“I have a question for you. Did you have a happy life?” Oran asks.
Dallas nods, “Mostly. I was hurt my dad and his family wanted nothing to do with me, but my mother is loving, and my step-dad stepped in and raised me like his own.”
“Elmer had no fatherly love to give, the only thing you missed was money.”
“And a brother,” Dallas points out.
“I’m sitting right here, asshole.”
“And now you’re caught up. I get called an asshole often. He’s warming up to you already,” I supply.
“Shut the hell up,” Oran tells me before shifting his gray eyes back to Dallas. “My mother made sure you’d be greatly compensated for the lost time. As you see, she felt bad about separating you from us, but it was for your own good, really. If the paper trail is correct, she left you about seventy-two million sorrys."
“What?” Dallas' head falls forward between his knees as he gasps for breath.
“Yup. If I were the cutthroat asshole you created in your head, I’d fight you on it. Since I’m not, I think you could get more. Bring your mother to me tomorrow. I expect you at all the bullshit this other asshole,” he points at me, “tends to call family gatherings. First one is Sunday, I’m sure Karessa wants to meet you. Change your fucking last name. Once that’s done, you’ll get your money. Do you want to go alone or have us go with you?”
“Come with me, please.”
“Fine. Now, I want both of you to get out of my office.”
I laugh because that’s his version of welcome to the family, so I say it for him as we all stand.
“Well, welcome to the family,” I tell Dallas who still looks capable of falling over in shock.
He looks between me and Oran then hugs me. I can’t help but laugh as I hug him back. “Good choice. Oran would have punched you.”
I’m glad for once our digging didn’t lead to a shitload of legal issues. It may have been one hell of a day, but my only thought is how I can’t wait to tell Imala.
Chapter Nine
Imala
Now that my engagement is officially out in the open, Wyn is starting to show me more of the side of him he’d only hinted at before. At first it was a sexy look or him saying something sexual, now it’s all of that mixed in with random texts and songs. Today is a prime example. I told him I was meeting my sisters to try on dresses. He’s said okay. It was nice and simple. An hour later, I checked my texts and the other side of Wyn was in my messages.
Wyn: I know it’s your day, but it’s mine too. Please pick a dress that makes me fantasize about fucking you during the entire wedding.
I hate that my complexion is lighter than my sisters, it’s extremely hard to hide a blush and they both zero in on it. Esme snatches my phone before I can stop her and her cheeks flush as well.
“Damn, Mr. Do Right has a dirty side.” She tosses it to Karessa, as my mortification rises.
Her green eyes fly over the screen and she smiles. “Yup, definitely a Hale.”
“I wonder if the new brother is freaky because sign me up,” Esme jokes.
We're in one big dressing room so we can talk shit as we try on clothes, we’ve seen everything the other has anyway. My hips are narrower, unlike Karessa’s pear shape and Esme’s hourglass. Something fitted doesn’t sound like the way to go for me, I need something that flares at the hips.
Karessa’s hair is in a knot a
t the top of her head because she runs hot since she’s been pregnant.
I stare at her slightly rounded belly as she swipes through her phone.
“Look. I made Dallas take a picture with Oran and Wyn. HOW could they not know they’re related? Dallas is clearly a Hale.”
“Which means there’s a chance he’s naturally freaky as well,” Esme adds.
“Girl, you’d eat him for breakfast. Dallas is nicer than Wyn.”