Max
At the mountain rescue operations centre, Gabe and I pored over maps of the Hebridean islands far to the northwest of Scotland, giving ourselves a hunting ground to identify where Struan lived.
We’d already decided the place would likely be isolated and big enough to house several residents. Any neighbours would’ve seen what I’d seen and asked questions. So we focused our attentions on little-inhabited islands out of the hundreds there, reserving for later the notion of a hidden corner of a larger one. I knew the car Struan drove, but the additional part of the strategy would be to start asking around. Teenagers terrorising the place would no doubt be a favourite topic to some.
The more I thought about the pieces of the puzzle, the greater a dark shadow fell over the pretty fishing villages and remote Gaelic-speaking communities.
The arsehole man who called the boys his and threatened me for getting too close.
Struan’s desperate, attention-seeking behaviour.
Whatever we found there wouldn’t be good, I was certain.
“What’s our flight time?” I asked Gabe.
My friend raised his head from the mapping system. “A little under an hour to get there. Then as long as we like to skip along the archipelago. Ground looks good with lots of pasture for landing, weather’s decent for the area. All we need is Gordain then we’re good to go.”
My uncle’s office door had been closed when I arrived, but I knew he was inside. And who he was with. The presence of Maddock tightened my gut to a hard ball. I loved my twin, wanted only good things for him. I had no idea how to talk to him now Lia was here.
It was an impossible situation. If the mere thought of him upset her and reminded her of a traumatising scene, how could they live on the same estate? Maddock had claimed he never wanted to talk about it. I’d not dared broach the subject with Lia. But I wanted to keep her. Desperation surged within me when I thought of her leaving again.
Voices sounded in the hall, and my nausea grew.
Then my brother appeared in the operations room doorway.
He stopped and stared at me, attempting a smile. Gordain passed him and joined Gabe, leaning over the maps and our search plan.
I kept my gaze on my twin, unable to hide a scowl.
Maddock heaved a sigh. “We’re back.”
“So I see.”
Fuck. I didn’t want this. We’d been at war for years, our time as friends again too short.
I gritted my teeth and strode over, propelling him into the corridor.
Maddock put up his hands and took a couple of steps backwards. “Listen, I know what you’re going to say. Ma’s been telling me how great it’s been with your lasses visiting. Rory and I extended our trip partially to avoid interfering with that, but we had to come back sometime. Just say your piece. Tell me what ye need me to do.”
“I don’t know.” I jammed my fingers into my hair and slammed my back to the wall for fear of where my head was at. “Everything’s going perfectly. We’re good together. Happy.”
Maddock’s expression turned bleak. “And me being here threatens that.”
“Aye, it might.” I was being unfair, but this was too fucking hard.
My brother dropped his gaze and stared away for a moment, then took a deep breath and came back to me. “I need to tell ye something.”
“What?”
“Rory’s pregnant.”
I stilled, the edge of my frustration leaving me.
Maddock continued. “It fucks over her work plans, but we both want kids and planned to try in a couple of years. Then Rory changed her contraceptives after moving to Scotland. There was a break. Stuff happened. We weren’t careful. Both of us are over the moon.”
My breath left me in a long exhale.
“When I said we partially stayed away for your sake, it was also so we could celebrate together. It’s brand-new. You’re the first person I’ve told. I’m going to marry her as soon as possible.” His mouth twisted in frustration. “And ye know what? I want ye as my best man. I want our kids to play together. I want our lasses to be friends. How the fuck is that going to happen? Because I don’t know. I’ve planned out countless conversations with Lia, apologies and frank chats, but if she hates me and willnae hear it, I can’t let that hurt ye. I’d rather move away.”
I closed the distance between us and hugged my twin hard. Maddock’s arms instantly banded around my shoulders, and he hugged me back. Somehow, his news put everything into perspective. It pulled the attention back to the present, no longer dwelling on the ugly past. At least for me.
“Happy for ye,” I said into his shoulder.
“For real?”
“For fuck’s sake. How could ye think otherwise?”
We separated, and Maddock examined my features.
I gave him a smile. “You’re naw moving anywhere. I don’t know any of that shite either, but I know I’m beyond happy for ye.”
He took an unsteady inhale. “All ye and I ever do is fight. We have this final hurdle, and it’s bigger than anything before.”
“Nah. Try parenthood. That’s a mindfuck and a half.”
His lips turned up on one side. “I can’t get over it. It’s the best feeling to know the woman I love is pregnant with my bairn.” Then he sighed. “And I just realised how that sounded. Ye missed out on that experience.”
I raised a shoulder. “I’ll be around for the next one.”
God, I wanted that. Lia pregnant again, though not sick, and with me in the picture this time. Maddock and I having bairns at the same time. Evie a big sister and cousin. All the things he’d described.
After everything Lia and I had done together, this could happen.
If she stayed.
If she didn’t walk away and choose her other life over me.
Fear surged again, but love battled back.
Maddock tilted his head at me in curiosity, but Gordain appeared at the operations centre entrance and prevented me from having to expand on my answer.
“Are ye two done? We need to fly.”
I glanced at my brother. “We’re heading out on a mission. Want in?”
“Gordain told me about it earlier. Aye, I’m there, if you’ll have me.”
I slapped his shoulder, and as a group of four, we entered the hangar.
Adrenaline rushed through me, and we walked taller and spoke louder. Outside, our helicopter waited, and Gabe and Gordain climbed into the front seats. We had everything we needed for our hunt, fuelled by the protector gene that ran through us all.
The rotor blades whirred overhead, the heli starting up.
My phone blared loud, and I grabbed it to switch the ringer off. The solicitor’s number screamed from the screen, and I hesitated over dismissing it.
A strange kind of premonition dirtied my good mood.
“Solicitors. Give me a sec,” I said to Maddock, then jogged around a partition to hear the call. “Max McRae,” I answered, my finger jammed into my ear.
“Mr McRae. I have an update on the instruction you made with regard to paternity for Evelyn Rothschild. I’m aware you wanted to move forward with the paperwork, but I’m afraid I have complex and unpleasant news.”
“How can it be complex? I’m her da. Case closed.”
“The response we have received questions that claim.”
At the edge of my vision, Maddock approached.
“How? I mean, who said that?” I stumbled.
“The legal team representing the child alleges that proof of paternity is impossible considering the nature of the DNA shared by the two potential fathers.”
Christ, how the fuck had that got to them?
My brother neared, and I wheeled around to face him, raising my voice. “How can they allege that there’s more than one potential father? How would they know that? Who did that come from?”
Horror struck Maddock’s expression.
The solicitor continued, and I set the phone to loudspeaker. “I’m afraid I don’t have that information. All I can tell you is that your paternity suit cannot proceed without DNA proof—”
“Which I can get. I’ll take a DNA test,” I interrupted.
“I’m afraid that won’t be enough. With this challenge presented, you’d also need to prove that your genetic twin is not the father.”
“But that’s impossible. There’s no test available for me to do that. Wait, why the fuck does it matter? Lia won’t contest this.”
“The child’s mother is not making the allegation.”
The solicitor spouted something, but my hearing, my whole being, had gone to standstill.
If it wasn’t Lia…
“How?” Maddock stuttered, ashen.
A hundred different emotions punched through me. I killed the call then hurled my phone across the open space of the hangar. It hit a sound board and clattered to the floor.
“Fuck,” I yelled.
“Did I hear that right? The other solicitors know about…” my brother said.
“Aye, they know and they’re using it against me. I can’t prove my DNA over yours without access to a test that isn’t available to me.”
Maddock jammed his fingers into his hair. “I’ve told no one. I swear to God. Only Rory knows outside of ye, me, and your lass. She’d never say a word. Even the barmaid in Inverness who told me who Lia was after…the fact, she wouldnae know about the timing in relation to Lia’s pregnancy, even if she knows about your bairn.”
Which left a conclusion I’d already reached. “Lia isn’t the source. She wouldn’t use this against me. She wants to be a family as much as I do. She…”
Loved me? I didn’t know for sure. I only knew that I was hers, had been for years.
“Then who?”
The answer was blindingly obvious. Lia and Evie being here had been all too easy.
“Her dad.” A fresh realisation hit me, memories clouded from a perfect evening with Lia and an all-too brief chat. “He has dual custody of Evie. Lia said he’s coming here today, and they’re so close she could’ve confided in him. But he hates my guts and thinks I’m naw good enough for them. What if he’s talking Lia out of being with me? What if he can persuade her again and this is part of his plan?”
Panic shrank my heart.
What the fuck should I do? Interrupt their meeting and demand she return my feelings? Could she know what he’d done? I swallowed back bile. Surely not.
Maddock remained stony quiet while I found and rejected conclusions.
“I can’t force her to love me or want to be with me,” I half whispered. “If her da puts up a fight and she drops me, we never had anything to start with. But then, I’d lose everything. I’d lose Evie.”
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Why does he have custody? And why would it matter? Lia isnae going to walk away from ye just because her da says so.”
“Lia was sick when she was pregnant with Evie. Her da managed her hospital stay, set her up with a nanny, and gave himself legal custody of Evie. All while freezing me out.”
I was certain he’d been behind the fake relative, even more now.
Then a worse conclusion registered.
“Which means that now, he can legitimately take Evie away and Lia won’t be able to do a thing about it.”
“Surely not,” Maddock said.
“Wouldnae put it past him. Lia would have to follow him, and he’d separate us. Even if temporarily, it might give him enough time to work on Lia. He could take them far away from here and distance them from me. Or, fuck, I don’t know. All I’m sure about is that he doesn’t want us together. This call from the solicitors is yet another tactic.”
I needed to speak to Lia, but I was terrified of what she might say.
My brother took a shuddering breath and planted his fists at his sides. Emotion played over his features, and he reached a decision on something so awful I could practically see his skin crawl.
“We can apply together.”
He dropped that bomb, and I staggered away a step before dropping to my arse on the concrete floor.
Fuck no.
“It would mean nothing,” Maddock continued. “I know I said I’d never make a claim. But if ye ask me to do it, I will. They cannae refuse us both. It would force a decision one way or another. Ye won’t lose your daughter.”
I should love him for his offer. It had to hurt. A memory he hated. His own child on the way. Yet more than ever, I despised the ugly history between us.
To the side, Gabe and Gordain approached. Vaguely, I’d noticed them disperse the other people around us in the hangar, giving me privacy. I’d been yelling, combating the helicopter noise.
Gordain stooped and picked up my phone, squinting at the screen.
“It’s ringing. Your sister calling ye,” he told me.
I couldn’t bring myself to care. “Tell her I’ll call her back?”
My uncle answered then did exactly that, and I stared at my hands until he asked a question of me.
“Max? Cait’s been babysitting Evie this morning. But she said a man just turned up to the door saying he’s there to collect her.”
An eerie sensation slid down my spine, cold and insidious.
I clambered to my feet and held a hand out for the phone. Gordain gave it over, and I spoke into the handset. “Cait? Who’s the man?”
“Hang on,” my sister said. “Evie can hear your voice so she’s wriggling in my arms. He says he works for Lia’s father. Lia’s not here right now, and she texted to say she’s meeting with someone so won’t be available for half an hour. I tried calling her, but she’s not answering.”
I closed my eyes, my teeth clenched. “Did he give a name?”
“Freddie. No, Frank? Damn, I’ve forgotten. Blame baby brain. I’ll just check. Evie seems to recognise him, but there was no way I’d just hand her over.”
Felix, I’d bet. Lia’s father’s assistant. The one he’d asked her not to speak to. My brain caught up with the request. Fuck them, all of them. No way was I going to make this easy for them.
“Actually, no. Don’t bother checking. Whoever he is, tell him to leave.”
But my sister had moved the phone from her ear, and all I could pick up was the swinging of the door then the overtones of her conversation.
“I’m sorry but I can’t—” she said.
Then a scream echoed down the line.
“No! Stop!” my sister yelled.
Terror grabbed hold of me. “Cait? What just happened?”
“The man, he took Evie. He grabbed her from my hands. Just tore her away.”
“What do ye mean he took her?”
Rustling came from her end of the line, her breathing fast. “Stole her. I’m getting Ava from her bouncy chair. I’m going to chase him down.”
Open-mouthed, and with my heart hammering, I put a hand out to the men around me, summoning their attention though I already had it. “Evie’s been kidnapped from my sister’s.”
Instantly, all focused on the phone, alertness running over every man.
To Cait, I barked, “What direction did he take her in?”
“He ran down the hill. A slight man with very short blond hair. Max, I’m so sorry.”
“Down the hill. Right. Stay right where ye are and lock the door. Call Lochie and tell him to mobilise the mountain rescue crew. We need everyone on the ground.”
Cait sobbed but promised to do as I asked. I hung up the call.
The three men with me were already issuing orders and making decisions. Maddock sprinted away. Gordain yelled commands into his phone.
Gabe grasped my shoulder. “Gordain and I are taking to the air. We’ll be your eyes from above.”
I nodded, and the two ran for the helicopter.
Maddock’s mountain rescue car bore down on me. He slammed on the brakes then leaned to open the door. “Get in.”
I threw myself into the passenger seat, stunned, scared, but all too determined.
Whoever had done this was going to pay. And I was getting my daughter back.
