Page 19 of His Asset

“Mimi nurtured hers?”I asked.

He smiled faintly.“I’m not sure she had a choice.Mimi’s been having visions and dreams since we were kids.”

Something twisted in my chest, sharp, dark, and unexpected.He’d experienced having a family, even if it had been a dysfunctional one.“Sounds like she was lucky to have you as her brother.”

He smiled, his face softening.“Half-sister.My loving father cheated on my mother, and Mimi was the fallout.Thankfully, she had a mother who actually gave a damn.”

The breath caught in my throat.“She’s fortunate to have had a mother at all.”

His gaze sharpened, then softened.“You didn’t?”

I almost winced.I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.Years locked in a cell had made me forget how to keep thoughts to myself.Silence had never been kind to me.I’d filled it with words, even if no one else was there to hear them.

I nodded.“I never met her.”

“I’m sorry,” he said gently.

I was grateful he didn’t press for more.Instead, he glanced at the clock and said, “Why don’t you get dressed while I clean up?We need to head out in ten minutes.”

I nodded, managing a small smile.Whatever came next, I had a feeling it was going to change everything.

Chapter Eight

After trying on andabandoning nearly every one of Mimi’s outfits, I settled on a little blue cotton skirt with white lace frills, a white blouse and a blue denim jacket, which concealed my wings perfectly.I was only glad they tucked so flat against my back.The knee-high heeled boots I wore were a little big, but it meant my bandaged ankle fit easily inside.

I just hoped it wouldn’t get hot wherever we were going.

When I stepped out of the bathroom and into the all-in-one living room, dining and kitchen—and bedroom if the mattress wedged below the ceiling counted—Reuben let out a slow whistle.

“Gorgeous!”

My wingtips quivered, his appreciation making me tingle all over.Only Adam had ever made me react like this.

Adam.

Was he looking for me right now?Of course he was.I was his pet, his asset!He wouldn’t let me go.I was worth a fortune and he’d paid that for me just like he had for the rest of his rare collection—the Renaissance paintings that lined his hallways, the meteorite fragments in their velvet cases, the preserved specimens that no one else even knew existed.Priceless because they were unique, irreplaceable.Just like me.