Taking What He Wants(26)

She took a step back from my advance.

"Why did you go along with it?"

"It got me my freedom, dad was a freaking nightmare, you can't do this you can't do that, but with Joann in my pocket I had my get out of jail free card."

"And your treatment of Delia?"

"Joann hates her because of the simple fact that she exist, I think the only reason she didn't get rid of it......I mean her."

She corrected herself when I made to reach for her neck.

"Go on...."

"I think by the time she found out she was pregnant it was too late to get an abortion, so she had to have her."

"How did she pass her off as yours?"

"That was easy, she took me out of school, the story was that I was too distraught by my father's deployment so I was to be homeschooled. Joann wore baggy clothes and shit, did most of her food shopping in the next town over, we pulled it off. Then when it was time to give birth we went to this midwife out in the boondocks, and voila, I became the proud mother of a bouncing baby girl."

"And Carl never suspected."

"By the time he came home she was already three months old, Joann never breast fed, she'd gotten her body back in shape, so there was no need for him to suspect anything, he was sure pissed though but Joann kept him off my back."

"Where did the story of Mr. Escalante raping you come in?"

"Oh, that was all Joann, she figured that if dad thought I was raped he wouldn't blame me, and she chose him because he's the one who knocked her up, she didn't think he would remember her since he was some type of player back then, and besides she begged dad not to pursue it, not to bring shame and scrutiny to the family. She said since they were so wealthy they would use their wealth and influence to paint me as the guilty party, that I somehow duped him."

"Are we done, because I really need to go." She was rubbing her arms up and down as if she were cold.

"The story checks out partially so far, she was out of school for thirteen months, Carl was in Kuwait...."Drew was busy on his computer, I didn't even want to know how he had access to this sort of information.

"What about the birth certificate?"

"Joann signed it, I think she told dad she did it to keep the stigma off of me, she made him believe that it was me who gave birth in the old hut and that she took me to the hospital later and had me sign her name." Another shrug.

I was only interested in one thing.

I went over to Delia and knelt down in front of her. Drawing her close, I whispered so only she could hear.

"Did you hear that baby, she's not your mom, I know that was bothering you so could you please stop stressing over it now? Give little peanut a break okay."

She nodded and clung to me her body a lot less tense than it was before.

"Thank you Chase."

"You're welcome baby."

"So you mean.....she's mine?" I'd almost forgotten the other people in the room until Vito spoke.

"It looks that way if you'd like to have proof ........" I didn't really know what was to become of this, if one more person rejected or belittled her worth I was gonna lose my shit.

"No, no, no, that won't be necessary, she's her aunty Tessa all over again, I don't need anything else to tell me she's mine, besides like I said, I remember meeting this Joann woman all those years ago, more than once. But she never said........"

He turned to look at Delia, I guess all that he'd heard so far was replaying in his head as he put the pieces of the puzzle together, I'll have to fill him in a little later.

This time when he walked over to Delia I didn't try to stop him, he stood right in front of us, just staring at her with a longing expression on his face.

"I didn't know, had I known I would've come for you, I promise, I didn't know,.......Maxwell."

My father came and led the big strong man with tears in his eyes from the room.

"And once again she lands on her feet, how could an unwanted piece of garbage have so many fucking lives?"

I wasn't quick enough to stop Delia as she flew across the room and slapped her sister across the mouth.

"That's for trying to hurt my baby." Celine had a scared look on her face as she held her bruised cheek and drew back.

Okay then; Delia turned and came back to me with a scowl on her face. I guess she was too pissed to put together all that was going on around her right now, like the fact that she had a new father.

My mind was going sixty miles a minute, if Vito Escalante accepted her as his daughter, which looked more than possible knowing my godfather she had just become the heiress to a fortune that could rival mine. And the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country if not the world.

Celine has no idea.