Biker's Claim The Broken Angel is Mine (Cora and Jake) novel Chapter 78

498

<Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Gunner POV

Everything was set for catching these men; we had tried to think of every contingency, but there is always that unknown factor. Let’s hope luck is on our side. We won’t take the van away till we see the man leave for the bushes on his bike and what he’s taking with him. If he has a rifle, that van will move on during the night to the next scheduled stop, will park it in a truck bay, before the town, and be careful to leave no trace. We chose the truck bay with no cameras to capture footage of our men leaving.

The meeting closed early, at two o’clock, and food was my first thought, had my woman eaten yet? She had fled the room suddenly, according to Hacker, but he had too much going on to find out what it was about and hadn’t thought much about it. Thought maybe an idea had come to her, and was off to check it out on her laptop.

Cora was in her room, her face pale, and hints of tears forming.

“Cora, are you alright? I went to collect you for lunch, and Hacker said you returned to your room.” She looked shaken up, and that worried me.

She offered me her laptop to read what Cora had been reading, and, holy moly, what a report to be reading. The DNA report she had requested included information on how they could obtain samples from her father, stepbrother, stepmother, her mother, and her own to check them all for DNA markers and link her to them. Cora never thought she was related to her stepmother, but something niggled her about the love her dad had for Paul, and she wanted to check if he was related to him.

“So your dad is not your dad. What does that mean? Like, did your mother cheat?” I asked. This report was

not what I was expecting.

“Paul is my stepmother and the man I thought was my dad’s son. He is two years older than me, so I don’t get how Mum was married to this man and not my dad. I often wondered why my birth certificate did not have the same surname as Dad’s, as it was customary to take the father’s name, or so I had thought. Mind you, the place where it says father is blank, so mum never put my dad’s name on the birth certificate. I need to find out if he ever married Mum, but I don’t think he did. I think he married my Stepmother long before Mum died, because look, Dad is my uncle and Paul is my cousin. That means Mum was Dad’s sister, not his wife. How did mum never tell me? I feel betrayed by my own mother now. All the people I ever trusted lied to me.” Cora was falling to pieces right in front of me, and I couldn’t answer any of those

questions.

“One step at a time, okay, what do you have of your mother?” I asked, trying to give Cora a direction, get her investigation side working, and her emotions out of it. It might sound harsh, but that’s how Cora works better: give her something to look for, rather than drown in too much confusing information, let her digest each step along the way.

“A box that has her jewelry, some letters, and a book. I assume it’s a journal of some kind. I have never had the nerve to read any of the letters or the book. It hurt too much to think about them.”

Chapter 78-

“Maybe it’s time to read them.” I encouraged her, rubbing her arm in comfort. Cora suddenly turned and jumped into my arms, sobbing so deeply, heartbreaking sehs, that my throat closed up, a lump developed in my throat, and I couldn’t swallow. My emotions were close to the surface, and I had to fight, breaking into tears with her, she was that devastated, it broke my heart to see and feel. Emotions so strong, for this woman, beyond anything I had felt before, and I couldn’t protect her from this, and that hurt more. I felt helpless and out of my depth.

“Okay, maybe something will show up. It still doesn’t make any sense. Why pretend? I knew they didn’t share the same bed, and I asked about that once, because the kids at school said their parents did. Now it makes more sense why mum didn’t share that bed, because he was my uncle.” Cora’s sobs slowed until she was in control enough to go to the walk-in robe and find the box.

What she carried out was larger than I expected. I had thought of a shoebox. That box was much larger than that; it was like a small suitcase, like the carry-on ones you use when traveling.

Cora placed it on the bed and sat beside it, staring at it, like it would bite her or something.

“Once I open that box, my life will change again, my beautiful memories of my mother might change, and the hurt I feel right now might turn to hate of the woman I love. Is it worth that risk?” Cora whispered, stroking the box, as if it were a treasure.

“It is, because not knowing will eat you up, and your imagination might create ideas far worse than what reality might be.” My voice was low and soft as I sat behind Cora, on the bed, away from the box, rubbing her back, touching her, letting her know she was not alone in this, giving her space to make up her mind. I didn’t want to sit on the other side of the box, which would make it look like I was hovering over it. Cora needed to reach that place in her heart and mind, to open it.

Cora took a deep breath and opened the box, lifted the lid, and stared at the contents for a while.

Inside, it looked like a few velvet bags, which I assumed held jewelry. A bundle of letters, held together

with a pink ribbon, and two notebooks. One is very worn and often used, like a favourite novel you read a

few times, a small wooden box and a larger cardboard one. Little else that I could see, but then she hadn’t

ventured to look closer yet, and there could be something in the side pockets.

Cora reached in for the letters first. Opened the first one, and sucked in a breath, tears falling again.

‘My love, I am pleased to hear the news that you have our love child on the way. I will support you in every way I can, but I can’t marry you. My parents won’t allow it and don’t even want to meet the child. I will start a trust fund for him or her. Let me know what we have and what name you will choose. I have already been to the bank and organised money to be sent to you monthly, and a house for you to live in. Over time, I will try to get your stocks and bonds, and maybe you can run that business you love so much. I will buy it for you. I love you, but I can’t give you what you need. I can’t risk losing face with the family; it’s the only way I can continue to support you monetarily. Believe me when I say I don’t want to end this way, but we need to be careful. Until my grandfather dies, and I get more say, it has to be this way. I am sure I can sway Father eventually.

All my love, Demetri.

Chapha 76

“Demetri,” Cora whispered, placing the letter to one side and reaching for the other letters, but they had not been opened. It was like, after this letter, she decided it was best not to keep in contact with him.

“Do you want to read those?” Cora was holding them in her shaking hands.

“I don’t know, should I?” We were both still whispering, as if words spoken aloud were intruding on this poignant moment.

“Yes, he might have managed to sway his family; he obviously loved knowing he was going to be a father.” Cora opened the first letter on the pile.

‘My love, the business is yours now. Everything went smoothly. Cora, what a lovely name. I have put you both as my beneficiaries in my will

Even if I have to marry this woman, because my mother is pushing me, I won’t change, so that you get my wealth. That’s all I can offer you. I have insisted that if I marry that wretched woman, she signs a prenup, that she gets nothing if we wed, even if I die.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify