Trust Me

Chapter 28

Ranalla paced the empty room. Her mother had been gone for quite some time, and she was worried. Now that she had found her mother again, she worried whenever she was out of her sight. The door opened. Ranalla paused to see who entered. She let her breath out when Conrad walked in with her mother. She rushed forward. Margaret pulled her daughter close and held her.

"He's gone. No more do we have to deal with him."

Ranalla nodded. "What about Vince?" She turned to Conrad. "Where is Vince?"

He looked confused. "Vince who?"

"Vincent Demarte. He was the one who kidnapped me and then saved me. He was the one who worked for my father but helped mom survive." Her rambling caused Conrad to crease his forehead.

"I have no idea who you are talking about."

Margaret laid a hand on Ranalla's arm. "Dear, let the agent get back to work."

Ranalla jerked her arm away. "No. I want answers." She turned to her mother. "You knew him. He helped you escape."

"Yes, but I also know what he was." Margaret nodded at Conrad who then slipped out the door.

"Mom, where is he?"

Margaret bit her lip. "I don't know. I do know that he was hurt. Beyond that I don't know."

"Hurt? How bad? Is he in the hospital? Where is he?" Ranalla's voice raised with each question.

"Ranalla, calm down. I know nothing more. What I can tell you is that you have to go on."

"What do you mean 'go on'? He's dead?" All color left her face.

"Vince lives in the undercover world, Ranalla. I'm surprised you knew his real name. Though he usually uses a variation of it, I'm told he typically changes it. He was known to your father as Vince Gregorian." She directed her daughter to a chair to sit down.

"I doubt you'll ever see him again. Even if he is alive, he is one that always lives as someone else. His life is not his own. Alive, he is in other worlds. Dead....." Margaret hoped the young man was alive, but knew the reality of it.

"Mom, I loved him." There. The words were out. She loved him. Now, he was gone. Dead or someone she would never find. "I love him."

Margaret smiled as tears pooled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, dear. But we have to move on with our lives. If he appears again, then you can tell him that." She sat across from Ranalla and took her hands in her own. "Now, I have to ask you something."

Ranalla nodded.

"Will you help me run the business we now own?"

"Sure."

"Will you help me manage the estates?"

"Sure. Of course, Mom. You don't need to ask me that. You're not getting rid of me."

"Good. I need you. Your brother needs you."

Ranalla froze and looked at her mother. "Brother? I don't have a brother."

"Actually, you do. When I was to die, I didn't realize I was pregnant. It wasn't until after the FBI got me to safety that I realized that I was to have a baby. I have to admit that I wasn't pleased with the news. I wanted nothing of that snake, but the baby could not be blamed for the evil of his father. I had a beautiful boy. I named him Randall, after you."

"I have a brother?" Ranalla's eyes brightened. "He would be...."

"Eight years old going on eighteen." Margaret laughed. "You'll love him. He's bright. He's funny. He's the son your father would have wanted, and now won't have."

"You told him? That's where you went?"

"Yes. I wanted him to know what he had truly lost. He could have had a beautiful and intelligent daughter, and a son to train in the family business. Instead he will have to fend off a few eager admirers behind bars."

"When can I meet Randall?"

"We can go now. We'll pick him up and head to our new home. We have some purging to do."