Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)(80)

“Of course,” I agreed. I hadn’t even touched the food, but whatever he wanted to show me must have been important. This was the longest he’d ever spoken to me, which I knew was because of my resemblance to Oscar. The son he’d loved, and the one he’d lost.

Richard led me through the house to a room which was quite obviously his office. It was all leather bound encyclopedias and heavy furniture. So old-fashioned-rich-man. He gestured for me to sit on the chesterfield and wandered over to the huge oil painting behind his desk. It was of a severe looking old man and based on the clothing it was from a generation long past.

Richard flipped the painting forward on hidden hinges, and spun the combination dial of the safe behind it. He took out a manila folder from inside, and left the safe open while he returned to me.

“Riley,” he started, then cleared his throat and perched on the other end of the couch. He placed the folder on the leather between us and laid his hand over it. “I wanted you to know...” He trailed off with a sigh, and I sensed that this was causing him pain. “Catherine ... when she was pregnant with you, we had a falling out. I left her, moving into my apartment in New York City. I regret it more than I can say, but I wasn’t there when you were born. “

He fell silent, his gaze fixed firmly on the packet between us.

I took a wild guess at what he was trying to tell me. “She got rid of me before you arrived?”

Richard nodded, and my opinion of Catherine dropped even further.

“She told me you were stillborn. That it almost killed her as well. She had a body…” he broke off, clearing his throat before he continued. “I’m telling you this now, because I have been trying to distance myself from Delta ever since. I might have been born into this legacy, but it was always something Catherine wanted. More than me.”

Catherine was a right old gold digging bitch.

“Why did you marry someone as toxic as her?”

Richard closed his eyes for a beat, like a bad memory had taken him by surprise. “In the very beginning, she was different,” he said when he recovered. “We actually met at a board meeting with Huntley, and I thought she was charming and funny and beautiful.”

I gasped at his casual use of our enemy’s name. He met my stare with a hard one of his own. “The drama between our companies didn’t used to be so drastic and deadly. We’ve actually done a lot of business together. Catherine is the daughter of one of Huntley’s CEOs.”

I gasped again, and it almost sounded comical. “Have you stopped to think that maybe she’s just here to sabotage Delta?” I asked bluntly.

Richard let out a sad laugh. “She’s proven her loyalty to us time and again. She rejected her family when all of the underhanded bullshit started.”

Yeah, right. I knew women like Catherine. She was playing both sides, there was almost no doubt of it. “I wish that she’d never come back into my life,” I told him bluntly. “Not only did I lose my parents, but I’m now stuck with a legacy I never wanted.”

“Just like me,” he said with a nod.

He nudged forward the folder that had remained between us, and I hesitated to pick it up. Part of me was scared to see what was inside. Like, it might be information that would destroy the tenuous happiness I’d found in the last few days.

Unable to control my curiosity any longer, though, I reached out and gripped the edge, pulling it toward me. My hands were shaking as I flipped it open, and I blinked when the contents came into view.

“What is this for?” I asked, flicking through each piece.

“Riley…” The pain in that word drew my attention. His eyes were filled with a sadness that almost drowned me. “I can’t lose another child,” he whispered. “You need to run. Now. Run and never look back. Leave the country; everything you need is inside.”

The tremble in my fingers increased as I opened the passport, finding my photo but none of my correct details inside. There was also a license, birth certificate, bank cards, cash, and a few other pieces of paper, all with the same fake name: Chelsea Smith.

“It’s top of the line,” Richard said. “If you keep your head down, no one will find you.”

A week ago I would have been all over this, even with the shitty reality that I’d have to run and hide my entire life, but now…

I would be leaving my guys. I would be leaving Beck.

Like Richard had heard that thought, or at least read the resistance on my face, he leaned forward. “You can’t trust him, Riley. You can’t trust any of them.”

I blanched, sucking in a deep breath. “What … why?”

“Delta, the company, it controls them, and whatever is happening with you and the successors right now, that’s all part of the plan.”

A denial sprang to my lips, because there was no way those guys were faking emotions with me. Except … I knew they were highly trained and intelligent. If they needed to pretend, to gain my trust for some reason, then I had no doubt they could do it. But could Beck really fake that shit when he was buried inside of me?

Was I being played in the greatest con that had ever crossed my path?

“I don’t believe you,” I whispered, pushing the folder back toward him. “I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do. I haven’t had many people in my corner since my parents. But I know these guys. We’re a team.”