“He is, or was, yes. Medros reacted to Mia’s revelation as expected, and . . . Well, Rogan is long since dead.”
“How long?”
“Since your mother’s pregnancy became obvious.” Giving Gabby a minute, Plumber rinsed his plate at the sink. “Medros vowed Rogan would never see his child, and he didn’t.”
Gabby reached for the chilled glass of tea. Her throat had gone bone dry. She took in a long drink, then set the glass down, pretending she hadn’t noticed her hand shaking so badly she nearly dropped the glass onto the counter. “If Rogan Gregos is my father, how did I end up with Adian Blake?”
“Rogan knew Medros would kill him, so he went to his old friend Adian Blake and begged him to marry Helena and take care of her and you. Adian came up with the idea of convincing Medros that Helena was carrying his child, not Rogan’s. None of them were happy with the plan, but it was the only possibility for saving Rogan’s life and possibly Helena’s.”
Gabby swallowed hard. “They planned to convince Medros that Helena was in love with Adian Blake and he and Rogan were lifelong friends.” Indignation swelled in Gabby. “The man raped her. Why would my mother agree to that? Why wouldn’t Medros just kill her, too, before I was born?”
“Those were different times. A single mom back then was socially problematic, and you personally know how long Medros’s reach is. They either worked together or none of them had a chance, including your mother. It was widely known that Medros had a soft spot for babies. If they could all stay alive until Medros saw you, they believed he wouldn’t kill any of them.”
“Obviously that deduction was flawed.”
“Actually, the plan almost worked. It failed because Medros saw the way Rogan looked at your mother. He heard how his voice softened on saying her name. So, Medros didn’t believe the story about Helena and Adian, though by then, they were already married.”
“Mia was still not herself . . .”
“Exactly.” Plumber nodded. “Rogan was to blame for that, and he had to die for it. So Medros ordered the hit, it was executed, and it seemed that satisfied Medros.
“Until he murdered my mother.”
Plumber put the sandwich makings back in the fridge. “Until then, yes. You were born and Medros came to the hospital to see you. He obtained proof you were Rogan’s child. When he had it, he warned your father—Adian Blake—that Mia was never to see you or him. If she so much as glimpsed either of you, Medros would kill you both. And if you ever so much as mentioned looking for Rogan’s family, Medros would kill you both. Mia, Medros insisted, had suffered enough.”
“The old man in the street who mistook me for Helena . . .”
“Mia’s brother,” Plumber said.
“He told Medros he’d seen me.”
“We think so, but we don’t know that for fact.”
“I do.” She leaned over the bar. “He told the men getting him into the car that he must see George now. He meant George Medros. I’m certain of it.”
“You’re likely right.”
She took in a sharp, staggered breath. “That’s what all this with Medros is about. Not the information on the thumb drives.”
“I expect it was both this and the information on the thumb drives.”
“But why would my father—Adian Blake—work for Medros?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“He was forced into early retirement. He told Medros he needed work to keep up the façade. Medros gave him work that leveraged your father even more. He already had him leveraged with threats on both your lives.”
Gabby absorbed and struggled to process it all. “So Adian Blake treated me like a stranger my whole life not because of my mother but because of Medros and his threats?”
“I believe he was trying to protect you. For his friend. His only friend.” Plumber stowed the chips back in the pantry. “He couldn’t share what he didn’t know, and neither could you. I think that’s why he made sure you both kept your distance and Rogan Gregos was never mentioned—to stay safe. That said, I also think Adian Blake came to love you, Gabby.”
“No, he didn’t.” She flatly denied it and knew she was right about this. “He didn’t know me, and he kept Aunt Janelle from me. She knew the truth. She knew too much, and said so in her letter.”
“Janelle terrified your father. He feared she would get you both killed, and herself, too. That’s why he kept her away.”
That made sense, and Gabby couldn’t deny it. “He didn’t know or love me, but he did sacrifice a lot to protect me. He had no joy in his life.” She thought about that. “Honestly, he had little life in his life—his job was about it. Whether he did what he did for Rogan, my mother or for me, who knows? I’m betting on Rogan or her. But he did sacrifice to take care of me after they were gone.” Her throat thick, Gabby struggled to stay composed. She could deal with the emotions later. Right now, she needed to focus on all he could have had in his own life and hadn’t because he’d chosen to continue to protect her. Oh, he protected himself, too, but he had protected her. She owed him for that.
Still, her heart hurt, and her mind tumbled back through the years, through all the isolation and loneliness, through all that hadn’t been. She stiffened, knowing that was a bad place to go that could bring nothing good. He hadn’t abandoned her. Why he hadn’t just left there, she had no idea. Probably his work. Forced retirement had shattered the one thing in his world that was his own, freely chosen and not assumed out of duty to a friend. His work definitely mattered to Adian Blake. And Gabby couldn’t resent it or him for that. Considering all he’d forfeited, she just couldn’t hold it against him. “I, um, I need a drink of water.”
“I’ll get it.” Plumber stood up. “You stay seated. You’ve had a lot of shocks here.”
She felt numb. Head to toe numb and bruised and sad and somewhere deep inside, a spark of something else. Relief? It felt like relief. Finally, she had answers to questions she’d wondered about most of her life. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. No one could hear all this and be fine, Gabby.” He placed the glass in front of her.
Looking up, she met and held his gaze. “No, I’m not fine.”
“Give yourself time.”
She lifted the glass and drank, slowly working through all these shocking revelations. Her father not being her father didn’t surprise her. He hadn’t loved her, but he had come to love Helena . . . or had he?
Gabby would never know. Just as she would never know why Medros let her mother live until Gabby was born and then had her killed. Maybe because, being raped, he’d seen her as a victim, too? Seen Gabby as a source of potential leverage over Rogan? And what about Plumber? Had he sought Gabby out? Of course, he had. But why? She took a page from Lys and just asked the question. “Why did you seek me out?”
Justin wiped down the countertop. “After what happened to your mom, the owner of the firm who had given her the assignment shut down his business.”
“The father of your boss at Silencers, right?”