Slater

The last person I’d expected to find at my door was Izzy—and if she had come all the way here after not returning any of my calls, then I knew that whatever problem she needed help with was a big one. I don’t think she would have bothered with me otherwise, which had me just a little worried.

I locked the door behind us and escorted her into my living room, my hand falling to the small of her back. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”

We took a seat on the sofa as she nodded, though it was clear that something had her upset. “I’m fine, though I need your help trying to find someone. I’m not even sure if that’s something you do…”

“Whatever you need, I’ll find a way to help you.” Not that it explained why she was so upset. “Who are we trying to find, love?”

“The brother I didn’t know existed.” Her eyes shimmered with tears that soon slipped down her cheeks, as she swallowed hard, her voice cracking when she spoke. “I don’t have anything but a name. Not even an adoption agency. Nothing.”

Fucking hell…

I pulled her into my arms, desperate to comfort her, and hating that she was so upset, though I was relieved that she’d come to me for help. “I’ll do all I can to help you find him, Izzy.”

She stayed there in my arms until her tears finally slowed, eventually pulling out of my arms and wiping away her tears. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess. I only found the birth certificate this morning and I’m still coming to terms with it all.”

“I can’t even imagine, but I don’t want you worrying about anything. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find him.” Although I didn’t have a whole lot of experience with this sort of thing, my brothers likely did and would be happy to help. And if worst came to worst, she could hire an investigator. But one thing was certain. Now that I had Izzy back in my life, I wasn’t letting her go. I knew that the moment she walked through my door. “Let me get in touch with one of my brothers. He’s really good at tracking people down.”

“How can he find someone when I don’t even have their name? This feels like an impossible task—and I can’t tell you how angry I am that my mother made this all so difficult. She could have said something. She could have given me more information to go on. And I should have known about my brother when my mother was still alive so that we could find him. Instead, it took her being murdered for me to find out that I have a brother—even though she knew I’ve always felt so alone.” Her anger was palpable, even as her tears streamed down her cheeks once more. “How could she do this to him—to me?”

I reached over and took her hand in mine, running my fingers over the back of her hand. “I’m sure she had her reasons. It couldn’t have been easy for her.”

“Oh sure. She had a reason. She didn’t want to lose out on my father’s fortune, since there was an infidelity clause in their pre-nup.” She scoffed, shaking her head as she clearly thought of her mother. “The only thing that really surprises me is that she actually went through with the pregnancy.”

I couldn’t imagine any mother would be able to give up her child without it breaking their heart. I thought of my own mother, and how she’d do whatever it took to make sure we were safe and happy, even if it meant her own pain and misery. “I’m sure it was still a difficult decision for her to make, Izzy.”

“Was it really?” Her eyes flared bright with an anger I’d never seen in her before. “I mean, how difficult could it have been? It’s not as though she gave up this baby so that he could have a better life, nor was it because she couldn’t take care of him. She gave up her baby because she was too selfish to think of anyone but herself and cared more about my father’s fortune than admitting that she’d had an affair and was pregnant.”

“I wish I had answers for you.” I couldn’t imagine what she was going through, and her anger was understandable, especially when her mother was now gone, making it all the more difficult to find the answers she was looking for. “Have you gone through your mother’s things? Maybe there’s something there…some clue or bit of information that might give us a starting point. Although, you may also want to do one of those DNA kits and submit it to the more popular adoption sites. It may turn up a match if your brother knows he was adopted and has been searching for his birth family.”

“Do you really think he might be looking for me?”

There was such hope in her voice that I hated to dampen her glimmer of hope.

“I think people want answers to their past. They want to know where they came from…where they belong. So if your brother knows he was adopted, then I think there’s a good chance he might be looking for any information he can find on his birth family—though there might not be a whole lot for him to find if your mother was careful to cover her tracks.” Which was likely the case if Izzy’s mother was worried about losing her fortune. “Though maybe after your father’s death, she no longer had reason to worry about being found out.”

“No…I think for my mother, it went beyond that. I think she wanted to think she could do no wrong. And acknowledging that she’d had a child that was the result of an affair would only be a reminder that she wasn’t perfect. Because if she wanted to make amends, then she would have tried to find my brother after my father’s death. But she didn’t.” She let out a weary sigh, shaking her head. “Unless she tried and couldn’t find him.”

“Hey…don’t lose hope when we haven’t even started yet.” I cupped her cheek, my gaze falling to her lips as I resisted the urge to kiss her. “If she were to keep any information of the adoption, where might she hide it?”

“There was no other information in the security box, but she may have stashed more information here at our home in Seattle. Or at our homes in London and out in the country. Although my brother’s birth certificate says he was born here in the States—in Boston.”

“We’ll see what we can find here in Seattle, and then, if need be, we can head over to Boston and London.”

“You’d come with me?”

She sounded so surprised, I couldn’t help but kiss her sweetly.

“Sweetness, I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.”

And I would. Though once I found the right time to tell her the truth about my past, she may not want anything to do with me.