Zane shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It appeared he hadn’t considered this scenario. ‘I wouldn’t come back for more. This is a one-time transaction. You have my word, and as I said, I’m happy to sign anything you need.’
Hannah pushed her chair back and stood. ‘No. I came here in person to ensure there was no misunderstanding. You said when we last met that Janine had offered you the same amount to provide her with information. If you want money, that’s where you’ll need to go to get it.’
She turned on her heel and strode towards the door of the bar. She half expected Zane to already be on his phone calling Janine. She didn’t dare turn and find out.
Now, as she continued to rub Bear between the ears, she wondered what Zane would do next. ‘Regardless, we have to tell Damien before that prick does, don’t we, Bear? That’s not how we want this to play out.’
‘Tell Damien what?’
Hannah’s head snapped round. Damien was standing at the door, yawning and pushing a hand through his messy hair. He didn’t wait for an answer. ‘You’re up early. I thought we’d be taking advantage of Amy being away for the night.’ He grinned. ‘Come back to bed. We can still make the most of our child-free morning.’
Hannah smiled at him. ‘I think we did that pretty successfully last night.’
He moved into the room and sat down next to her. Bear lifted his head from Hannah’s lap and moved it to Damien’s.
‘He’s a great dog, isn’t he?’
Hannah nodded. ‘He is. He’s missing Amy though. I probably should have let her take him to Dad’s. I didn’t think it was fair to ask them to have both of them.’
‘It’s good for them to be apart for a couple of days,’ Damien said. ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.’ He took her hand and squeezed it. ‘Now, what were you talking to Bear about? What do you need to tell me before the prick does? And who is the prick, by the way?’
Hannah closed her eyes, a lump forming in her throat so large she imagined it might prevent her from talking.
‘Han, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?’
She opened her eyes, her lip beginning to tremble. ‘How about we go downstairs and make some coffee. I think I’ll need it before I can even start.’
Damien pulled her to her feet, eyes filled with concern. ‘Is this conversation we’re about to have the reason you asked your father to have Amy this weekend?’
Hannah took a deep breath. ‘Yes.’
Hannah was in no hurry as she used the coffee machine to prepare their morning drinks. She’d gone over what she was going to say a thousand times but no matter which way she spun it, she couldn’t see the conversation going well. Damien was sitting at the island counter watching her as she moved around the kitchen. After five minutes of watching her fluff about, he stood.
‘You go and sit down, and I’ll finish making the coffee. I’m not sure what you’re doing exactly, but by the time you give me a cup it’s going to be cold.’ He smiled. ‘You don’t have to be nervous, Han. I can’t imagine anything you could tell me that I’d get angry about. Especially on a Sunday morning when we have the house to ourselves until at least four or five o’clock. It’s only six a.m. now. That’s hours and hours we’ll need to fill, and I have many ideas on how we can do that.’
Hannah followed his orders to sit down but didn’t respond to his innuendos. The likelihood of him still wanting to fill in those hours anywhere near her was unlikely.
Damien frothed the milk for their drinks and brought the mugs across to where Hannah was sitting. He placed hers in front of her and sat down.
‘So?’
She drew in a deep breath and met his gaze. ‘There’s something I need to tell you, and I need you to let me finish before you ask any questions or get angry.’
He picked up his coffee. ‘I can’t imagine I’ll get angry, but okay, go ahead.’
She hesitated before forcing the words out. ‘Do you remember Zane Fox?’
‘The guy who looked into my biological parents?’
Hannah nodded. ‘He contacted me a few weeks ago to blackmail me.’
Damien sat his coffee back on the bench. ‘What? Why?’
‘He has information that he knows I would like kept private, and he intends to share that information.’
Damien was up off his seat. ‘That bastard. I’ll kill him, Han, I mean it.’
Tears filled Hannah’s eyes. Her husband was on his feet ready to defend her without even asking what the information was. She reached out and took his hand. ‘Sit down. When you hear what the information is you might not feel the same way.’
He sat back down on the stool, a vein in his forehead throbbing. Hannah imagined he was thinking about how he’d kill Zane Fox if given the opportunity.
‘Twelve years ago, I did something that at the time I thought was the right thing to do. I weighed up the pros and cons of keeping some information to myself. It was more than keeping the information to myself. I lied about it. I changed the facts to protect the people I love. I honestly thought at the time it was in their best interests.’ A tear trickled down her cheek.
Damien wiped it away, the anger on his face now replaced with concern. ‘Han, anyone who knows you would realise that you’d have done a full risk assessment before making a decision like that. They’d know you wouldn’t lie or do something to hurt them without very good reason.’
She drew in another deep breath. ‘I hope you still feel like that when I tell you what I did.’
‘You’re really scaring me now.’
‘Twelve years ago, Zane Fox told you that your biological parents were dead. That they’d been killed in an accident when bringing you home from the hospital.’
He nodded. ‘I still have the newspaper article about their deaths.’
‘The article wasn’t about your parents, Damien, or you. It was another family. Their names weren’t listed in the article, which was why he was able to use it.’
Damien froze. ‘What? Why would he make something like that up?’
‘To protect you from the truth.’
‘The truth?’
She nodded. ‘Your parents didn’t die in a car accident. When Zane presented you with that story, they were still alive.’
‘But they’re not now?’
‘Your mother is, but your father isn’t.’
A flicker of hope sparked in Damien’s eyes. ‘My mother’s still alive?’
She nodded.
He moved off the stool and began pacing up and down. ‘My mother’s alive. Okay, this is not the conversation I thought we’d be having this morning. Why did Zane Fox tell me they were dead?’
‘Because I asked him to.’
Damien stopped pacing and spun round to face her. ‘What? Why would you do that?’
‘Zane found out a lot about your parents, and I thought the truth would be so damaging that you were better not knowing.’
‘That wasn’t your decision.’
Hannah nodded. ‘I know, but please believe me, it was only because I love you so much. In addition to the truth being difficult to handle, Trish was going through chemo at the time, and I knew how scared she was about you finding your biological parents and not considering her your mum anymore.’