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Sins of the Father

Chapter 32

Family Portrait

Two Weeks Later

New York City, New York

Hunter's POV

My blood still runs cold thinking of my father and his deception. He has destroyed so many lives with his disloyalty. I wish I could forget what he's confessed to me but unfortunately, I can't pretend to un-know the truth. He can't un-confess his lies, no matter how hard he tries.

The biggest lie of all is the one he's forced me to believe all my life. That he was a decent man. That he was a man who was honest and trustworthy. I thought he was a man of his word. I thought he was a man who put his family above everything else. I was most proud of that. I suppose its true to a certain extent. I suppose its also true that he did what he did to protect us, but at what cost?

All these years and I had no idea who he really was.

None of us knew.

My mother, perhaps, she knew. She had to have known. My God, has she lied to me too and what of my brothers? Are they in on this family charade?

No. I would know if they had any idea. They wouldn't be able to hide it from me. My brothers have dad on the same high pedestal that I've had him on my entire life. I'm sure they know nothing of this. Their regard for him is too high.

I unlock my desk drawer and take out the engagement ring I am to give to Ana when I ask for her hand in marriage. Its perfect for her. It's a perfect single stone, small and delicate. The epitome of all things feminine. Just like the woman I wish to have wear it.

The moment I first saw her, I knew Ana was the one. I'd spotted her rushing along the busy street. Even with the people around her, she stood out. I couldn't put my finger on it that day but there was something about her. A shine to her that demanded I take notice. Of course, now I know what it is: her inner strength, her beauty, everything about her is bright and good. She drives out the darkness I didn't even know I was in before I met her.

But back then, she was just a girl running late and running right out into traffic.

I couldn't believe it.

Of all the absurd things to do in life, she picked running out into New York City traffic. I thought the poor girl had a death wish. If it wasn't for Giles and his quick reflexes, she certainly would have succeeded.

Giles was to get out and handle manage the situation since she was uninjured and just a bit shaken up by the ordeal, but I couldn't help myself from getting out of the car and seeing to her myself. It was by far the best decision I've ever made.

Anastasia Rose Steele.

Her name flowed easily off my tongue as I looked at the background check I had Lidia run on her. Even then I knew it would only be a matter of time before it was Ana Rose Barrington. I was immediately drawn to her. I wanted her that much and I have never been denied. I can't explain it any clearer than that. Never have a felt such a draw to a woman like I did her.

Now, sitting in my study, I hold up what I hope to be her ring, inspecting it. Like the her, it is flawless.

If things go as I've planned I will make her my wife.

But is it fair of me to ask her to join a family so filled with secrets. Ones that I haven't even discussed with her yet.

"I knew it."

The sound of my brother, William's voice breaking into my thoughts makes me almost drop the ring.

"Must you be a knob at every opportunity, Will?"

"I'm the knob? You put me up in a dwarf's bedroom and I'm the knob."

"Where's Mum?"

"Mom is having tea with Ana."

"Mom?"

"When in the States, little brother. Mum likes it. She says its very American of me. She loves Ana, by the way. Her English Breakfast tea fancy won her over. And don't think I didn't notice your little attempt to avoid my question."

"You never asked me a question," I tell him, locking Ana's ring away. "And I have no plans on answering if you do. Where is Philip?"

"Coming to collect the two of you for dinner," our older brother comes in to say.

"Does a close door not mean anything to the both of you," I ask them. They look at each other and shrug.

"No," Will says, shaking his head.

"I don't think so," Phil agrees.

….

Dad sits beside mom ashen white with the tiny brown bottle of Angina pill he's been living on in his hand. Mother has made him an appointment to see the doctor again but he refuses to go and she's not happy about his disregard to his health. But when Hunter Barrington II makes up his mind there is little anyone can do to sway him.

I look at him in question.

He's been waiting for information to come in from his private investigator.

Christian has been snooping around in our family history. It has sent dad into a tizzy. He is convinced that Christian is trying to dig up dirt on the woman he cheated on mom with.

I shake my head in anger at the lying bastard.

He wasn't married for no more than five years before he betrayed her and us. She had two young boys in Phillip and William and she was pregnant with me at the time.

Stupidly, I feel guilty about likely being the cause of his infidelity.

But why his indiscretion would be of any interest to Christian Grey, I can't seem to figure. He and my family are not rivals in any way. He's stays out of oil and we stay out of all the save the earth and feed the hungry projects he's all about, with the exception of Coping Together. It's a charity dad has always been interested in and Phillip usually attends to represent the family every year.

I assume Christian's interest has to do with Ana, but if that's the reason, why go after my father. Why not come after me? Nothing about his intentions make any kind of sense to me. And until it does, I refuse to bring it up to Ana. The last thing I need is her thinking about that asshole again when we are trying to start our own lives.

Dad must have received some news that he doesn't agree with the way he's popping those damn pills. He looks as though he might keel over. He us losing color by the minute. Even Ana is concerned.

"Mr. Barrington," she says.

"Call me HB, please," Dad tells her.

Ana has been trying to avoid the name. When I first told her its what he's always been called she found it terribly funny. She couldn't even say it with a straight face the day I introduced her to dad. Now all amusement is gone. Her concern for him is overriding the humor.

"HB, would you like to go and lay down for a little while. Maybe I can bring you up some tea, or whatever you'd like."

Her efforts in hospitality gets smiles from my family.

"Go on, Pop," Will tells him.

"I think I will, son and a nice cup of hot tea would be lovely, thank you Ana."

I follow behind him to the room farthest down the hall. He favors it because of the view of the city. Ana and I have the same view upstairs.

"Well," I ask of him.

"Not now, Hunt," he says, slipping out of his shoes, lying on his back on the bed.

"Yes, now, Dad? I need to know. Did your guy find anything or not?"

"He did. But give me a moment of peace please before we discuss it."

"Are you in pain?"

"No. No, nothing like that. I just need a moment to collect myself. I'll be down shortly."

…

Christian's POV

"Emmy," I hear Teddy's voice pulling me from my sleep. He's trying to get Kitten to wake up.

He's taken to calling her Emmy which is short of Emerald. Apparently, it is a prettier stone to him than Jade and she loves it. I feel her stir next to me and I know she's awake.

I hear Teddy groan so I open one eye to see him bent over us in the tent with a sour expression on his face.

Kitten was able to camp out with us this weekend and we went overboard with our food indulgence earlier tonight. Clearly, its not agreeing with him.

"What's wrong, honey," she asks looking up at him. Her hair is covering my shoulder where her head lays on my arm.

"My tummy really hurts. I gotta throw up."

"WHOA," Kitten and I say in unison, sliding away from Teddy and getting out of his line of fire.

Kitten rushes him out of the tent and to the bathroom just in time before he empties his stomach out in the toilet.

"Feel better," she asks him, sitting him on the closed toilet lid to help him clean up.

He nods his head.

"No more chocolate milkshakes after dinner," I tell him as I give him a dose of Pepto to calm his stomach. He nods his head in agreement.

"Kay."

The face he makes leads me to believe we'll be back over the toilet soon enough.

"Sir," Ryan enters the room. "Welch is here to see you. He says its urgent."

I hesitate in my concern for Teddy.

"Go on," Kitten assures me. "I'll make sure Teddy's okay."

"I'll be right back, Son."

"Kay," he says, sipping some of the water Kitten is giving him.

I smile at the scene, knowing that I was right about introducing them. His nightmares have lessened, especially when Kitten is here with us at night. She has the same calming effect on him that Grace had on me when I was his age. A boy needs a mother and a father. Its as simple as that.

Teddy isn't the only one that has taken to Kitten. My family has as well. They were skeptical of her at first, with the exception of Mom who liked her on sight. I think I'd be hard pressed to find someone Grace Grey doesn't like.

Dad was uneasy about the whole thing. He still doesn't trust my judgement since he found out about my relationship with Elena and the fact that I refuse to give her up as a friend.

But meeting Kitten turned them all around quickly enough, including Kate who wanted to hate her out of a sense of loyalty to Ana. But now even she is bending her ear about weddings. A wedding that Elliot is shitting himself wondering if its truly going to happen. I never saw him as the marrying type. I never would have guessed he'd be the one rushing to get down the aisle, but he is. Kate has him by the balls and she is dangling them over fire.

…..

"Welch," I greet him, entering my home office.

"Sorry to bother you, Sir, but I knew you'd want to see this as soon as it was ready," he says handing me a file.

"Why didn't you have someone send it over," I ask him. He never drops shit off to me in person.

"The confidentiality level is too high for anyone but Taylor," he tells me. I nod in understanding.

"I appreciate your sensitivity."

"Let me know if I can be of any farther assistance."

I nod again and watch as he sees himself out.

He's been back and forth to Detroit for the last few weeks following dead end lead after dead end lead on the Barrington's.

Those fuckers must have got wind of what I was up to because the people that were talking to Welch in the beginning clammed up quick. The Barrington fucker must have gotten to them somehow. Only the flower shop keeper was forthcoming but her information was limited.

She recognized the picture of my mother I sent out as the girl Hunter Barrington senior was searching for all those years ago.

So, unless the shop keeper's memory isn't as strong as she thinks it is, I can only conclude that my mother was a Barrington after all.

She was in fact the fucker's missing sister.

With a little footwork, Welch found the apartment my mother OD'd in.

I had to give that asshole building owner enough money to damn near buy the entire apartment complex my mom and I used to stay in before he would talk to Welch.

It turns out mom and I hadn't been living there for very long, maybe a month or so at the most. She had a fake ID with the name Ella Brant when she tried to rent the apartment.

She finally had to give him a copy of her real one along with her social security card before he would rent the apartment to her.

That was enough for Barney to crack open the block files that Welch finally put together for me now.

Everything has been verified so I don't have to ask if the information is true or correct.

I take a deep breath, wondering if I truly want to know what's inside.

My nightmares about Ella have become clear. I can see details that were long hidden from me before. I can never see the pimp, I can still only feel his presence and the pain he caused, but my mother has become completely visible.

One dream in particular is her frosting my birthday cake. It was round, double layered, yellow on the inside with a thick chocolate frosting. It had a candle in the shape of the number four in the middle. I remember it smelling so good. I stuck out a finger to swipe some of the frosting as she spread it on.

She giggled at me. My God, I loved the sound.

She was happy.

Flynn says remembering Ella is my minds way of telling me I'm ready to deal with my unresolved feeling for her. I rolled my eyes when the prick had to note that I no longer call her the crack whore when I talk about her.

What a fucking idiot I was for calling her that. She was so much more to me. I know that now.

I rip open the red seal on the envelope Welch just gave me while I have the nerve and pull out the dozier.

Ella Barrington it reads at the top in bold black letters.

I open it up to see a family portrait.

The family of seven is in a large opulently decorated sitting room. All are dressed to the nines.

The husband and his wife are sitting side by side on two chairs while their children stand surrounding them.

A small boy sits in her lap. And an older boy has his hand on his father's shoulder while holding another boy of about three.

The one who catches my eye is the pretty brown-haired girl standing right behind her mother. She couldn't have been any more than high school age. Maybe 14 or 15 at the most. She is in a pink blouse and a matching pleated miniskirt. She has a white band holding her hair out of her pale face. Her gray eyes are staring into the camera with a familiar smile on her face. Her mother sits proud before her with the same gray eyes. My son's eyes.

We all have the same eyes. I always wondered where they came from.

Standing next to her is that fucker Hunter Barrington II. He has one had on his mother's shoulder and the other around my mother's waist. Instead of looking at the camera, hes looking at my mother with a stupid grin on his face.

I roll my eyes at the asshole before flipping to the next page.

I read all about my mother.

Its all of the information that Grace was unable to get for me.

She excelled in school. She was a straight A student. She was on the debate team and a member of the physics club. I laugh out loud at that. How does anyone make a club out of fucking physics?

I look through printed pages of her year book. I smile at a picture of her cheering at a football game. Junior Varsity Cheers is printed on the horn she was yelling in.

Brains and beauty, huh mom.

Her long hair was in a curly ponytail held back by a red ribbon. She was in a white skirt and sweater with a red and black bar across the front. She was young and spirited. She was so full of life. Nothing like how I thought she'd be.

Nothing like the sad woman I always picture her as.

What could have gone so wrong for her? How could this girl end up strung out on drugs in a rundown filthy Detroit apartment?

Her family didn't disown her. They were looking for her. That Barrington asshole spent a small fortune every time he came to Detroit in search of her.

None of this shit is making any sense.

I flip through but the next pages are all about Hunter Barrington II. Like I really want to know anything about this asshole.

Frustrated, I pick up the phone to call Welch.

"I told you include information about my father," I tell him.

"Yes, Sir," he says.

"But there is only information about Ella and Hunter Barrington here. You couldn't find anything on my father?"

"Yes, Sir, I did."

"What the fuck does that supposed to mean, Welch?"

"Sir, I am sorry to say that Hunter Barrington II is your father."

"So, Ella isn't my mother?"

"Yes, Sir. She is."

I stop when what he is telling me hits me like a fucking truck.

No, it can't be.

I flip back to that first picture and study my mother, smiling innocently at the camera. Her brother's arm possessively around her waist, grinning at her. His eyes are partly away from the camera as he stares at her, but I can see the look he is giving her. I know the fucking look: Lust.

Fuck no. No. No. No.

I think as something else catches my eye. His hair. Its copper. It's a copper mess on top of his head. His hair is my fucking hair.

Jesus Christ.

"Sir, Ella and Hunter Barrington are your parents," I here Welch say before I hang up with him.

Jesus Fucking Christ

I try to stand but I end up on my knees, emptying the chocolate milkshake I had into the waste basket at my desk the same way Teddy did not an hour before.

"Jesus, Mom, your own brother," I say to her picture that's framed on my desk. "What the fuck did he do to you?"

Author's Note:

I've gone and done it. I've gone and self published my very first novel. It's up for preorder on Amazon and Goodreads right now! I'm so excited.

It's called Haunted by You. It's the first book from the Shattered Lives Series. I hope you get it and enjoy it.

In the meantime, thank you for reading and reviewing.