The house was quiet now, and allowed him to think.
Colt turned on his feet, headed to the kitchen, held his head high, and went to get a beer out of the fridge. The second he popped it open and heard the fizzing sound, his nostrils flared. Even a small pleasure wasn't enough to block out Vicki's baby-blue eyes today. He closed the fridge, sat on his couch, and took a sip.
The cold brew calmed him for a second. But how dare Vicki just show up?
He should have known she would. Even reptile mothers raised their children to a point. She'd abandoned her daughter and hadn't told him about anything. He rubbed his eyes.
Of course, Victoria Morgan must have changed her mind and returned for their daughter, unannounced. Was that why she'd come back to life? The Morgans were notorious for lying, cheating, or stealing to get what they wanted. She must have learned that from her father, but she was years too late. Colt had raised his daughter the best he could, and no one would take her from him.
His skin prickled. It was one thing for her to lie, and use him, but she'd not do it to their baby girl. His job was to protect Clara.
Clara deserved better.
With his feet up on his coffee table, he settled deeper in on his couch, but the beer didn't slow his heartbeat. A cold unease pricked at his skin and left him itchy to go somewhere or hit something. But he couldn't.
He was stuck.
Finally, Colt picked up the phone and called his sister. Had she been a party to that ambush? He hadn't wanted to think so, but her last name was about to be Morgan too.
Had the family's influence dragged his sister down too?
On the second ring, Alice answered. "Colt. Thank goodness you called. I had no idea Vicki was Clara's mother. Why didn't you tell me?"
His sister had been Vicki's groupie in school and did whatever Vicki decided she'd do. Alice grew up, but he saw how she'd been then. He coughed. "I had just joined the Marines. You didn't wonder how I suddenly had a baby girl?"
"I thought the mother was someone in the Marines."
"That wouldn't have been allowed," Colt said. "And basic lasts six weeks, not nine months."
"You never said a word. If it was Vicki, you should have stayed home and kept Clara safe."
"I kept her safe." Another lie from her lips? Despite the headache, Colt couldn't believe that. Alice had never once betrayed him, and she was always a good sister. His voice held his spite, despite his love for her. "Men don't quit. I worked out a deal that made our parents happy. And Clara is fine. What's not fine is what happened today."
Alice repeated herself: "I didn't know."
He closed his eyes and held the bottle to his head. He believed his sister, but all he could do was repeat himself. Vicki had to have known. "She told you to jump in school and you only asked how high. I have to ask this. Did you set me up?"
"No. I'd never do that to you."
His blood pressure calmed down a little. He trusted her.
His voice still had its edge as he asked her, "How did she show up at your place unannounced, then, asking for Clara? Have you turned into a Morgan that fast?"
"I'm not a Morgan until after the wedding and our baby is born."
A sigh escaped his lips, but he said nothing.
His sister's voice wavered. "John texted her."
His heartbeat raced again and he shook his head. Men didn't involve themselves in the affairs of others. The vein in Colt's neck thumped and the heat of the phone burned through him. Coldness swept through him as he told Alice, "Okay, I'm going to kill your husband-to-be."
"Please don't. John should have talked to me first. Vicki's his sister, and the Morgan family wasn't very loving to their children. At least you and I had family, but they had no one."
She'd abandoned their daughter. "Not an excuse, Alice."
"John said the past few years Vicki had been haunted by something. The moment he saw Clara, John did the math. He saw what I clearly missed. So let's get back to my question. Is she Clara's mother?"
He closed his eyes and sipped his beer to let the cold drink calm him down. Then he answered, "Yeah, I didn't sleep around knocking up every woman I met."
Alice breathed deeply and Colt sat straighter the second his sister said, "Colt, she didn't know. She thought her baby died."
"Morgans are all liars. She gave birth, so she was in the room the day Clara was born."
He pursed his lips. His sister had jumped ship already and defended the perfect Victoria Morgan. In high school, Alice had tried to be exactly like Victoria. And the beautiful blonde had adopted Alice into her little group, like she was a pet, despite their families' history of avoiding each other.
"You're being stubborn, Colt."
"The Collins of Miami all serve their country and do the right thing. The Morgans are unsavory."
"Mitch Morgan was horrible. He lied to his daughter, but his sins don't make his children guilty."
"Stop." Colt had stayed out of everything until that summer trip to Paris. He figured one day Alice would grow out of her Morgan infatuation. "You're about to marry one, but I never will."
"No, you're marrying this Belle, who you never once brought home to meet me or our parents."
"Belle's very busy in Washington, D.C. She has a job." Colt's mind stayed on Vicki and how her lips had once tasted like rose petals.
"It's still strange you intend to marry someone who's never come to Miami."
His head couldn't remember Belle at the moment. His mind shouted instead that Vicki had signed away all rights on adoption papers. He had the papers in his office. "Vicki was dead."
"On that she lied. I thought we were talking about Belle now."
He blinked and almost dropped his beer to the ground. He caught the glass and told his sister, "Or, like she always did, she lied to get you to believe whatever she wanted you to think."
"Vicki's under your skin." Alice's voice had a tsk sound in it. "She's not evil. She is not her father."
"And you're marrying one of the heirs to the house."
"John likes the word family. Peter, Vicki's brother, has taken the throne. You might like John or even Peter now."
With a roll of his eyes, memories he'd long ago buried rushed back. "Peter was a rebel without a cause. He always got whatever he wanted and never had to do one ounce of hard work in class."
"His father told him at age ten that he'd be thrown out of the family if he didn't earn a million dollars on the stock market by his next birthday." Alice sighed. "Our parents were nothing like that. Vicki disappeared. Give her a second chance."
All clues on why he should never get involved with self-absorbed socialites. "Victoria Morgan was always the princess. And I called her that to her face. She came home weeks ago, but I'd bet five dollars she never mentioned our baby to you."
"You were off with the Marines." Alice added, "Vicki helped me with John, and she's a sweetheart, Colt. She's the maid of honor at my wedding."
"Figures." Colt held his phone firmly and said, "Victoria always told you exactly what to do."