“You brought me into this, Nate!” I yell at him. “All I wanted was to find out who my parents are, but you are the one who brought me into this family and made me feel like I was a part of it. You did all that, but you’ve been lying to me the whole time, and I’m not going to put up with that anymore!”
Nate stands there, mouth agape and eyes bulging. He opens and closes his mouth as if he’s trying to find the right words. I continue to glare at him, and when he doesn’t respond, I start to make my way around him to the door.
“All right,” Nate says quickly, “I’ll try. I reserve the right to leave out some details though. Can you live with that?”
“Maybe.” I stop in my tracks but don’t lower my guard. “It’s a start anyway.”
He reaches out to me, but I don’t take his hand. Hesitantly, I follow him to the couch so we can sit beside each other.
“Let me start by apologizing for the beginning of this evening,” he says. “I’m sorry I overreacted.”
“Overreacted? That’s what you call it?”
“We’ve had spies sent by the Ramsay family before. When we found out you were being followed, I assumed they were watching you for a reason.”
“You mean by Aaron. Aaron was following me.”
“Yes. When Antony told me someone was following you, and that person was not only a guy you went out with but someone who was working for the Ramsays, I kinda lost it. That’s what started it. Then all this other stuff started coming out, and I thought…well, I guess since I’d been trying to manipulate you, I thought you must have been manipulating me too. I wasn’t thinking straight, and Pops…Pops kept telling me you were working against me.”
“Your dead father.” I don’t intend for my words to be so blunt, but I can’t help it.
“I didn’t know,” Nate whispers. He reaches for my hand in my lap, and this time I let him take it. “I…I don’t know why that was happening.”
“It was all in your head. Something inside of you didn’t trust me.”
“It’s hard to trust people,” Nate admits. “The thing is, I did trust you. I do trust you. It just scares me to put faith in someone else. Maybe Pops was just my paranoia about being wrong. He always told me I was wrong, and that didn’t seem to stop even when he was dead.”
“What about now?”
“He’s gone.” Nate glances around the room. “I hope he’s gone for good.”
I stare at his face, examining him intently. His expression isn’t one I’ve seen before. It’s a strange combination of fear and contriteness. I feel his hand trembling in mine, and I finally relax my fingers enough to wrap around his.
“When Antony showed me the file Micha had on you, it seemed clear. I was sure that if he knew about you, you must have known about all of us.”
“I didn’t. I don’t know anything about this, Nate.” I feel tears creeping back into my eyes. “I swear, I don’t. I never met your brother, and I had no idea he was investigating me. Aunt Ginny was still alive then, and I didn’t start looking for my birth parents until long after she died.”
“I believe you, Cherry. I’m sorry I ever doubted you at all. It was stupid of me. I should have trusted my instincts more than I did.”
This time, I can feel his sincerity. Though my anger hasn’t diminished, it’s subdued enough that I can think straight again.
“It was stupid. I’ve never been anything but honest with you.”
“I know. I mean, I realize that maybe if I hadn’t listened to Pops, I could have been honest with you from the start.”
“Could you have?”
He looks at me questioningly.
“What about your family, Nate? Would you have been honest about all of that from the beginning?”
He looks away, his expression pained.
“Are you finally going to come clean about what your family really does?”
“We’re into real estate,” he mutters.
“Right. Real estate. Property and syrup. That’s a great cover for whatever else you have going on. Do you really think claiming to be everyone’s landlord will make me think that’s why you’re treated with such reverence around here? People don’t act like that toward their landlords.”