Page 80 of Forget Me Twice

His normally achingly bright blue eyes look dull. Defeated.

He looks ragged.

“What’s happened?” I croak. “Who died?”

I was just with Dio. “Is Knox okay?”

Jax shushes me, pulling me in for one more strangling hug before he turns to lead me back over to the couch.

“No one’s dead. But I’m afraid that might be about to change.” His voice is raspy and grave, and instantly has my hackles rising. “I believe my days are numbered.”

“What are you talking about?Did the Herald announce a hit?” I hiss out. My brain feels like pure chaos right now, and I can sense the beginnings of a killer headache worming its way in from the base of my skull.

Sebastian has made no secret of his displeasure for Jax’s organizational leadership style, but he’sobsessedwith his bloodline. There is no fucking way he would hand over the keys to his kingdom to anyone but Jackson.

There’s just no way.

A sharp tang of copper blooms in my mouth and I realize that I’ve bitten down on my tongue.

Instead of answering me, Jax leans over and picks up the stack of papers. As he hands them to me, I see his Adam’s apple bob harshly as he swallows.

My hands shake as I take them. Perplexed, I flick my eyes down and as soon as my gaze connects with the top of the first page of the document my lungs seize.

DNA Paternity Report - Lexington Diagnostics.

I force myself to keep reading, all while spots form in my vision. I can’t tell if Jax is speaking because I can’t hear anything except the thunder of blood in my ears.

The report is datedNovember 28th, 2005. In the first allele column it lists theMother (Not Tested)as oneRosaline Bridgette Porter-Sinclair. The next column lists theChildasTristan Marcus Sinclair.Apollo would have been just over fifteen months old when this test was carried out. But why?

And then I see it as my eyes slide to the third and final column. Instead of Martin Sinclair’s name as I had expected, it lists theAlleged Fatherbeing tested asSebastian Norris Grayson.

All the air whooshes out of my lungs as I read the final portion of the results.

The alleged father cannot be excluded as the biological father of the tested child. Based on analysis of STR loci listed above, the probability of paternity is 99.99999999%.

Tristan Sinclair is Sebastian Grayson’s son.

Apollo is Jax’s brother.

And he just turned eighteen.

My vision blurs and now it all finally starts to make sense.

Theymust belong to us by the end of the year, or do not return to Lexington expecting a warm welcome home.

All the times I was reminded of a younger Jax, I just thought it was something in the way the two of them could be dominate a room. But it was more than that.

It was biological.

As I manage to pull in a single shaky breath, Jax’s voice manages to cut through my rising terror. “Sabine?”

My head snaps up and I lock eyes with him. I understand now why he looked so tired. So haunted.

“You see now, don’t you? The Gray Man already has his replacement heir.”