The Current Between Us (39 page)

“
No, Trent! No, I was just as surprised and angry as you are right now when I saw the photo in Em’s room. I wondered those same things about you, drawing me in,” Gage said, holding his hands up, trying to calm the situation.

“
Daddy, you’re yelling,” Hunter said. Em stood behind him in the entrance to the living room from the hall. Trent could see his precious children looking sleepy-eyed and disheveled from bed. They radiated uncertainty and didn’t come any farther into the living room, staying in the safety of the hallway. They’d never shown fear of him, ever, but the raised voices clearly had them concerned.

“
I’m sorry, guys. Go lay back down, it’s okay. I’ll be quieter,” Trent said. He didn’t get up, and Gage sat there with him, between him and his children, and the gravity of the situation fell hard on his shoulders. How would he protect them from all this? What would this mean to his family? And if he left Gage here in the kitchen alone would he be here when Trent returned? He needed all of the information the guy had before he walked out of their lives forever.

“
I’m scared,” Hunter said.

“
Me too,” Em agreed.

“
There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Trent said and finally rose. He couldn’t take the fear on their faces any longer.

“
I’ve got them, Trent,” Rhonny said, coming up the stairs. “Come on, guys, let Daddy talk to Gage. I’ll stay with you.”

“
But, Rhonny, I had an accident,” Em said.

“
You did? It’s okay. I’ll take care of it in the morning. Let’s get you clean pajamas. You can both come sleep with me,” Rhonny said, pulling the pajamas up and over Em’s head. She shooed them into the bathroom down the hall, looking over at Trent with worried eyes.

Trent watched the whole scene unfold in front of him, and for the first time ever, he didn
’t get involved. He was so unsure what to do. His instinct told him he should keep an eye on the person bringing all this crap down on his family until he had all the information. That gut feeling had him returning to his seat, Gage close by. At this point, Gage classified as the aggressor, and he understood killing the messenger wasn’t necessary, but he didn’t want Gage or any of this mess anywhere near his children.

Trent rose from his chair and paced the small area in front of the table, coming to stand in the entryway to the kitchen between Gage and the rest of the house. Aggression ate at his soul, and he focused in on Gage. He waited to hear Rhonny
’s bedroom door close before he stalked back to Gage. He braced one hand on the back of Gage’s chair, the other on the table where his picture flashed every so often as a screen saver.

“
Goddammit, Gage, you better tell me the fuckin’ truth. Did you know he was the kid’s father before the grand opening?” Trent growled the last words. If Gage had destroyed his life for this report… Damn it, he needed to hit something and if that something were Gage, so be it.

“
No! On my soul, no,” Gage said and didn’t attempt to back away from him.

“
So this is some giant coincidence?” Trent stayed there, leaning down in Gage’s face.

“
It’s the conclusion I came to this afternoon,” Gage said, nodding.

“
How did you come to it?” Trent asked.

“
My gut,” Gage said, compassion in his eyes. Trent didn’t expect compassion, and pity would have pissed him off.

“
Why?” He stepped back a couple of feet from Gage, needing space.

“
Because you’re a good man, Trent. You have honor and integrity, and I’ve seen too much in my life. I know it can’t be faked. You take care of these children, you give them everything you can, and feel blessed for the opportunity to provide for them.” Gage’s words took some of the steam out of the anger he held and it turned back to desolation inside his heart.

“
I don’t want them to ever know about this,” he said, standing with his arms crossed over his chest, trying to keep himself together.

“
Trent, I can’t see how you can keep it from them.” Trent stared at Gage, neither speaking again.

“
If their father is still alive, it might threaten my adoption… What about their safety?” Trent said after a few minutes.

“
I don’t know. I’ll provide an attorney for you. My guess, they’ll want you all to go in the witness protection program. Trent, he’s that bad of a guy. Another option’s to let me keep you all safe, but I’m sure I’ll be marked for exposing everything. I’ve never been in this situation. My reports were solely based on me before. My parents have personal security. I haven’t had anyone I personally cared for before you. This list of Abdulla’s buyers isn’t pretty. They aren’t going to wanna be exposed. But I can set you up somewhere remote. Keep you secure,” Gage said. He rose to stand in front of Trent.

“
Fuck, Gage,” Trent said and lifted his hand to his chin, covering his mouth. Every possible outcome he could think of in this situation ended badly for his children.

“
I know. I was thinking Sophia might be able to fill some of the holes in,” Gage said. It took Trent several long minutes of staring at the computer screen, seeing his image smiling back at him, to finally respond by palming his phone and dialing Sophia. He put her on speaker so Gage could hear.

“
How are you?” she asked, instead of hello.

“
Not so good,” Trent said and looked up at Gage.

“
I know, babe, I’m really sorry Gage turned out to be such a fucktard. I so didn’t see it coming,” she said.

“
Sophia, you’re on speaker and Gage’s here with me.” There was silence on her end for a moment.

“
Crap! I’m sorry, Trent, I didn’t know,” Sophia said in an explosion of words.

“
No, it was deserved, Sophia. I’m sorry for the part I’ve played in this,” Gage said.

“
Sophia, can we come over? I know it’s late, but there’s a problem. I need you to help… Something about Lynn and the kids has come up,” Trent asked, and they were again met with silence for several long moments.

“
Is it about Aaron?” They were silent, looking at one another before they spoke.

“
Yes,” Gage finally said.

“
Come now, I’ll be waiting,” Sophia said, and the phone disconnected.

Chapter 21

Gage called Hopkins, and within seconds, he materialized outside of Trent’s house. Apparently, he’d been hiding in shadows for the last week, even before everything blew up on Sunday night. Trent never had any idea they were there. Hopkins agreed to stay in the house and keep an eye on everything while they met with Sophia. Rhonny came upstairs when Trent texted her. He filled her in on the basics, more of a need to know information of the moment. Rhonny looked scared, and at this point, Trent could do nothing to relieve her.

Against his better judgment, Trent
rode with Gage in his Ferrari to Sophia’s house, after giving him her address and letting GPS take them there, even though he knew a quicker, easier route. The ride was quiet and Trent sat with his hands in his lap. Every bit of their romantic trouble and the pain of lost love that he felt went to the wayside. The fear in his heart for his children became paramount.

Ever so often as he thought through everything, Trent would ask a question for clarity, but no matter how he spun it in his head, the resulting scenarios left him and his kids absolutely fucked. He
’d never been in a situation like this before. It wasn’t going to matter how hard he worked or how much money he threw at it, this was going to be beyond his control. His precious family, his sister’s sweet children were going to be a target from this moment forward. He’d never feel truly safe again, which was the very best possible outcome of this dire circumstance.

Gage drove through Sophia
’s complex and Trent directed him to her townhome. It was late, well after ten at night, but her porch light stayed on and she stood out on the porch as their car pulled into her small driveway. There were no words said between them. She just looked at each one of them, then back at Trent, before giving an anguished look. She didn’t reach out to him at all, but kept her arms crossed over her chest as if she held herself together and Trent knew those feelings too well. When they stepped inside and shut the door Trent started in on her immediately. The fear in his heart began to turn slightly angry again at the situation. Whatever Sophia hid, she should have told him before now.

“
Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Trent asked as he stepped inside.

“
Trent, I don’t really know anything. Lynn told me very little before she died and made me promise not to say anything unless it was needed,” Sophia said, still clasping her arms around her chest.

“
Let’s go in and have a seat. Sophia we need to know everything you know about the children’s father,” Gage said from behind them both, encouraging them to move from the front door. Sophia walked into the living room where they all stayed standing. The tension so thick between them and Trent’s heart began to pound. Any hope this might not be true diminished by the second. Serious fear began to build and Trent realized Sophia’s confession could only add to this horror of a night.

“
Where do you want me to start?”

“
From the beginning of meeting him and work your way to the end,” Gage said, he pulled out a pad and a pen from the file folder, and took a seat, balancing it all on his knee.

“
Let’s see, we met Aaron while we were on spring break in Cozumel. It had to be seven years ago, because Hunter just turned six. Trent, you all thought we were in Texas, but we changed it up some and kept it quiet. You and your mom would’ve worried. We met Aaron the first day we were there. Lynn fell immediately for him. Trent, they were love at first sight kind of stuff… He was stationed somewhere around there in the military and on leave. We were there a week and he spent the entire week with Lynn, every day and every night. They were so pretty together, everyone always stopped them to say what a nice couple they made. Toward the end of our spring break, I was alone all the time. It was sickening watching them, they really seemed in love. I know you don’t want to hear this Trent, but he was Lynn’s first and only. It had to be love. He couldn’t be that good of an actor.

“
Anyway, he was supposedly getting out of the military soon and during our last night there we all got completely wasted and woke up to them having been married in downtown Cozumel. I’m not sure the marriage was legal and binding, but nothing could convince Lynn of that. We had to leave, he had to go back too, and she turned up pregnant with Hunter. Trent, she was in love, but totally embarrassed, and I helped her hide it all from you guys. She only saw him two or three more times, ever, but they talked all the time. Every time they saw each other, it was like that with them. Real intense, but he would always up and leave, giving her a different excuse and be gone for a year at a time, sometimes longer. The last time he was in town, she got pregnant with Em. She sent him an email about it, the email he sent back was very sweet, a little cryptic, and he told her if anything happened to him there was an account with money in it.

“
Then she got word of his death. It freaked her out a little bit. She did some research, tried to get benefits, but she found he wasn’t ever listed as in the United States military, he didn’t exist at all. And this account he set up for her in Switzerland had about half a million dollars in it.” Sophia said it all still standing in the middle of the living room, her arms wrapped around her. Trent stood to her side, and she said it so quickly there wasn’t any time for questions until Gage interrupted her.

“
Do you have the account information?” Gage asked, looking up from his notes.“No, not anymore, let me finish. Now, I understand she knew there was a chance she would die giving birth. When she told me about the money, I thought she was just grieving Aaron. I didn’t pay lots of attention to her, but she moved the money, cashed it in, and hid it away from the kids and you so there wouldn’t be a tie back to you guys. She gave it to me. We put it in a bank safety deposit box because she wasn’t sure where the money came from. She made me promise if anything happened to her, I would remove fifteen hundred a month and put it in an account for you, like it came from the government. She created an elaborate plan for it and it worked because you never touched the money, Trent. It just sits there. You never question it, or look at it.”

“
Do you have any of the emails or written documentation he sent her?” Gage asked, still bent over, writing.

“
No, she got rid of it all before she died. She was scared, but she kept telling me she wasn’t sure he was dead,” Sophia said, looking at Trent.

“
Why did she say that?” Trent asked before Gage could.

“
I don’t know, I think it was just a hunch. She would say they were too connected and sometimes she felt like she could sense him around,” Sophia said.