“We don’t need an introduction, General. Do we, Prescott?” The name sliced me to the quick, peeling away the last seven years like they’d never existed and leaving my nerves gaping and raw. “It’s good to see you.”

“Jagger?” Paisley asked softly, her hand coming to my knee in question and support. I sucked a breath in and came to life at her touch. “Who’s Prescott?”

“I am, or I was.” I swallowed and turned my attention, looking him straight in the eye like I wouldn’t have dared seven years ago. “Paisley, meet my father.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Paisley

35. Find out what I’m really made of.

The table fell silent, eyes darting from the senator to Jagger. The resemblance was striking. Jagger’s thigh was tense under my hand. This was the man he’d emancipated himself from? The one who’d left him to fend for himself after his mother’s death? Pieces snapped together in my head, aligning themselves like well-stacked books. His father had worked away from them. He’d visited when it suited or when he needed them to “show their faces.” Jagger’s need to prove himself, to achieve his goals without his dad’s help—it all made perfect sense.

I only knew two things about the man in front of me—that he’d gone to extraordinary lengths to ambush Jagger, and that he’d done something to make the man I loved hide himself.

Every muscle in Jagger’s body locked except for his jaw, which ticked with his accelerated breathing. I needed to get him out of here. “I’m not feeling well, Jagger. Would you mind taking me home?”

His gaze snapped from his father’s to mine, wild but concerned. “Paisley?”

“Ah, that’s right. You go by Jagger now,” his father said as if he’d forgotten.

“Take me home,” I said softly. My heartbeat quickened, my light-headedness returning with such force that I wasn’t lying. I didn’t feel well. I’d stupidly done too much today.

He nodded once and stood, helping me with my chair. “General and Mrs. Donovan, Carter.” He turned to his father. “Senator. I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse us.”

“Well, that’s a pity, since I came all this way to surprise you.” His smile didn’t fool me.

Jagger’s hand tightened on mine, but I forced a smile at his father. “I’m terribly sorry, Senator, but something at the table just hasn’t agreed with me, and Jagger is the kind of gentleman who takes care of me when I’m not feeling well. His mama sure raised him right.”

We left the senator with his mouth agape and walked from the dining room, those at the table speechless behind us. “I know you have questions,” Jagger said quietly. “Just let me explain.”

I stopped him in the empty foyer, just under the chandelier. “Default trust, remember? You had your reasons for not telling me.”

He rested his forehead on mine, his shoulders sagging. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered, the words coming out strangled.

I squeezed his hands in mine. “It doesn’t matter to me how you grew up. I love you, Jagger Bateman.”

“There’s more that you don’t know.”

I glanced behind him to make sure we were alone. “Would you rather do this in the car?”

“Now. I’m not putting this off anymore. He’s only here because there’s an election soon, and I’m his biggest liability. I…I blackmailed him for my freedom. The only reason he didn’t fight the emancipation was because I signed an agreement that I’d never go public with what really happened.” He paused for three heartbeats. “My mom didn’t just fall off her balcony. She jumped.”

I gasped. “Oh, Jagger—”

He shook his head but didn’t pause. “It was accidental, that wasn’t a lie, but she went over that railing by choice.” He looked toward the chandelier and took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this in a country club with both of our parents in the next room.”

“We’re good at awkward timing.” I took his face between my hands, bringing his eyes to mine. “I’m here. No matter what.” My heart wouldn’t calm, and I struggled to keep my breathing steady and my voice even.

“She was high, but there wasn’t an autopsy done. Mom was into just about anything she could get her hands on. My father couldn’t have that getting out, so he took care of it like he did everything else, and we buried the truth with her body. His greatest liability became his springboard, and he rode the grief boost all the way through the next election.”

“Was there a witness?”

“Yes.” I waited. “Me. I was there. I couldn’t reach her in time.”

“Jagger.” I whispered his name as a tear slipped down my face for what he’d been through. What I was going to put him through. “I need to tell you—”

“Let me just get this out, and then I’m all ears, Little Bird. I didn’t leave him over Mom or his abandonment. Hell, I’d been taking care of things for years while Mom spiraled. I left him because of what he did to Anna.”

“You can’t seriously walk away from me,” his dad called, striding into the foyer.

Jagger’s head snapped up and out of my hands. “I can, and I will.” He turned to face him. “Did you miss that memo when I left? You’re not welcome in my life.”