Then it hits me, and my blood goes cold.
“Take this, but keep it hidden,” I whisper, letting my hand tangle with Chasm’s as I sweep past. I leave Lumen’s note with him, and he slips it immediately into the pocket of his jacket.
I’m breathless by the time I arrive at Justin’s side, and he looks over at me in a knowing—and very pleased sort of way—because he knows what I’ve just figured out. He knows that I know who this is, just by looking at her.
That mouth … I know a pouty mouth just like that on a very intimate level. For as long as I live, even if I never see Parrish Vanguard again, I won’t forget the full lushness of his lips.
“My darling,” Justin remarks, sweeping an arm around me and drawing me close as the woman turns her attention away from a group of well-dressed businessmen and over toward me. Her smile is poisonous, her gaze sharp. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Caroline Bassett.”
I almost choke. Chasm does choke. Maxx maintains his calm through some sort of miracle.
“You’re Parrish’s bio mom,” I blurt before I can stop myself. That causes her pretty smile to falter, but she regains her composure well. Also … Justin Prior has a girlfriend?! After all the fawning and obsessing over Tess that he’s been doing?
I smell a plot.
Justin Prior just doesn’t do coincidences.
“I gave birth to him, yes,” Caroline remarks, which is a really weird way to respond to my statement. Particularly, it’s even weirder because Parrish is missing. I think about Tess and how she was shouting at this woman over the phone the other day. Caroline doesn’t seem particularly perturbed that her son has been gone for over two weeks. “And you must be Dakota Banks, Justin’s beautiful daughter. It’s so lovely to meet you. I’ve been after Justin all week to arrange a meeting between us.” She gives him a look, but he just chuckles good-naturedly.
“I’ve only just met my own child, Caroline. Don’t be greedy.”
Her eyes sweep past me to land on Chasm first and then Maxx. She takes note of them, catalogues their appearances, and then dismisses them just as quickly. Whatever she’s here for, it isn’t love and family, that’s for damn sure. My attention slides over to Justin, but he’s smiling at his girlfriend in that charming way of his.
If she’s a monster, fine. Doesn’t matter. So is he. They deserve each other.
This is clearly the person he was so eager to introduce me to. Figures that he’d pick Parrish’s bio mom to date after kidnapping and imprisoning her son. Or before? I wonder when they met and how long they’ve been together, how long Justin Prior has been plotting all of this.
Milk Carton’s aging software was put in place specifically to locate me, so clearly this has been in the works for a very long time. Probably since shortly after Saffron kidnapped me. It occurs to me that all this time, I’ve been obsessing over that stupid Netflix documentary, about my grandparents calling the hotline, about Tess spiriting me away to live here.
In retrospect, that was a good thing. I was bound to end up in Medina whether I liked it or not. The only difference here is that I’ve got Chasm and Maxx on my side, that Tess found me first, that I wasn’t dragged straight from my quiet life in the Catskills to this West Coast mess.
Justin would’ve found me, regardless. But I would’ve been even more blindsided by his entrance into my life, even less prepared. At least that’s something.
“Well, if she’s a part of your life, honey, then she’s a part of mine.” Caroline smiles at me, her sleek black dress clinging to all of her curves. She’s a beautiful woman, as beautiful as Parrish is handsome. Yet, I can’t get past the fact that she’s at a fancy party fawning all over Justin while her son is missing. “I hope we can get to know each other, Dakota.”
“There’ll be plenty of time for that,” a redheaded man booms out, breaking away from the other well-dressed men beside him to clamp a hand on Justin’s shoulder. I feel my bio dad tense up beside me, his arm still wrapped firmly around my shoulders. “I hear you just put an offer in on a house?”
“Mm,” Justin agrees, releasing me finally as I study Caroline further. I let my gaze drift back to Chasm’s, but he can’t seem to break his glare. The hatred roiling in his face matches my own. When I look to Maxx, he returns my stare, reaching down to give my hand a quick squeeze. “I have actually. The elderly owner passed away from a chronic health condition. I managed to get my offer in before the place even hit the market.”
