Page 66 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

“You threw money at her. One-dollar bills.”

Voss hesitates. “She took it. Marcus, she took the money. She was after your money. She seduced you—”

“I seduced her, you fucking moron!” I can’t control my temper. “I ruined her life, and you humiliated her. You never once told me that I had a child out there.”

“I was trying to protect your career!”

Fury rears its head again. “That was my kid.”

“I’m sorry.” He doesn’t sound it. “You were at the peak of everything. And there was no proof the baby was even yours.”

I stand there a second, ten years turning into something I don’t recognize. “Well, she’s mine. And thanks to you, I’ve lost every year of her life so far.”

“Then fix it now,” Voss says, like it’s simple. “Pay the woman off. Take the kid if you want her that bad.”

I stare down at the phone. “Have you lost your mind?”

“What?”

“A mother comes to tell me I have a daughter, you slam the door in her face, and now your advice is I tear that same child out of her arms with a check.” My voice drops. “Say one more word like that. I dare you.”

Voss says nothing for a few seconds. “What do you want from me, Marcus?” He sounds tired now, cornered.

“I want to know when I slept with her.” I press in. “You ran my whole schedule. You had eyes on me every night of that stretch. So tell me why I don’t remember one second of it.”

“I don’t know.” His voice is dodgy now. “How am I supposed to remember a night you can’t? If it slipped your mind, what do you want from mine?” A breath. “And I’ll tell you, I still don’t buy that the kid’s yours. The woman’s probably playing you. How would she even know? We don’t have paternity labs in our world.”

“If I could come through this phone, I’d put you into the floor.” I don’t raise my voice. The quiet does more than shouting would. “The week she’d have gotten pregnant was my last in that city. Think. What do you remember about those nights?”

A sigh. “I don’t keep a diary of every evening, Marc. Maybe you bedded her and forgot. It happens.”

“I don’t forget. Not unless something’s wrong.” The cold spreads under my ribs. “Was I drinking past sense? Was I slipped something? Because I’ve got a hole where those few days should be, and holes don’t just happen.”

“To be straight with you,” Voss says, “I didn’t like the look of her. Shifty. Wouldn’t shock me if she’s the one who dosed you and walked you up to a room.”

“You’re still lying to me.” I’m sure of it now, sure as I’ve been of anything. “I can hear it.”

“I’m telling you what I know.”

“Then you’ll write it down. Every place I went those last nights, every room, every name. I want a log.”

“That was a decade ago. What do you want me to—”

“Do it.” I snarl. “Tonight starts the clock.”

Adrian leans into the phone. “That list is on my desk in twenty-four hours, Voss, or I make the rest of your year very hard. We clear?”

“Fine.” The word’s clipped. The line dies.

Adrian lowers the phone and looks at me. “That’s the whole reason you need to take your seat back.” His jaw is tight. “Bella’s growing up. And a man like that, talking to you like you’re nothing. You’re blood-born, Marc. Even without the seat, he should crawl before you.”

“I don’t care about the seat.” I push off the rail. “He turned her away. He stood at a door and sent her off pregnant and alone, and the way he did… that’s why she never came looking again.” I drag a hand over my mouth. “This one’s on me. I did this to her without even knowing I did it.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Focus on the hunters for now. Drop everything else and find the man from tonight.” I start to pace the boards. “It sounded like Leroy, but there’s no reason on Earth for him to stand in that crowd with poisoned candy unless he meant for both girls to take it. Which means he knew what Mia is. Somebody out there knows she’s a hybrid. Somebody knew she’s mine before I even knew it myself. That makes the two of them targets every day they breathe.”

“Why would they come at you, though?” Adrian frowns. “Nothing like this has happened before.”