The Billionaire's Rescue novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Lance With Flowers

He was at the gate by noon with two dozen red roses.

I watched him on the security screen in Torben's kitchen, a dark-haired man in a navy blazer with a bouquet.

He looked handsome and sorry and calm.

That was how I knew he'd been coached.

"I'll talk to him," I said.

"Not alone," said Torben.

"Not alone," I agreed. "You stay twenty steps behind me, and you don't hit him."

"I make no promises."

"Torben."

"Twenty steps," he said. "I'll count."

Agnes stood in the doorway of the guest hall in her cardigan, gripping the frame.

"Lance?" she whispered. "Halley, don't."

"Stay inside, Ma."

I walked down the drive in Torben's coat with my hand on my belly.

Lance saw me coming and smiled with all his teeth.

"Halley. You look wonderful."

"What about my blood?"

His smile flickered.

"Straight to it. I always liked that about you." He held the roses out. "These are for you. I was out of my mind last month. My mother was in my ear, the merger was falling apart, and I did a terrible thing. I'm sorry."

"You shoved me down a flight of stairs."

"I know. I'll say it on camera if you want. I'll say it to the police." His voice dropped. "But I need you to listen to what I'm about to tell you, because it changes everything."

I waited.

"My mother has had a private investigator on you since the hospital," Lance said. "A good one. She wanted something on the girl who tore up her check."

"Of course she did."

"He pulled your birth file at St. Anne's. The night nurse's log. The blood work." He leaned toward me. "You're not Agnes Brandvold's daughter, Halley."

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