass.
“Why did you want to be a PI and bodyguard?” I ask, two can play douchebag. I never did know why.
“Fine, I wanted to be a PI so I could find out about my biological family. Then I started training to be a bodyguard after talking to Connor one day. He talked about how amazing and worthwhile it is, that you get to help protect someone. I signed up to train the next day. What about you Luke, why did you want to be a D.A?” He looks at me.
“You had to live with a monster, you never got justice. I wanted to be able to help people get justice and see their monsters sent to prison. What about you Soph, why did you join the Army?” I look around the room; everyone bar Scott is looking at me with their full attention, waiting for this answer.
“I joined the Army for a few reasons, one, to help make the world safe, I needed to be able to help. Two, some monsters need putting down and three, I needed to go, so I ran.” Scott nods his head in understanding, I told Scott my reasons the day before I left for basic training, He wanted to know why I was leaving, I had to tell him.
“You all are so amazing. I’m truly proud of you all. It was such a privilege to watch you three grow up to be amazing people. Thank you.” I laugh.
“Why are you thanking us, if anyone should be thanking anyone, it’s us thanking you. You and mom saved us in more ways than we can ever repay.” Luke says with so much sincerity in his voice, I just nod, there isn’t anything to say to top that. I need to apologize though.
“I’m sorry dad, I’m sorry for the way I treated you the other day, you did nothing wrong, I overreacted. You deserve to be happy; mom would want you to move on.” Luke’s nodding in agreement, but dad doesn’t seem to agree.
“No baby girl, bringing a woman none of us know back here was wrong, you had every right to be mad. This is your home, and always will be. I was lonely, I needed someone, I went the wrong way about doing it. For that I apologize.” I walk over and hug him. He hugs me back wrapping his arms tightly around me.
We stay for a while longer, just catching up on everything we have missed in the past eight weeks. Nathan stayed with me, he seems to be getting along with everyone, and Scott shoots daggers every so often when he thinks no one is looking. It’s because he doesn’t like to see that his little sister is in a relationship. No one will ever be good enough for me, and he’s just trying to piss us off. Everyone seems to be comfortable again, there is no tension, even Scott and Luke aren’t looking like they want to kill each other, but it will take a while to get them back to how things were.
We are about to leave when dad remembers something. “Hold on a sec Soph, your mail is here.” He walks back toward the direction of the kitchen, a few moments later he comes back with a pile of mail. I take the mail and lean in to hug him goodbye, he hugs me in return, kissing me on my cheek.
“Be good baby girl, and stay safe, you got my grandchild growing inside you know.” I scoff.
“Are you insinuating I don’t look after myself?” he just laughs and shakes his head. As I walk through the door, dad calls Nathan back.
“Nathan, can I have a word?” He must see the look on my face because he continues.
“Don’t worry Soph, he will be fine.” I nod my head and head to my car.
I hug Luke and Scott goodbye and they both head off too. About ten minutes later Nathan leaves the house, he looks pissed.
“Everything okay?” He looks at me.
“Yeah why wouldn’t it be?” He snaps. I don’t know what his problem is, but there is no need take it out on me. I’m not mad I’m confused everything was fine until he spoke to dad.
“Whatever the hell your problem is, I’m not your punching bag; don’t take it out on me.” I get in my car and drive off to my house. On the way I call dad using the hands free, he’s laughing as he answers.
“I was wondering how long it would take to call me.” I’m so fucking mad right now.
“What the fuck did you say to him dad?” He stops laughing and is on high alert.
“Nothing bad, why?” I’m so confused right now.
“Well the thing is, he was fine when I left the house. I leave him with you and he’s like a bull in a china shop.” He sighs.
“I don’t know what to tell you baby girl, he was fine when he left me.”
I hang up, this conversation is getting me nowhere. I arrive at my house, I hear a car coming, I look up and see it’s Nathan. I don’t know if I want another argument. I’m drained from the emotional overload that happened at dads.
Chapter Eighteen
Nathan
“Nathan can I have a word?” Steven calls me as Sophia and I are leaving, I should have guessed this would be coming. He tells Sophia that I’ll be fine, he takes me into his office and tells me something that puts me on high alert.
“I need you to do me a favour. What I need from you, Sophia can’t know, at least not yet.” I shake my head.
“I can’t. I promised Sophia, no lies, no secrets.” He nods,
“I understand, but this favour I need from you, well, if what I suspect is true, it could tear my baby girl’s world upside down. It could destroy her.”
“TELL. ME.” I grit out.
“You saw the photo that Luke showed Sophia of that woman, Alex, right?” I nod, where is he going with this?
“She caused a lot of hurt already. If I’m correct in thinking who she is, she could cause a lot more.” I’m getting angrier and angrier as he continues.
“Who do you think she is?” He looks to the office door, then back to me.
“I think she may be Sophia’s biological sister.” What the ever loving fuck.
“What? Why would you think that?” he shakes his head.
“She looks exactly like Sophia’s Mama did, or does. I don’t know, I haven’t seen that woman in twenty years.”
I shake my head in disbelief, “How can you be sure?” I need to know.
“Nathan, I’ll never forget the look of the woman that caused my little girl so much suffering. She will forever be etched into my brain, the same as the look on Sophia’s face when she first saw me.” He looks to be in so much pain as he says that sentence, it makes my chest hurt just thinking about the hurt she suffered.
“So Nathan, that’s why I need your help.” I look at him.
“Oh yeah, what do you need?” He walks to the desk, he writes down something on a piece of paper and he walks back to me.
“Sarah Anderson is her biological mother’s name. I have the address of where she lived when Sophia was small. I know it’s not a lot, but it’s a start. I want you to find out if I’m right, see if this Alex is Soph’s sister.” I nod, it is a place to start.
“I’ll start as soon as I get to the office.” He nods, I turn to leave, I make it towards the office door.
“Sophia cannot know just yet Nathan, if it does indeed turn out to be her sister, her being with both Luke and Scott at the same time looks like it’s a set-up.” He’s right, it looks suspicious.
“Fine.” I leave.
Sophia’s waiting for me, I feel like I’m betraying her, but it’s for her own good, she doesn’t need the stress. I get to her car. “Everything okay?” She asks, she is looking at me curiously.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” I’m pissed, I don’t want to keep things from her, I’m acting like a fucker, I shouldn’t be taking it out on her. I definitely shouldn’t have snapped at her.
“Whatever the hell your problem is, I’m not your punching bag, don’t take it out on me.” Fuck! She gets in her car and drives off, I rush to mine and follow and she leads me to her new house. I get out of the car, Sophia’s waiting for me, her face i
s stoic, blank, except a flicker of hurt that appears in her eyes. I hate this.
I walk to her, I go to wrap my arms around her, and she dodges my arms and heads for the front door. I’m fucked, but her dad is right, she can’t know, it might not even be her. Even if it is, the woman obviously has issues. The stress this will bring won’t be good for her or our baby. She may not like it, but I’m looking out for the two of them.
I follow her to the house. The contractors called her yesterday telling her they would be finished this morning. Apparently Scott had another idea he thought would work well, they rushed to get it finished. She opens the front door, I walk in behind her, she walks off looking around. I close the front door behind me.
I walk further into the hall and a sense of home washes over me. It’s a beautiful house. I walk into the kitchen, it looks amazing, it looks like a chef’s paradise. It looks classy yet modern. I carry on through the house into the living room, it’s massive, it has floor to ceiling windows and French doors that lead to the garden. The garden is huge, I can see all of us living here, us and all the kids we have. I walk to the room off the living room it’s a library type of office. The bookcase spans the room; every wall has these enormous bookcases that go from the floor to the ceiling.
They aren’t full; every bookcase has about ten books on them. It looks really cosy in here with the desk and sofa. I leave the office and head upstairs. I walk into one room and stop in my tracks. This must have been what Scott wanted to add. I see Sophia sitting in the rocking chair taking in the nursery Scott had installed.
“It’s too early to have this stuff here, we’re jinxing it.” She says softly.
“Sophia, there is only a rocking chair and the room has been painted a light blue, that is not jinxing it baby.” She nods, stands up, looks once more around the room then leaves it. I follow her, she leads me to the master room, which is bigger than I expected. She has a king size bed and there is so much space left in the room. The room has a brown and cream theme, all the doors are cream, as is her desk and the walls. Her headboard is brown and so is the boarder going across the wall. It looks really stylish.
Deadly Hunt (Deadly #1) Page 12
