Page 170 of The Renegade Billionaire

“How is Grey handling the news?”

He runs his hand through his hair. It makes it all messy and so dang sexy. It’s probably a little too long, but it makes things feel less out of control knowing I haven’t missed something even as mundane as a haircut.

“He seems fine. My mother refuses to talk about it though, so I think that’s making it harder for him. His mother was the complete opposite of his father—she was kind and gentle, at least from what I remember of her. She died when we were eight, and with his father still in jail for Violet’s death…it’s just hard not having answers.”

My heart hurts for them both. “What about you? Does it change anything for you?”

He thinks for a moment, but he’s shaking his head long before he answers. “No, Grey has always been my brother. It doesn’t change anything for us, but he did go through his father’s files.”

My stomach plummets. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Braxton tugs on the ends of his hair. “It’s not. He found proof that his father paid off Alistair to take the baby. Basically, it proves that Alistair took money to raise me as his own. The problem is that because my mother won’t talk, we have no idea how involved she was with this. We haven’t found anything implicating her, so that’s good, I guess, but if Alistair pushes us, we will use it to take him down.”

“But you’re worried because it seems as though she’s actually been trying to make some changes with the shelter she’s working at.”

He nods. “She wasn’t a good mother to me, but maybe now I might understand it a little better.”

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that is. I miss you.” It slips out. I don’t want to be a stage-four clinger, but it’s so hard to go from seeing him every day to only talking once a day.

His shoulders relax for the first time today. “I miss you too. But it’s one in the morning there, so I’m going to let you go back to sleep. We’ll figure this all out soon, I promise.”

“I believe you.”

He smiles in that way that curls his lips on the right side. It’s something I only ever see him use for me, and my tears grow hot.

“I love you. I love you so much.” My voice catches, and I mentally berate myself. My sadness isn’t going to make things any easier for him.

“I love you too, sunshine. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay.”

“Bye, baby.”

“Bye.” I hang up before I can ask him to forget everything and just come home so we can deal with it together. I know that won’t work. He has a company to think about, with thousands of employees. And that’s only the surface stuff I know about.

There’s so much I still don’t know.

Sleep eludes me, and I end up tossing and turning all night. I’m up before the sun and forcing Pops out of bed at seven.

“The festival doesn’t start until tomorrow, Mads. Why the hell you got me up so early?”

“I don’t know. I—I have a lot of energy and anxiety today. You know that feeling you get before something bad happens?”

He nods solemnly.

“Okay, well, I have that feeling now. So I think we should head over to the inn and just poke around. If nothing else, it will give me something to do. I can’t keep sitting here waiting for my life to happen. Braxton is out doing…stuff. I can do stuff too. He doesn’t have to deal with this on his own.”

“It is his mess to handle.” He looks at me with pity, and I hate it.

“It’s ours, Pops. I may not be wearing the ring right now, but the promise is still there. It’s our life.”

His eyes twinkle. “Well, what are ya waiting for then? Let’s go see what kind of damage they’ve done to the Hideaway.”

“I can’t win with you, Pops.” I want to laugh, but it’s stuck, almost as if my fear is holding every other emotion hostage.

“Nope. Your gram couldn’t either. I’m too hot to handle, she used to say.”

“You’re hot something, that’s for sure. Thank you, Pops, for always having my back.”