Fries Before Guys (SWAT Generation 2.0 2)

“I like it. It suits you,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes and took a seat on the counter across from where he was sitting at the bar.

“What’s up?” I asked, feeling nervous now.

He grinned at me.

“I did some research,” he said. “And I found out about the woman with the child.”

I waited, heart in my throat.

“The baby is a girl. She’s probably your sister,” he said, voice soft. “Your father was seeing the baby’s mother at some point. I’m not sure when. Your father is listed as the baby’s father on the birth certificate as well. I came here tonight to see if I could get some of your DNA. To test it between yours and the baby’s.”

I immediately nodded my head.

“What do you need?” I asked. “Hair? Cheek swab? Why did she do this?”

“Cheek. And I have no clue. That is something that only she can answer at this point.” he answered. “But there’s more.”

“More?” I asked, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “What kind of more?”

He grinned at that but just as quickly sobered.

“I got a police report that says you pressed charges against a man that pointed a gun at you. Threatened to shoot you,” he said. “This is the same man that is married to the woman that slept with your father. The mother of your most-likely sister.”

My mouth fell open in surprise.

“What?” I gasped.

Derek walked into my house then without knocking, his eyes narrowing on Lynn.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he barked.

Lynn grinned wryly.

“Explaining a few things that I was able to find out about the baby that is your girl’s sister,” he answered.

Hearing Lynn call me Derek’s girl made my heart all tingly.

“And also making sure she wasn’t left alone,” he continued.

Derek’s eyes narrowed.

“I was at the hospital today visiting a sick friend when I saw her leave,” he said. “I’d heard the call earlier about a drunk driver hitting your sister and brother-in-law. I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m glad they’re okay.”

“Why would it matter if I was left alone?” I asked curiously, sensing there was more to this story than what I’d been given.

Lynn’s eyes met mine, no longer filled with amusement.

In fact, they were intense and honestly kind of extreme.

His gaze left me and turned to Derek.

“I’ve been doing some digging,” he told Derek. “Into the baby. And what I found was a whole lot of mess that might explain a few things.”

He began to explain, and even with Derek at my side holding me up, I was too flabbergasted to comprehend.

“So you’re telling me that the man that held me up at gunpoint for stealing his million dollars and my mom were dating,” I said.

Derek squeezed my neck that he was once again supporting, offering emotional support too.

“Yes,” Lynn said.

“And the woman that had my father’s baby was dating my father.”

Lynn nodded again.

“And that they both tried to collect insurance payouts on each of them,” I continued.

“Yes,” Lynn repeated.

“Did they kill them?” I asked. “Was it them?”

Had I watched a man die that hadn’t actually murdered my father?

“No.” Lynn shook his head. “From what I gather when I talked to the woman, they just dated them in the hopes that they would die since they had such dangerous jobs. They liked the possibilities, and apparently each enjoyed the liaisons. Them actually dying was a complete coincidence that they were never able to capitalize on with your mother. They tried to do things differently with your dad, the woman purposefully getting pregnant. They kept the insurance policy on him, which they collected on. She thought that if she had the kid, half of the money for insurance and such would go to her as well. The woman got cold feet in asking for the money, so the husband decided to take it into his own hands and hold you at gunpoint until you gave him what he wanted. She also filed for divorce from her husband because he was a little too gung-ho on collecting the money that he felt that he was owed.”

I leaned forward until my hands were resting on the counter.

“This is… this is a mess,” I said. “I don’t even have any money, y’all. I’m literally living from paycheck to paycheck. Spending twenty bucks today on food to make sandwiches will have me eating ramen noodles for the next week. Where do they think that I’m getting all this money from?” I paused. “And how the hell was she able to get an insurance policy out on my father? Is that even legal?”

“Apparently, he helped her,” Lynn said. “As did your mother with Howard.”

“Howard?” I asked.

“Howard and Lindia Bales. Howard was the man your mother was having that affair with,” he said. “Your mother died before the policy could go all the way through.”