What is he talking about? Then it hits me. I know why his name seemed so familiar. “I met you while Lucian and I were having dinner. We talked for a while.” My mind is whirling wondering what this new information could possibly mean.
He inclines his head, giving me a brief smile. “That is correct. I really enjoyed our conversation that night. You’re a very intelligent woman. I wanted to tell you then, but Quinn thought you had been through too much to handle another shock, and I reluctantly agreed with him.”
I still have no idea what he is talking about. Tell me what? Had he paid for my schooling as some type of charity and Lucian didn’t want me to know? Trying to make sense of this strange conversation, I say, “It wasn’t a mistake that you paid my tuition, was it?”
He looks puzzled by my question. “Of course it wasn’t. It’s my right and obligation as your father to take care of your expenses. I’ll have a credit card issued to you for anything else you might need.”
My father? My ears are roaring and the room is spinning as I sit deathly still, trying to process the insane words he has just uttered. My hand is shaking as I again pull the receipt with his name on it from my purse. “I…no. I just came to bring this to you. They made a mistake.” I get unsteadily to my feet and put the piece of paper on his desk. “I have to leave…I can’t stay here…”
I hear a curse from behind me as Peter gently takes my arm. “Lee, she doesn’t know. Shit, she has no idea who you are.” Bile rises up my throat and I know I’m seconds away from being sick. I put my hand over my mouth and look around frantically. Peter, as if sensing what’s happening, leads me a few feet to a door and pushes it open. I find myself in a pristine bathroom, with marble floors and countertops. I don’t have time to appreciate it, because my stomach has other plans. I fall to my knees and purge everything from my system. I don’t know how long I remained on the floor until there was a knock at the door.
“Miss Adams, it’s Liza. Honey, I’m coming in to help you get cleaned up.” The door opens slowly and the once-smiling receptionist is now frowning in concern. She takes a cloth from the cabinet under the sink and wets it before squatting to gently wipe my face. “Can you stand?” When I nod, she helps me to my feet and hands me a glass of water. Within a few moments, I feel more human as I brush my teeth with the new toothbrush from the cabinet. It’s certainly a well-stocked bathroom. “Are you all right? Pete and Lee are really worried about you.”
“I…I’m okay. I just think maybe I misunderstood something they said.”
She pats my arm with a smile, saying, “That’s probably it, honey. I’m sure they’ll straighten it out for you.” She ushers me back into Lee’s office where both he and his brother halt their pacing to stare at me in concern. Liza walks quietly out of the office, shutting the door behind her. I fight the urge to beg her to stay.
Lee steps forward, giving me a wary look. “Lia, I apologize. I assumed Lucian had talked with you, thus prompting your visit here.”
I’m still no closer to having the answers I need and before I can chicken out and run, I ask, “What’s going on? You obviously think I know something that I don’t. I came here because I found out that you paid my college expenses and I thought there was some mistake. I didn’t want your son or daughter to show up for school and have problems because of it.”
“Maybe you should go home and talk with Quinn,” Peter says, shooting a quick look at his brother.
Even though I already know the answer to my question, I ask anyway, “Does Lucian know what you’re talking about?”
“Yes,” Lee answers when his brother remains quiet.
I sit down in the chair I so recently vacated and cross my arms trying to look stronger than I’m feeling inside. “Then you need to tell me because Lucian has not. If this concerns me, then I have a right to know.”
“You do,” Lee agrees before looking at his brother. “Pete, could you give us some privacy please?”
“Lee…I don’t think—”
“Pete, leave!” Lee snaps and Peter shakes his head before walking out the door. Instead of going back to his chair behind his desk, he surprises me by taking the one adjacent to mine. My heart is pounding out of my chest. I know with everything inside of me that what this man is going to tell me will turn my life upside down. A part of me wants to tell him to stop, that I don’t want to know after all, but I sit silently, waiting for the blow I know is coming. “Lia…twenty-four years ago, I had a relationship that spanned several months with Maria Adams.”
“No,” I say in a voice barely above a whisper. If he hears me, he gives no indication.
“Business eventually took me away from North Carolina and from Maria. Even though I considered it at the time, it wouldn’t have been safe for her to accompany me. I ended things between us, and that’s the last time I saw her. She never tried to contact me to let me know she was pregnant or that I had a daughter. I had no idea at all, until recently.”
“How did you find out?” I ask as I stare at the man who says he is my father. I feel a sucker punch to the gut when it finally hits me. He looks so familiar to me because I see him every time I look in the mirror. There is no denying the fact that I look like him. Was this why I had been so comfortable with him in the restaurant when we first met? A feeling of kinship?
“Lucian was checking into your past, I assume looking for information on your mother and stepfather. He found the connection between Maria and me, which prompted him to look a little harder at me. Naturally, that alerted me to his interest, and I started doing a little research, as well. It appears that we both met somewhere in the middle with the same realization: I’m your father.”
“You can’t know that,” I protest weakly, but I know there is no way I would be here now unless he was positive. Lee Jacks doesn’t seem like the type of man to jump to conclusions, especially one of this magnitude.
“I can assure you that I do know it for certain. I don’t make mistakes, Lia.”
His self-assured statement drags me from the daze I had fallen in. Now I’m just angry and I lash out, wanting to hurt him the way I’ve been hurt. “Really?” My voice sounds shrill, even to my own ears. “So, you don’t consider it a mistake that you lived this fucking charmed life while you left me in Hell? Do you have any idea what my life has been like?” His face has gone stark-white at my words, but I don’t care. I need him to feel a piece of the pain that I’ve been forced to endure just because he screwed my mother and walked away.