All Through the Night (Liar's Web) by Sandra Calhoune Read Free Book Online

kidding anyway? He'd just arrested her brother. He knew at this moment she probably hated him even more intensely than she ever had before.
    * * * *
    The first few minutes of the car ride to Trueblood's house were filled with a thick tension. The low hum of the radio was the only source of sound as Fantasia belted out her bluesy ballad Summertime .   Neither one of them had spoken a single word to the other since the deputies had taken Lenny into custody. Darcel knew her body language spoke volumes. Her body was turned away from Trueblood, and she hadn't spared him a single glance. She didn't think she could bear to look at him right now. He was so smug, so damn sure of himself.
    “ I wish you hadn't done that,” she finally spit out.
    “ What?” Trueblood snorted. “Tell the truth? Give screwup big bro a dose of reality? Let him know what a chicken shit thing he did?”
    Darcel felt her lips trembling, and she wrapped her arms around her midsection. “My parents don't need to worry about me.”
    “ Why not? Isn't that what parents do? Worry about their kids?” He turned toward her, his eyes full of intensity.
    Darcel squirmed in her seat, feeling uncomfortable under his hot gaze. “They have enough on their plates as it is.”
    “ I've seen people like Lenny do their damage up close and personal. It ain't pretty. Do you want him to continue being selfish and destructive, endangering the lives of people he claims to love?”
    “ I just don't want to make them choose.” Because they might not choose me.
    The thought ripped through her like a tidal wave, bringing with it all the insecurities she'd never managed to shed. As an adopted child, she'd always had this desire to please her parents and never cause problems. Although her parents had given her all the love in the world, a small part of her remained convinced their hearts held more love for their biological child. She was the conditional child, the one who'd been born from another woman's womb, a child who didn't share the same bloodline as the rest of the family. She was the child someone else hadn't wanted.
    She could feel his gaze boring into her, and she shifted her body slightly so he couldn't see her emotions running wild. Trueblood was making her uncomfortable. He was looking at her as if he could see straight through her, right into her soul. She didn't want him to see her fears, her vulnerabilities, her doubts.
    She was so used to wearing the mask. Little Miss Perfect. Miss Everything's All Right. For so long she'd been playing the role of the happy go lucky businesswoman, when in reality she was crumbling on the inside. No, everything wasn't all right, she wanted to scream. She was falling apart at the seams.
    “ Why? Cause you think they might choose Lenny?”
    She squeezed her eyes shut to block the sudden onset of tears. How did he know? Was she that obvious? That blatantly insecure?
    “ I'm not their biological child. Lenny is,” she said in a soft voice laced with tears.
    “ So what?”
    “ So what?” she answered defensively. “Loving him probably comes more naturally. My mom carried him in her womb. I didn't come to them until I was five years old. I'm someone else's child.”
    “ That's a bunch of crap, and you know it!” he said explosively.
    She reared back in her seat and shot him a look to kill the devil. “Excuse me! How dare you minimize my feelings. Unless you've walked in my shoes, you don't know a damn thing about my situation.”
    He wrenched the steering wheel and abruptly pulled the car over to the side of the road, narrowly avoiding a major pothole in the process. He placed the car in park and turned toward her, his eyes full of disbelief. “How dare I? Really? Cause from where I'm standing, you seem to have two of the best parents on this planet. I saw the way they rushed to your side, Darcel. I saw the love in their eyes. I heard it in their voices when they thanked me. Love is love. The love I just witnessed didn't