One Warm Winter

by Jamie Pope

  Another letter had been released. No date. Not signed with a name again.

  How could you do this to me? I was fine. I was better than before. I should have never told you what happened to her sister. I did what I did to save her. I’m trying. I’m listening. I obey all your stupid orders. There are people here watching me all the time. Every step I take, I have someone behind me, telling me where to go and what to do. You did this to me! You are keeping me here and you can’t even face me to tell me why you are doing this to me. I won’t take it. It’s cruel. It’s hurts. You stole from me. You stole my second chance and I’ll never forgive you for it.

  Wyn had sat back for a long time and just stared at her screen. The letter produced more questions than it had answered. The media had seemed to go crazy with the news. There was a sister? Another child.

  Wyn had a sister? It was hard to wrap her head around. She didn’t even know for sure that she was the missing child her father’s mistress said was stolen from her. There were no facts to back it up. But there was her gut. And she felt it deep in her gut that she was the child that woman had been talking about and she wasn’t the only one she had given birth to.

  Where was she? Was she still alive? And if not, what the hell had happened to her? Wynter wanted to know, but part of her was scared to find out. What if she found out that both her parents did terrible things? How could she come to terms with it?

  She had nearly spent all day out of the house, returning to the compound around four.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Cullen leaped from the couch as soon as she walked in the door. “I’ve been sitting here all damn day thinking the worst.”

  His accent was so much thicker when his emotions ran strong.

  “I went into town.”

  “Without telling me? Without telling anyone? What the hell is your problem?”

  “I’m fine. I was at a coffee shop.”

  “All day? You were there all day? Almost eight hours?”

  “I went for a walk on the beach. I stopped for ice cream. You don’t have to worry. I was never in jeopardy. Your job isn’t in danger.”

  “This isn’t about my fucking job, Wyn. It’s about you disappearing for hours and no one knowing where you were. I was nearly out of my mind.”

  “I thought you needed some space today.”

  “From you?” He frowned.

  “Of course, from me.” Her eyes stung with tears and she turned away. “I’m sorry about last night. I’m embarrassed and ashamed of my behavior. I didn’t mean to upset you with my joke. You know I would never do anything to risk your job.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Wyn. You sure as hell don’t know how to read a situation.” He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around.

  “What?”

  “I want you. We’ve established that. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t control myself, but last night you weren’t sober. You were giggly and silly and so damn sweet.”

  She shook her head. “I’m confused.”

  “I’ve been with you for a long time now. I know you. I know you wouldn’t have said or done most of those things if it weren’t for the alcohol.”

  “Maybe I wouldn’t if I were in Washington, but back then I thought I knew who I was and where I came from, but everything has changed and the rules I’ve played by no longer exist. Why should I censor myself? Why should I play the good girl and tiptoe around what I want? I can’t do it anymore, because doing so was slowly killing me. If you don’t want to be with me, I can accept it, but being around you like this, pretending for the sake of your friends, isn’t working for me. It’s made things so much more complicated.”

  “I know.” He shook his head and turned away from her. “I crossed lines that I thought I would have never crossed. I asked you to do this and never thought about how it would affect us. Or maybe I did. Maybe I knew I could never have any part of you if things stayed as they were, but with this, I could have some of you and still tell myself I was doing my job.”

  “But why do you have to hold back? I’ve wanted to be with you for a year.”

  “For a year?” He seemed surprised by her statement, but it was true. She had just been denying it to herself. “I have never made love to a woman who wasn’t sober. There can be no doubt in my mind that being with me is what she wants. I don’t ever want you to wake up the next morning and regret what we have done.”

  “I would never regret it.”

  He took a step toward her and placed his hand on her cheek. He leaned in for a moment, and she thought he was going to kiss her. “When I make love to you I want you to be clearheaded. I don’t want alcohol to dull any of it. I want you to remember every moment of it. Every touch. Every kiss. Every sensation. I don’t want you to come to me for comfort or distraction. And I don’t want to come to you simply because I’ve lost control. If we do this, I have to know for sure that it is something neither one of us will ever want to take back.”

  His words made her insides turn to liquid. No one else ever had the power to make her melt with words alone. “I’m very sober now. I promise you I won’t forget a thing.”

  He laughed. “I’m still mad at you for disappearing on me like that.” His eyes searched her face. “I was worried.”

  “That someone kidnapped me? That’s only happened once and I’m fairly sure the woman who tried to take me was my mother.”

  “What?” He shook his head. “There was an attempt made before?”

  “Yes, when I was a child. You knew that. That’s why I have always had private security since.”

  “I didn’t know that.” His eyes narrowed. “You think the person who tried to kidnap you was your birth mother?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “It was the things she said. I didn’t make the connection until recently. She called me her baby. She said that they kept me from her. I thought she was just some crazy person, but now it all makes sense.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

  “I don’t know. I assumed you knew my story.”

  “I knew you were a billionaire’s daughter. I knew he wanted you protected. Beyond that, I knew nothing else.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, it matters. How old were you when she tried?”

  “Ten or eleven.”

  “What did she look like?”

  “Blond. Blue eyes. Beautiful.” Wyn shut her eyes as that day came flashing back to her. “I remember the way she cried when they pinned her to the ground. It was more than a sob. She was wailing and I felt bad for her.”

  “She was in pain, Wyn. She must have loved you.”

  “Yes, but why the hell did my father take me away from her? He could have left me with her. Paid her off. I could have grown up on the other side of the country.”

  “It’s a good question. Mrs. Bates loved you, right? She never made you feel like you were less than her own child?”

  “No. I felt very loved by her. She used to tell me she thanked God daily that my father brought me to her.”

  “Do you think he did it for her? Stole you so she could have you?”

  She shook her head, not sure she was comfortable with that notion. “I—I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  * * *

  Cullen watched as Wyn rubbed her temples. His mind was racing a mile a minute. He could only imagine how she was feeling. “Sit down.” He took her hand and guided her to the couch, but he was too antsy to sit beside her.

  She had just revealed a very important piece of information to him. One that lead them to the woman who had given birth to Wyn. One that made him believe that she could still be alive.

  He knew that she hadn’t died in childbirth, nor had Bates had her killed shortly after.

  But she had been stashed somewhere. Purposely kept away from her child.

  There was no doubt in his mind that Wyn’s would-be kidnapper was her birth mother. He didn’t know many women who would just
allow their child to be taken from them.

  “Do you know what happened to her after they stopped her?”

  “No. I was whisked away.”

  “Did anyone say anything to you after? Did they try to explain?”

  “No. The next day I had armed security with me and that was that.”

  “Damn it, I wish I had more to go on.”

  “I need to know what happened to her. Another letter was released today. It was short. There was another child. A girl. She wrote that she should have never told him what happened to her.”

  That was big news, but it didn’t clear anything up. Only added more questions.

  “She’s dead?”

  “I don’t know. The letter didn’t say, but it sounds like something happened to her.”

  It was a troubling thought. But it made more sense than him stealing Wyn just so his wife could have a child. But then again, it could still be plausible. Bates could have planned this. Seduced a vulnerable woman so he could take her child. It all seemed too sinister.

  This whole damn thing was a mess. But without this mess he wouldn’t have ever gotten this close to Wynter. It was selfish of him to be glad for it. He got to kiss her lips. To hold her hand. To smell her skin. To feel her close to him as she slept.

  Today, when he didn’t know where she was, he nearly went out of his mind. He wasn’t afraid for her safety. He was afraid that she had left him and the thought of it made him feel sick in his gut.

  The thought of not seeing her daily, not seeing her in her most natural state, gave him a feeling that he could only describe as panic. He didn’t panic. He didn’t do sadness, but he thought about not being with her and there was misery there. Like something deep and profound would be missing if she was gone.

  He didn’t like feeling that way. He didn’t want to examine what it meant, because he already knew. He was in love with her.

  He had been denying it for so long now, but that’s what it was. He was in love. In real love for the first time in his life and he knew that it couldn’t go on forever. He wanted her. He wanted every inch of her, but he knew it couldn’t last. He wasn’t right for her.

  There was too much shit in his past. Too much damage. And she had so much going on herself. She had been lied to her entire life, enormous secrets had been kept from her, her identity a mystery. His entire career had been about keeping secrets—even now, he knew more about her past than she did. She needed a nice man with no PTSD, no scars, no trauma. One who could give her a big family with a bunch of kids. A worldly guy who could keep up with her brains. She needed someone who could match her passion. She had so much of it. She deserved that. He needed to find out who her mother was so this could all end. He could go back to his life. Find peace.

  He sank on his knees before her and buried his head in her lap. Her hands immediately came up and she buried her fingers in his hair. “You seem tortured by this,” she said to him.

  “Yes.”

  “Why? I don’t expect you to find my birth mother. You were only supposed to keep me away from the media.”

  “I want happiness for you, Wyn.” He looked up at her.

  “Even with all this going on, I’m happier here than anywhere else I’ve ever been.”

  “Lush scenery and warm ocean air will do that to anyone.”

  “You think?”

  “Why do you think I’m going to retire here?”

  “It’s more than that and we both know it.”

  “You have to go back to your life one day. You have to decide what it is going to be after all this is over.”

  He stood up, not able to take her touch anymore. He wanted more and more of her and he was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to escape this without everlasting damage.

  “I have been thinking about that,” she told him. “There’s so much I want.”

  “You have to find a way to have it all.”

  “Is it possible for anyone to have it all?”

  “Maybe not everyone, but you can.”

  “What if what I want involves you?” She whispered the question, her heart in her eyes.

  “Don’t ask me that. Not now.”

  He couldn’t take it. Darby said that she was in love with him, but he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t be sure until after this was all over and everything was calm and she didn’t need to lean on him so much.

  It could all be a phase for her. Something she got caught up in while being in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

  And that’s why he needed to keep himself grounded. He couldn’t allow himself to be swept away.

  “I need to go see Darby. Will you stay here?”

  She nodded. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 13

  When Cullen arrived at Darby’s cottage, he was surprised to see that Kingsley and Jack were there with him. They stood when he walked in.

  “Did I interrupt something, lads?”

  “No,” Jack said. “Did you find her?”

  “Wyn?” He nodded. “She came back about an hour ago.”

  “We were going to go out and look for her,” King said. “You’re usually so damn calm, but I knew it was serious. I could tell there was something up.”

  “You could tell?”

  “We all could tell, son.”

  “I’m losing it, Darby. I can’t go back into the field in this state.”

  “You’re retired,” King reminded him. “There’s no objectivity you have to keep. It’s okay to be worried about your girl.”

  “I think you should tell them,” Darby said. “About Wyn. You can trust them like you trust me.”

  “You’re holding something back from me?” King asked him. “I’ve known you longer than anyone here.”

  “I know, but this isn’t just about me. It’s about Wyn.”

  “What about Wyn?” Jack asked. There was an edge to his voice.

  “She’s my principal. I work for her father.”

  “So basically you’re telling us you brought your work home with you.” Jack grinned. “You broke a rule. A big, fat rule. I love it.”

  “Damn,” King said, shaking his head. “You’re still on his payroll?”

  “Yes. But not for long.” He paused for a moment. “There’s more, but I don’t want Jazz to know. She won’t forgive me.” All the men nodded, knowing their friend well. “She’s Warren Bates’s daughter.”

  “Who?” King asked.

  “Don’t you ever read a bloody newspaper?” Darby asked.

  “You know I don’t. The entire point of moving here was to be as disconnected from everything as possible. Plus, I’m from London. I don’t keep up with Americans.”

  “He’s a tech billionaire from D.C.,” Jack answered. “He ran for Senate in Virginia a few years ago. He’s trying to launch a presidential campaign. My family knows him.” He shook his head. “Are you telling me that Wyn is his daughter?”

  “Wynter Bates. The story they put out was that she had been adopted from an orphanage in South Africa. But letters were leaked to the media that put everything into question.”

  “Letters from who?” King asked.

  “Bates’s mistress. She gave birth to his child. A girl. The girl was then taken away and the mistress was kept locked up somewhere.”

  “And you’re sure this child is Wyn?”

  “The letters don’t prove it,” Cullen responded. “There’s no dates or even a name signed to them, but Bates admitted to me as much. He wouldn’t admit it to his own daughter, though. He’s refused to speak to her since the news broke.”

  “He would have to explain himself.” Jack sat back down. “I can’t believe that Wyn is his daughter. I’ve seen her before. I was a teenager. She accompanied her parents to a dinner party at my house. She was one of those timid types. Couldn’t make eye contact. Too shy to say more than a few words. I can’t reconcile that the woman who suggested we go skinny-dipping is the same person who was too nervous to hold a conversation w
ith my older brother.”

  “This process has changed her,” Cullen admitted to them. “She’s tired of following rules and being the perfect daughter.”

  “Which is why she is sleeping with her bodyguard,” Jack said.

  “Don’t be an asshole, Jack,” King said. “It’s more than that.”

  “Sometimes I’m afraid it isn’t,” Cullen told them.

  King shook his head. “No. Don’t listen to Jack. Wyn’s not like that. She can’t hide her feelings. Everything she feels shows on her face.”

  “I still can’t believe she’s Bates’s daughter,” Jack said. “She’s the type of woman my parents would love for me to marry.”

  “Even with the scandal?” Cullen asked him.

  “Yes. You don’t know how the rich and powerful work. If Wynter’s father becomes president, he can do all sorts of things that would benefit my father and his career. He would love to have a daughter-in-law who could help him curry favor.”

  “But knowing you, you wouldn’t marry anyone just to make your father happy.”

  “Hell no. But I like Wyn. Almost enough to not give a shit who her father is.”

  “Why are you telling us this now, Cull?” King interrupted them with his question.

  “Because I need your help, lads. Wyn just told me that she thinks her birth mother tried to kidnap her when she was around ten. That tells me that the mother was alive at least until then. I need to know if there was any record of that. Were the police called? What happened after ward?”

  “There was also another letter released today,” Darby added. “There was another child. The letter alluded that something happened to that child. I think it’s very important to find out what happened to that child.”

  “It could give us insight into why Bates did what he did,” King said.

  “I agree.” Cullen nodded as he surveyed his friends. “I need you to help me find out anything you can. I’ve tapped out all my sources. Darby, did you find anything?”

  He nodded. “I think so. You were right. He scrubbed his employee files pretty good, but I think I found a first name: Grace. I have my people looking deeper, but most of my contacts are foreign. They don’t deal much with American intel.”