Page 33 of The Addendum

“What did you find?”

“Juliet Brennan. Deceased. Only child. Parents deceased. Born in Calgary, lived there, in BC, and finally Ontario. One daughter—the one you met last night. Juliet was a successful model for about five years. Then she disappeared. Opened her own agency two years later. Closed after three years in business. Worked at a tax center.”

He spun the computer around. “Lots of pictures.”

I scrolled through them, her face growing familiar. Most of the pictures, she had darker hair, but the last few it was lighter, shaking loose a memory. There were some pictures of the two of us, and I studied them.

“Jules,” I muttered. “She liked to be called Jules.”

“You remember her?”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “We met at some party. I often met women at parties or dinners. We dated briefly. Less than a month, I think. She was smart, ambitious, and funny. She did wicked impressions of other models. She didn’t take herself as seriously as some of them.”

“But you broke up.”

“She wanted what every woman wanted from me. More than I could give. More than I was capable of giving to anyone. I felt nothing for people, and every person in my life had a time limit. She called me cold and callous. I told her she was right. We argued, and I was done.” I huffed a laugh. “It never took much. I had one foot out the door as soon as they gave me their number.” I blew out a long breath. “I broke it off, dropped her at her place, and went home. I left for a convention a couple of days later.”

I frowned as another memory hit me. “I told Katy to send her flowers and have her escorted from the building if she showed up.”

“Wow, you were cold,” Aiden breathed out.

“Yep. That was my standard MO. No second chances, no redo. Nothing.”

“So, you never heard from her again?”

I shook my head with a frown. “No.”

“And you didn’t know about Ashley?”

“No.” I shut my eyes as I said the next sentence. “It wouldn’t have made any difference. I mean, I would have helped, but I wouldn’t have gotten involved.”

It was quiet until Reid spoke up. “Ashley works for The Gathering Place. It’s an event management group. She’s one of the senior planners. Excellent reputation. She has a degree in business, communications, and hospitality. Top of her class.”

“An overachiever, just like her father,” Aiden mumbled, winking at me.

“Never been in trouble, no tickets, nothing. Drives an older Toyota, is faithful with its maintenance. Rents a townhouse in Etobicoke with another woman. Has student debt but pays it faithfully. No other major debts. Small savings account.”

“And is dating me.” Luc’s voice reached us.

We all turned. He stood by the door, his arms crossed. He looked tired but calm. He crossed the room, turning a chair and sitting down.

“Anything you want to know about her, you can ask me.”

“Did you know?” I asked him.

“That she thought you were her father?” He shook his head. “Not until Friday night. I had noticed her odd reaction to you, and she finally told me why. I told her to give me a chance to dig into stuff first before she talked to you.”

I lifted my eyebrow. “Obviously, she doesn’t listen well.”

“She got emotional. She saw you with your other kids, Richard. With Katy. The love you had for them. She wanted to know why you never loved her.”

“I didn’t know about her.”

“Her mother told her otherwise.”

“Then her mother lied.”

He held up his hands. “That is something you need to work out between you. I just came to see how you were.” He leaned forward. “She’s an amazing woman, Richard. Your daughter or not, she is wonderful.”