Claimed Darker by Em Brown

Chapter 49

DARREN

Past

“That’s you,” my mom says over the phone, regarding the pic I sent her.

The picture of a young toddler in front of a quaint house with a brick facade was taken by Travis, whom JD had insisted I bring along for extra help.

“The skin’s a little darker,” she continues, “but with that straight black hair, he’s basically your Mini-Me.”

It’s what I thought when I saw the kid, but I’m not the best judge of facial features when it comes to kids.

I stare out my hotel window at the Denver skyline. It took me two fucking years to find her. First, I waited for her, thinking she’d come back. But when I discovered she wasn’t enrolled for her final year at Cal, I began to consider the possibility that she might never come back. Why wouldn’t she finish her final year of college?

Something must have happened to her. I couldn’t sleep for weeks. I had Trawley comb every Jane Doe report. I hired private investigator after private investigator. They interviewed college and high school classmates of hers, people who used to work with her grandmother at the post office. I even flew out to Florida to talk to her ex-boyfriend, Dante. Nothing on Bridget’s whereabouts. But I did get the Oakland address where Coretta used to live.

Coretta was the missing link, but finding her wasn’t the easiest. The owner of the house she used to live in was new and didn’t know anything about prior tenants, so my PI tracked down the previous owner, who had moved to Arizona. He was an elderly man and couldn’t remember much. It took a lot more digging and time to find someone who knew Coretta. The woman wasn’t on social media, but her daughter, who had married, was. The investigator tracked down and interviewed classmates of the daughter and finally found one who was friends on Facebook with her. The Facebook page of Coretta’s daughter showed she lived in Denver.

“I can’t believe the bitch ran off with your son,” my mother huffs. “I told you she was trouble.”

“You liked her, though,” I say.

“That was before I found out she’s hiding my grandson! And I never thought she was right for you. How could she do this to you?”

“How should I know?” I respond with irritation. “Who understands half the things women do?”

“Well, you better get my grandson back.”

“Don’t worry. I will.”

“Then sue her ass for full custody. She can’t be trusted.”

I end the call because I got what I needed from my mom and am not looking for anything else. She should be grateful that I’ve been so focused on Bridget that I told Hao Young early on to find someone else to head up the counterfeiting division. He was disappointed and tried to talk me back into it. But I held firm.

“I can’t take on such an important role if half my mind is on resolving…personal matters,” I had said.

“There will always be a place for you in the Jing San, should you change your mind or after your affairs are resolved,” Hao Young had replied. “Whatever you need, do not hesitate to ask me. I will do what I can to grant your request in honor of your father.”

I considered changing my mind. Considered forgetting about Bridget. But I needed closure. Imagining the worst was driving me crazy. So it was actually a shock to my system to find out that she had been living a whole different life all this time. Nothing bad had happened to her. She had simply chosen not to return to Cal, not to return to me. And she looked happy, too, hanging out with her friends in the cafe, returning home to give her son—my son—a big embrace and shower him with kisses. I couldn’t believe my fucking eyes.

And did she try to reach out to me once? Why would she do this?

Felipe told me that she had been pretty distraught seeing the pics Kimberly had shown her.

“I think she’s been a little sus from the start,” Felipe said. “She asked a lot about you and how similar you were to JD.”

“And how did you respond?” I replied.

“You know me, boss. I’m not much of a talker.”

I’m not sure I completely believe him, and maybe he let slip about the women I’ve been with. I haven’t helped my own case, however. I think about all the women Bridget has had to witness, from Elaine to Tatiana to Kimberly.

Still. If she thought I was two-timing her, she should have at least confronted me. I expected more from someone who had the audacity to throw her drink in my face. She didn’t even give me a chance to apologize. Instead, she goes and nurses her grievances in private and doesn’t even do me the courtesy of officially breaking up with me? Of letting me know that we have a child? How could I have been so wrong about her?

I fucking took a bullet for her. And she has the gall to leave me because of some misplaced suspicions?

She played me for a fool. Here I thought she was a good, honest, what-you-see-is-what-you-get person. Someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Someone I wanted to make a baby with.

Which I apparently did, only I didn’t know it till now. And if I hadn’t tracked her down, I might never have known. If she doesn’t want me to have her, that’s her prerogative. But she can’t keep my son from me. That’s a punishable offense in my book.

A very punishable offense.