Page 92 of Reckless Love

“They didn’t, but okay,” I say. “What does that mean?” The conversation has swerved in an unexpected direction.

“His blood type matches mine, Ava. I was his blood donor.” He stares at me with intensity, as though he expects me to understand something I don’t. “I think it means we need to order another DNA test. I think the first one might have been forged.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Ava

What he’s just said is so far removed from anything I ever would have expected that I just stare at him. “What do you mean?” My knees wobble, and I press my hand into the wall behind me. “Forged?”

Stephen sweeps me into his arms and carries me to his bed on the other side of the half wall that separates his bedroom from the living space. He sets me down in the middle, and then he crawls in beside me, lying on his stomach, a pillow scrunched up under his cheek.

“Forged, yeah,” he agrees. “If you’re not well enough for this conversation, I can wait. I probably should have waited.”

“I don’t understand.” I press my fingers into my temple. “We ran two tests. Two. Both said Raul.”

“Who ran those tests?”

“The hospital.”

“Who arranged them?”

“My mother.”

Stephen doesn’t say anything, but when I search his expression, the penny drops. “You think she forged those tests?”

“I started working for the Tucker family behind the scenes before I even officially became a cop. Your mom had me do some things I wasn’t completely comfortable with, just to see if I was worth her investment. She wanted to see how far I’d go.”

“You never told me that.”

“It’s not exactly behavior I’m proud of—that your mother determined how well she could control me, how desperate I was, before she got me hired onto the force. By the time we met, your relationship with your mother was already rocky, and it wasn’t in my best interests to make it worse.”

“Worse for me or her?”

“At first? For her. Making you hate her or even like her less wasn’t good for my career. But later, you were my main concern. Underneath that rocky relationship, I would have bet that you wanted her to see you, acknowledge you, be a real mother. Revealing what I’d experienced with her wouldn’t have helped you.”

“I can’t believe this,” I whisper. And I can’t, but I can at least a little. Maybe.

“You and your siblings believed that Celia protected you all or at least smothered negativity. Maybe her one motherly quality. She did do that. That’s not untrue. But the methods she used to accomplish all that were sometimes pretty ruthless.” His lips dip into a hint of a frown.

“You’re saying I shouldn’t have trusted her.”

“There’s a chance she used that trust to her advantage.”

“I don’t understand why she’d care.”

“No? A grandchild from a marriage with a wealthy billionaire or a child with an ex-police officer who was on her payroll. Especially one who’d left the country with no forwarding address. You think Celia Tucker would find that scenario acceptable?”

“She wouldn’t have interfered. She already lost Nathaniel because of bullshit like this. She’d already lost him by the time I found out I was pregnant. Why would she… She wouldn’t.”

Stephen runs his hand along my leg and then loops his arm around my waist, easing me closer. “Do you want me to tell you what I know? It’ll change the way you see your mother.”

I scooch down so that I’m lying flush with him, my ear pressed against his chest. He puts his big arm around me, cradling me close. “I’m ready,” I whisper.

“Celia is about calculated risks. Always. If I’m right, here’s what she would have been thinking. You would be a pregnant single mother. Raul had maybe told her at one point that he wished he had an heir. You had been trying for years to get various businesses and ventures off the ground by self-funding them. Raul’s money would fix that for you. He gives you money, and you give him a baby.”

I shake my head, and I want to cover my ears, keep the rest at bay.

“Two tests, both of those, according to your mother, said that Raul was the father. If I’d never returned, if my company hadn’t been involved in your family’s security, and if Landon hadn’t needed an emergency blood transfusion and the blood bank in Tucker’s Town hadn’t been out, you’d never have questioned his paternity.”