From that moment on it had felt like she was no longer alone. "I'll go and see if Charlotte needs any help."
She made her way down to the kitchen and paused outside as she saw Maddox and Charlotte inside.
"What do you want from me, Maddox? Do you want me to beg you for forgiveness? Do you want me to overlook everything that has happened?" Charlotte asked. "I don't get it. You're mad at me for being nice to your son, and you're angry at me for being pissed at you. What do you want from me?"
"I want us to go back, Charlotte. I want you to look at me and smile, and not be pissed at me. I'm sorry I messed up. I can't take that back."
"I didn't ask you to. I asked you if you knew? If you had any idea that Gabriel was yours, and that's what hurts. You even had an idea that there was a chance, and yet you did nothing. You're not the man I thought you were, Maddox. That was your boy, your son, and you left him like that. You think Colton didn't have a clue? That he wasn't suspicious?"
Mia gasped as someone stepped right up close. She turned her head to find Damian behind her. The two people in the kitchen were so consumed by their argument they didn't hear her intake of breath.
Damian placed a finger against his lip, and they moved away, heading toward a library.
"I really shouldn't have heard any of that."
"It's family drama, Mia. You're not stupid. You know about Gabriel. I've told you about him before."
She began to pace the library, and she looked at him. "I've been trying to figure out exactly what the Dentons are, what you do." She stopped, and turned to him. "You're a crime family. It's why Ivan backed off, right? You're bigger than he is in the scheme of things."
"The extent of what we do, you don't need to worry about. You're safe."
"You kill people?" she asked. It was strange, but she wasn't afraid. Staring at Damian, and looking at the large family with the huge security detail, it all made a lot of sense. Not to mention the security that she'd seen at the apartment. "Please, Damian, just be completely honest with me. I'm not made of glass. Haven't I proven that?"
"I've known you a week, and the stuff you're asking, people have died for less." He stepped up to her, and she didn't back away. Damian took hold of her hands, and she heard him sigh. "I want you to trust me. I know that is a lot to take in, but I will tell you everything when you're ready. You're not ready right now. When you're with me, Ivan has no chance of getting his hands on you. I need you to help me with Martha, and I know that is a lot to ask-"
She held her hands up. "I'm not going anywhere. You don't scare me, Damian. I just … I like to know the truth." She pushed some hair out of her face, and glanced around the library. Just a short week she had known Damian, and had been taking care of Martha. It had been one of the easiest weeks of her life. There had been no fear of Ivan or his goons stopping by for a visit, or watching as he held Reese, terrified that he was going to take her son away from her.
A couple of times in the past month Ivan would turn up, and he'd pick Reese up, and start walking toward the door. She would panic and beg him not to take her son, to which he'd laugh, and remind her that she was at his mercy. He was waiting for the moment that she broke, that she came to him willingly, and her submission would be so much the sweeter for it.
"Mom and Dad have always argued like that. They have their moments where they are happy, and then something happens that tends to ruin it," Damian said. "I've been witness to many arguments, and many makeups."
She smiled. "Sounds kind of crazy."
"They love each other. I always worried that they didn't, but the reason they continue to stay together is because there really isn't anyone else for either of them. They are both in love with the other."
Mia thought about Ruby and Oliver. "It must be nice to love someone so much it wouldn't matter what they did, you want to stick around to be with them. Is it weird that one day I hope to have that?" She smiled. "I don't know why I'm sharing that with you. It's crazy to think I could have anything like that."
"One day, Mia, you will have that. I promise you." He then kissed her head, and she had noticed that he did that a lot, and she really enjoyed it when he did.
Chapter Seven
Gabriel entered his family's apartment, and was surprised to see how clean it was. Ever since he'd talked with Damian, he'd been wanting to talk to Wyatt and Owen. Both of his brothers had been distant of late, and it had come as a shock to them about his parentage. If the Dentons were under attack, something in his gut told him he did have to look close to home.
He had no intention of taking out the Dentons. They were his family, and that meant something to him. It would be easy to tell them all to fuck off, and to hurt them from the inside, but he wanted to be part of their family. All of his life he had felt like he didn't belong, and his mother had told him that he was someone special and to never turn out like his father. Now he didn't know what to think.
Closing the door, he waited for his brothers to arrive, and within seconds Owen and Wyatt were there, eating out of a bag of chips.
"What's up?" Owen asked.
Neither of them looked guilty, and he'd seen them at their worst growing up.
"There's rumors spreading that there is a divide within the Denton household," Gabriel said, watching both of their reactions.
"I take it news of you has gotten to their enemies," Owen said. "That's not exactly hard to do. You're the son that one of them didn't want to claim."
"Everything seemed fine to me today at dinner," Wyatt said. "There's tension between Charlotte and Maddox, but that's to be expected. You're a son that appeared out of nowhere."
He was very much aware of his parentage.
"Damian thinks you two could be feeding information to their enemies."
"What the fuck? Since when do you believe that cocksucker?" Wyatt asked.
"He doesn't like us, and why the fuck would we take out Denton? Not only did the rid us of the scum that is our father, we've finally got a life. I don't have to be seen in shame," Owen said. "I have a life now. I can hold my head up high, and that is all I've ever wanted."
Their father, the Colton name, had been associated with human trafficking, and that wasn't just all. Exploitation of children, slavery, and every despicable thing he could think of, his father, the one he'd known as his father, had been responsible for.
"So you're a Denton now, and you're going to turn your back on us?" Wyatt asked. "Is that how this is going to go?"
He saw the disappointment in his brothers' eyes, and he felt like an asshole. He released a breath and sighed. "I don't know what to think." Running a hand down his face, he began to remove his tie. He was getting tired and weary of everything.
"How about instead of accusing us of shit we didn't do, you ask for our help? We're still your brothers, Gabriel. What do you need?"
"I need to know who is feeding their enemies stories about there being a divide within the Denton family." He moved toward the fridge, taking out a beer. "They have organizations, gangs and shit that hate their guts and will do anything to get rid of them, or to take away their businesses. They control the city, and everything has to go through them for a cut of the profits. To some that is a steep price."
"What do you think it is?" Owen asked.
"I think the Dentons are fair. I've seen the way they work." He glanced at the apartment. "Where's Emma?"
"She's at work. She's working in administration for Maddox."
"Oh, I had no idea."
"You've not exactly been around a whole lot since you got your new family."
Gabriel closed his eyes, taking a few seconds to get his temper under control. "You're still my brothers, and I love you. We have a real chance here. Don't you want to take that?"
"We do, which is why we're heading out. The good thing about being seen as the scum of the world, people tend to talk, to show everyone else that they're better than you," Wyatt said. "We'll be back with info for you. Make yourself at home."
Within seconds he was alone in his brothers' apartment, and he felt like the worst guy for accusing them. Wyatt and Owen had wanted to settle the score six months ago. To try to take something back for themselves, and he'd been part of it. Of course that had all changed when the truth of who his father really was came out. Now it was just one fight after another.