Lena stared at Robert Quinn and walked in the house as she did so.

"What do I owe this honor to? That Princess Lena would grace me with her presence after … what, 15 years," Robert asked Lena.

"Not long enough, Robert. I see you are still going by your mother's maiden name," Lena said, standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why would I use his name? Besides, you've done pretty well passing our father's great name on, Lena. You have a son, now, correct? Jesus Adams Foster. With your lesbian lover."

"With my wife, yes," Lena snapped.

"Lena, why are you here? I thought we had, oh, at least another 15 years before you graced me with your presence again."

"You have something I want. Something you will give me," Lena said without hesitation.

"What do I have that you could possibly want, Lena? That would have you crawling to me, begging for?"

Lena laughed, "Oh, I will not be begging you for anything. You will give me what I want, or I will talk to Jill and tell her all about Colleen."

That name caused Robert to freeze.

"You have no idea what you are talking about," he snapped, searching her face for any clue she could give up. He didn't find one. Unfortunately for him, Lena had learned to school her features around him long ago.

"I know you turned away your daughter because she had a little brother and because you didn't want her to mess up your perfect little life. I know you were going to send her to a year around boarding school. I know you signed papers and abandoned her. You abandoned her when you knew Stef and I would have taken her and her brother, just like we did Mariana and Jesus. You abandoned her when you knew Daddy and Mom would have taken her and her brother. She's my niece, their grandchild!"

"What makes you think Jill doesn't know about her?"

"Oh, I know Jill knows about her. But does Jill know how long you had been seeing Colleen behind her back? Do you even know how old Callie is?"

"Of course I know how old the brat is! She is 12, just like Sophia! Of course I know how old she is because I paid a pretty penny to get a forged birth certificate and even a prettier one to her damn mother to make people think she was older!"

Lena froze. This was going more in her favor than she thought. But her heart ached for her daughter. Her daughter was more than this man deserved.

"What do you mean she is 12, Robert?"

Robert grinned and Lena glared. He loved knowing something baby sister didn't.

"Exactly what I said. Why do you give a shit about this damn kid anyways? What is it you want, Lena?"

"You are going to pay for her and her brother's adoption fees because Stef and I are adopting those children; you will pay back child support and start a college fund will be started for both children. You owe them. You have no idea what you made those children go through. And now you tell me that I am going to have to go home and tell my daughter she isn't thirteen, but twelve. You, Robert Quinn, will pay for it all, or I will talk to Jill, and I will tell her about Colleen — Colleen who you were sleeping with when you were married to Jill. I will also tell her about Marietta, Angela, Bianca, and Natalie. She will take Sophia, and she will leave you. And she will take all of the money Daddy gave you to make up for every false slight you felt. And I will help her. And I will make sure Callie and Jude are taken care of. That I can promise you," Lena said.

"You really are a bitch, Lena. You always were," Robert said, a feeling of panic starting to set in.

"And I am okay with you thinking that, Robert. I will do what I have to do to protect my children. You have no idea what you missed out on by turning Callie and Jude away …"

"I didn't want to raise those brats! Their mother was worthless. She was a one night thing and ended up pregnant and refused an abortion! She …"

"Was your child's mother. And now that child is mine. But you will pay for your sins. That I promise you. You will pay for every sin you have committed and only then will you pay for my silence."


Lena walked into the house mentally exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to go lay in bed and not get out again until tomorrow. She was not a vindictive person. She was not cruel and never would have even thought to blackmail a living soul — her brother was the exception because he put her children in danger.

It was true, they had not been her children at the time, but they were now, and Callie had always been her niece whether she had known about her or not. Callie had always been her father's grandchild. And by that connection, so was Jude. They were her family. And now they were her and Stef's family. How many times had Stef said Callie melted her heart with those big, chocolate brown eyes, so much like Lena's? Too many to count, and now it all made sense. It was because those eyes were Lena's. Eyes they shared with Lena's father.

It was amazing to Lena how quickly Callie and Jude had become her children. Especially after everything Callie had been through. She had no doubt Jude had seen his fair share of things, but Callie had protected him from most of it. He was also young, and the younger a child was when they were returned to a stable living environment, often the better off they were. But Callie was still young, too. Younger, even, than they had thought she was. She wasn't sure how she was going to break the news to Callie that she was only 12 years old, and barely so. Lena now had Callie's original birth certificate, with her biological parents and her real date of birth on it and she and Stef were going to have to decide how to tell her and what it meant for Callie.

Lena could not help but wonder how Colleen had managed to keep Callie, in theory, more than a year older than she actually was. Had schools thought she was delayed? Or was she advanced because Colleen had worked with her? Callie was definitely behind in math, was this the reason? There were so many questions Lena had, but she needed to talk to Stef — together she knew they would be able to figure it out.

But, Lena had even surprised herself by resorting to such lengths as blackmail. But, it would work. She knew that. and the funds transferred to her and Stef's account under the guise of "child support" — which it technically was — would keep Lena from talking to Jill about Robert's affairs.

Five million dollars had secured that secrecy.

Callie and Jude's adoption was taken care of now, though it wasn't as if she and Stef didn't have the money. They did. It was the point. Lena wanted Callie to know that Robert paid for the fees after what he had done to her. Had Callie went to boarding school and received whatever she wanted when she was seven years old, she would have spent well over the five million Robert transferred by now. He and Lena both knew that.

But Callie, unlike her father, had chosen Jude because she wanted to keep him safe. And because of that, Callie had not been safe.

Then again, Callie would have still been alone had she chosen Robert. Boarding school year around would have slowly killed Callie. Lena knew that without having been in the picture then.

"Love, you're home," Stef said as Lena walked into the kitchen.

Lena smiled, but it did not meet her eyes. She was happy, but she was also sad.

Stef could see Lena's emotions before she said anything else and she wrapped her arms around her wife, holding her hand behind her head, keeping Lena close to her.

"Are you okay? How did it go," Stef asked. She knew Lena was going to talk to her brother, but that was it. Lena had just kept telling her it was something she had to do, to trust her. So Stef had done just that — she trusted her wife.

"I have Callie's real birth certificate. He paid to have hers changed. He paid Colleen to keep quiet. He is the same as he always was, but now he will pay his dues. My selfish, self-centered brother will pay for what he did to our children."

Stef leaned back from her wife and stared at her.

"What do you mean, Love," Stef asked.

"He transferred five million dollars into our bank account. For the adoption, college funds for Callie and Jude — I called it back child support. He said she wasn't worth it."

Stef's eyes grew large. Five million dollars? How had that even happened? Her wife had a lot to tell her, that much was obvious.

"She's my niece. Callie is my niece and my bastard of a brother nearly broke her. She is my daughter, damnit!"

"What," a quiet voice asked from the backdoor. Lena took a deep breath and then looked over Stef's shoulder.

She hadn't even heard Callie come in.

"Callie …"

"You're my aunt? What … why … why didn't you want us before," Callie asked, then ran out of the kitchen and the house before Stef or Lena could say another word.