Finding Gary (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

moment we met.  That’s why he hated her.”
    Jessica sighed.
    “When I was fourteen Val laid in bed with me, every night, and held me while I cried over my parents.  He called it love, and I believed him because that’s what it felt like.  That’s what you feel when someone holds you in their arms until the pain stops.  It feels like love.  I never once considered that maybe it wasn’t love, but guilt.”  Zoey’s lips curled.  “He held me because he knew, and he was guilty.”
    Jessica scooted closer, so close that the tears falling from Zoey’s eyes hit her jeans, wetting them and making them tinge a little darker. 
    “I wasn’t the least bit suspicious why Tony would take me into his home; no questions asked when he already had five mouths he was struggling to feed.  Even if he and my father were…” Zoey made finger quotes.  “Friends… it still didn’t make sense.  I barely knew Tony.  But he took me in?  Why?  Because he knew it, too.  They all knew.  And little orphan Zoey, none the wiser, bopping around like the fucking idiot she’s always been…”
    “Zoey…” Jessica begged, rubbing her back a little faster.  “Take it easy on yourself, alright?”
    “It’s hard to see how I could be such a fool.  It’s hard to see all of it.  But it’s not hard to see that you were protecting me. That you’re the only person in my life who’s moved with any real truth.  The only person who’s out to end the people that moved with lies.”  Zoey met her eyes.  “And I want you to end them all.  Every last one of them.”
    “You’re angry.”
    “Was it all of them?” Zoey frowned.  “Did they all know?”
    “Not as far as I know.”
    “Who?  Who knew?”
    Jessica’s head fell.  “For certain? Val, Tony, and obviously Gary.”
    Zoey’s face collapsed again, a lone tear tumbling from her eye.  “So Tony made it disappear. That’s how Gary got off.”
    “We don’t know that.  The case is still ongoing. There’s still a lot to learn about what happened that night, and it looks like Gary is ready to talk.”
    “I never want to see any of them again for as long as I live.  They will never lay eyes on my son, touch him, or even know his name.” 
    “Okay,” Jessica agreed.
    “Not Leo.  Not Roman.  Not Bette.  I don’t care whether or not they knew.” 
    “They won’t get near you.  Like I said, Chet has men on all the doors.  I’ve already spoken to my superiors about getting you and Marcus into a protection program.  We’ll have that finalized before the day is out.”
    Zoey nodded, her eyes going back to the incubator where her baby boy was fighting for his life.  A fury she’d never experienced sent a new rush of moisture to her eyes, but this time, she was able to stop them from falling.  The angry tears, she’d learned, were easier to stifle.
    “Zoey?”
    A new voice stunned both Jessica and Zoey.  Their eyes flew to the door of the room where a young blonde nurse was smiling.
    The nurse made her way in, clutching a chart.  “How’s everything?”
    “Shitty,” Jessica answered for Zoey.
    The nurse nodded.  “I was about to send off the forms for Marcus’ birth certificate, then I realized…” The nurse paused with a sigh, as if continuing was too painful to bear—as if she’d lost a bet with all the other nurses, and had been forced to do this.  She spit out her next words in rapid fire.  “Well, it seems you’ve forgotten to include the father’s information.  We need that, as well as his signature, before we send it off and make it official.”  The nurse took a deep breath, clearly relieved that she’d managed to spit it out without dying of embarrassment.
    A long silence fell in.  The nurse’s eyes fell to the floor, and she held out the chart to Zoey.
    “I didn’t forget anything.” Zoey rose her eyes to the nurse, ignoring the chart on offer.  Her voice broke as she whispered her next words, her eyes going