Wendy smiled. “That sounds so wonderful, you calling me Mother.”

Part of me was glad it sounded good to her, because it was making me cringe and want to blow chunks on the table. I didn’t consider this woman my mother. I no longer considered Daphne Steel my mother either. So where exactly did that leave me?

“Are you going to help me understand?”

She closed her eyes, a dreamy smile on her face. “Your father and I met in high school.”

I already knew that.

“He was so handsome. So strong. Even at seventeen. He took my virginity. And I took his. We were soul mates, Ryan. That’s why you’re so important. You’re the progeny of two soul mates.”

I still didn’t understand. This was clearly all part of Wendy’s delusions. She might think of my father as her soul mate, but he’d never thought of her as his.

Had he?

“Why were you never together?”

“He got Daphne Wade pregnant.”

“I know that story.”

“It’s why we weren’t together.”

“What about later? After my mo— Er…Daphne died?”

Her eyes darkened with…anger? “Too much had happened by then. He’d had another child with her, and she was only two or so.”

Yes. Marjorie. “Again, I know all that, Mother.”

“Your brother had been taken.”

Now we were getting somewhere.

“He couldn’t forgive you, could he? For the part you played in Talon’s abduction?”

She sighed. “I didn’t want to do that, Ryan. You must believe me. I would never intentionally contribute to any child’s suffering.”

I cleared my throat, looked down at my thighs, and desperately tried to contain my rage at the woman who’d borne me. Flying off the deep end would not help. “So it’s true, then. You helped with Talon’s abduction.” My mind whirled. “My—” Shit. “Daphne was pregnant with Marjorie when Talon was abducted. That’s it, isn’t it? This is so sick. You were angry with him because he got her pregnant.”

“It’s not sick, Ryan. He was supposed to remain faithful to me. He promised me, after you were born, that he’d never sleep with her again.”

My blood boiled in my veins. She’d had a child tortured and raped? The child of the man she professed to love? Because, in her warped little mind, she thought my father had cheated on her? I had to stop myself from dry heaving. I carried genes from this monster.

I gripped the table, my knuckles white, and forced myself to keep sitting when what I wanted was to stand and kick the shit out of this woman. My fucking mother.

“You promised me the truth, Mother.”

“That is the truth, my darling. All of it.”

I cleared my throat. “Larry Wade says Talon was never supposed to be taken.”

“Larry Wade knows very little. He wasn’t the brains of the bunch.”

“He isn’t stupid, either. He’s a lawyer, for God’s sake.”

“Yes, he’s a lawyer. So was Tom. They were in law school together, actually.” She closed her eyes again.

I needed to stop this little jaunt down memory lane. I needed more of the truth, and I needed it now. Larry had always been, according to Talon, a yes man to the other two, Simpson and Mathias.

“Who, then, was the brains of the bunch? Mathias?”

She opened her eyes, settling her gaze on me.

“Who do you think?”

Her look said it all.

Mathias is still out there, and even he isn’t the most dangerous.

“It was you. You were the brains…Mother.”

She smiled then. A motherly smile. It sickened me.

“You’re brilliant. Just like I always knew you’d be.”

Still, she hadn’t admitted it.

“So tell me, Mother. In what world is it okay to have a little boy abducted and tortured to pay back a man who supposedly cheated on you?”

“In my world.”

She was sick. So damned sick. Bile crept up my throat, and bitterness coated my tongue. “Your world?”

“I promised you the truth, dear. I didn’t promise you would understand.”

“I asked you to help me understand, but this is so twisted.” I stood, rage boiling. “Who in hell could understand this?”

One of the orderlies flanking her stood. “Sir, you need to sit down and calm yourself, or you’re going to have to leave.”

Get a grip, Ryan. She’s talking. Don’t stop now.

I sat down.

I clenched my jaw. “Where the hell is my father?” I said through gritted teeth.

“He will come to you when the time is right.”

“Did you help him fake his death?”

“I’d do anything for him.”

Not an answer. “How can you continue to say that, when you had his son abducted and raped?”

“That was a sad casualty. It was unfortunate. But you should be thanking me, Ryan.”

“Thanking you? Are you crazy? What the hell for?”

“They let you go that day. Because you’re my son.”