The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (11 page)

Victoria paused, her face fearful.
Laney didn’t know Victoria well, but what she did know was that Victoria was a strong woman. And whatever she was preparing to say was big.

Laney knew who her parents were, knew who she was, but Victoria
’s expression . . . Laney didn’t like how it was making her feel.

Laney grasped Jake
’s hand under the table, trying to keep her face expressionless. She needed to borrow some of his strength, because she had a feeling that whatever Victoria was going to say next was going to shatter her.

Victoria shook her head, her voice soft.
“No. The child of Fiona and Derek McPhearson, a little girl, born on January twenty-seventh, died. Your mother had complications, a lot of bleeding. She couldn’t have children after that. Your father was so worried the day their child was born that he never left your mother’s side, not even to see his child, not until the next day. And by then, their daughter had passed away—and you had taken her place.”

Laney shook her head.
“No. That’s not true. Why would you say that?”

Jake squeezed Laney
’s hand. “If that were true, how did you accomplish that? You can’t just switch babies.”

Victoria
shifted her gaze from Laney to Jake. “I have a lot of resources. There was a nurse at the hospital where Laney’s mother gave birth. She was having financial problems. She agreed to help.”

Laney sat back.
It felt like she was trying to think through syrup. Her parents had always said she was a miracle baby. She wasn’t supposed to survive and yet, there she was, all pink and perfect the day after her birth.

And her father had stayed away until that next day.
He had thought he was going to lose his wife, so he’d stayed by her mother’s bedside.

“
Why would you say all of this?” Laney asked.

Victoria
stared into Laney’s eyes. “Because it’s true. I hid you away because I was trying to keep you from harm. But I couldn’t hide you from your destiny. The world is reaching a critical point, and you are the only one who can save it.”

“
You don’t have any proof,” Laney said, ignoring the destiny remark. Maybe Victoria’s daughter had a destiny, but she wasn’t that daughter.

“
Yes. I do.” Victoria reached down to the chair next to her and pulled out a manila folder. She pushed it across the table toward Laney. “These are copies of your parents’ hospital records, as well as your own. Look at the blood types.”

Laney hesitated, not sure she wanted to see Victoria
’s proof. There couldn’t be proof. It wasn’t true. But she found herself reaching for the folder anyway.

She quickly scanned the documents inside.
They were hospital records from when she was born: records for her and for her mother. There was also another record, for her father, from when he had been hospitalized for appendicitis a few years later. She scanned the documents for blood types.

Fiona McPhearson
: Blood Type AB. Derek McPhearson: Blood Type A. Delaney McPhearson: Blood Type O.

The papers fell from her hand.
The room seemed to tilt. A child whose parents had A and AB blood types couldn’t be O. It was biologically impossible.

Laney looked around the table, shaking her head.
“No. This is some sort of trick.”

“
Delaney, you can check the records for yourself. But the reality is, they are not your biological parents.” Victoria’s tone wasn’t cruel, but she might as well have stabbed Laney with a knife. It would have been less painful.

Laney stared around the room.
It can’t be true. Why was Victoria saying all this?

Laney watched Victoria
’s face. There was no malice or cruelty there, only resignation, and sadness—sadness that she had to tell Laney at all.

A
n image of her parents flashed through her mind. Was it possible? Had her parents, who had died twenty years ago, never met their real daughter? What if other people thought she wasn’t their daughter? If people were after her . . .

Laney went still.
“Oh my god—my parents’ car accident. It wasn’t an accident, was it? They were killed. Because of me.”

Victoria leaned across the table, trying to take Laney
’s hands. Laney pulled them out of her reach. “No, no, Laney. When I heard about the accident, I had it investigated. And it was just an accident. A horrible twist of fate.”

Laney looked at
Victoria, not sure she believed her. Who was this woman? Why did she know so much? Why did she think she had to give away her only daughter? It was too much.

Laney stood up. She could feel the tears wanting to break free, but she wouldn
’t let them. Not yet. “You’re kidding, right? I’m your long-lost daughter and now I have a destiny? Oh sure, what do you need me to do? Save the world you said, right? How, exactly? I’m normal. I have no special abilities.”

Victoria reached out her hands then drew them back.
“No. You
are
special. You’re like Henry.”

Laney
’s gaze whipped to Henry, realization hitting her. If everything Victoria said was true . . . Henry was her brother.

Henry stared back at her, his features frozen in shock.

Laney stumbled away from the table.
“I need to go.”

“
Laney, please . . .” Victoria pleaded.

Laney ignored her.
She turned to Jake. “Jake.”

Jake stood up.
“Let’s go.”

“
Ralph, keys for the SUV,” Henry ordered the bodyguard, his voice fierce.

Without a word, Ralph took the keys out of his pocket and tossed them at Jake
, who caught them one-handed.

Laney had to keep herself from running.
She needed air. She needed out. Yanking the door open, she bolted outside.

Rocky
, who’d been sitting on the porch steps, jumped to her feet. “Laney, are you okay?”

“
No.” Laney ran down the steps to the SUVs in the back. The lights on one of them flashed as Jake unlocked it. Laney scrambled around to the passenger door.

She stumbled inside
and slipped on her seat belt. She leaned her head back as Jake pulled away.

Visions of her parents flooded her mind.
Tucking her in. Holding her hand. Pushing her on the swings. Tears ran down her cheeks.

It can
’t be true. It can’t be.

CHAPTER 22

H
enry watched Laney all but sprint outside. The dual emotions of anger and sympathy warred inside him. He turned to the bodyguard. “Ralph, I need to speak with my mother alone.”

Ralph nodded and headed for the door without a word.

As the door closed behind him, Henry paused to figure out what to say. He kept his back to his mother, trying to compose his thoughts.
What the hell just happened? Laney is my sister? And she’s special?

He
’d seen no evidence of her having any abilities like his. And he hadn’t felt any recognition with her, like he had with other nephilim. This made no sense. A million questions raced through his mind.

At last he
turned to face his mother, his mind settling on a simple question. “Why?”

Victoria looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
“I did what I thought best. To protect her.”

Some of Henry
’s anger slipped into his voice. “She’s my sister. And you gave her away? I’ve had a sister all these years and you never told me. I just—I don’t understand how you could do that.”

Victoria moved
toward him, her hands in front of her, her tone pleading. “Henry, please. It was the only way I could think of to protect her—”

“
Protect her from what, Mom? Who is she? She’s not a nephilim. She’s not like me. She doesn’t have those powers.”

“
No. She’s not like you. But she
is
a nephilim. A very unique one.”

Henry groaned.
“What the hell does that mean? Unique how? Does she fly? Have telekinesis? Why is she different? Why did you send her away to protect her? Why her and not—”
Me?

Victoria walked over
to him, took his hands in hers. “When you were born, I didn’t know what the future would bring. Even when I got pregnant with her, I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I found out that my second child was a girl that I knew who she would become. What her destiny was.”

“
And what destiny is that? What is it exactly that Laney is supposed to do?”

Victoria let out a shaky breath.
“I can’t tell you that. Not yet. I owe it to her to tell her first.”

Henry ran his hands over his face, wanting to hit something.
“Mom, I don’t understand you. I don’t understand why you have to keep all these secrets. Why can’t the world know you’re alive?”

“
Henry, I’ve told you. It’s better if you don’t know certain things. Safer.”

Henry stared at his mother, his anger boiling back to the surface.
“
Safer?
Have you heard about what’s happened to me in the last year? How about what happened this morning? ‘Safe’ is not exactly part of my life these days.”

“
I know. But my life brings with it a whole other set of dangers.”

Henry gritted his teeth.
“Enough, Mom. Enough with the cryptic. What is going on? Who’s after Laney? And who
are
you?”

“
I’m no one.”

“
Goddamn it. That old tune doesn’t carry anymore. You gave away your daughter to protect her from a destiny you knew about before her birth. You were married to one of the most powerful angels ever. Your son is a towering freak. And you’re going to stand there and tell me that you’re just a normal human being?”

Victoria
’s eyes flashed with anger. “You are
not a freak.
”

Henry tried to stay stalwart in his anger.
But the fact that she chose to focus on that part of his little speech tore a laugh from him. She had always hated whenever he disparaged his height or his abilities. He groaned. “You’re killing me, Mom. You are absolutely killing me.”

She leaned up and took his face in her hands.
“Henry, do you believe that I love you?”

Henry struggled against answering her question.
He wanted answers to
his
questions first. But the answer to her question was a simple one, and he had the feeling that the answers to his questions were not.

He sighed.
“Yes, Mother. No matter all this craziness, I’ve always known that you love me.”

Tears sprang to her eyes
then, and Henry realized that she had been uncertain. His forever strong mother had worried that he didn’t believe she loved him.

When she spoke, her smile was a little wobbly.
“And do you believe that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you?”

“
Yes, Mom.” He worked on keeping the frustration out of his voice. “Where are you going with this?”

“
I love your sister in the same way. So please, trust me a little more. Okay?”

Henry closed his eyes.
Exasperation ran through him. His mother had always been like this: impossibly stubborn with her secrets.

He blew out a breath
and opened his eyes. “Mom, after finding out the identity of my father, learning that I have a long-lost sister, and discovering that I’m part angel with superhuman skills, do you actually believe that your real identity could rock my world?”

Beckoning him to lean down,
Victoria kissed him on the cheek.

“
Yes.”

CHAPTER 23

J
ake drove down the unfamiliar roads, glancing every few seconds at Laney. She could feel his worried gaze but she couldn’t work up the words to assure him she was fine.

Because she wasn
’t. She wasn’t even close.

“
When she was born, I gave her to a family.”

“
Your parents’ child, a little girl, she died.”

“
But I couldn’t hide you from your destiny.”

Laney crushed her hands over her ears, trying to keep Victoria
’s words out. But they crept in. And then she was picturing each memory with her parents. Every memory was a lie. They thought she was their daughter, but she wasn’t.