Alias: The Doyen Series book 1

(9) ANNYBELLE

PICTURE: The Whitlen home. I actually imagined it with blue velvet couches, large ceilings, and a more open plan but this is the closet I could find to fit their home.

I stare into Grayson's green eyes. He has to be joking now. I am tired of messing around. Either these people are absolutely crazy or they do not know how to make a good joke.

I think it is option #1.

I notice that Kayde is studying me. To my shock, he is not surprised by the big news. I continue waiting for him to crack some smile and scream "Got ya!" but it never comes. He looks me in the eyes for a few seconds and gives up. He glances down at his black Vans.

"Please say something," Adeline pleads from her seat on the couch. I meet her eyes, which are filling with tears. She is on the edge of her seat anticipating my next move. I glance over to Henry, but he only looks calm.

Returning my stare to Grayson, who is still in front of me, I begin laughing. "You arejoking, right? My parents are Sam and Marie Collins." I emphasize the Collins part. "This isn't a funny joke. But nice try."

Kayde decides to grow a pair and come near me. "Aisling, it's not a joke," his eyes beg to believe him. He grab my hands, turning me away from Grayson. My body is instantly lit on fire. "Honestly, I don't think Grayson has ever made a joke in his life," he adds.

Grayson roars again. "You are already on my kill list, Kayde. I wouldn't push it," he threatens.

"Now children, lay off the threats until she understands what is going on," Henry smirks from the sofa. I glance at him for only 2 seconds before I jerk back to Kayde.

"Yes, please God, someone tell me what is going on," I stare at him. "The truth. This joke is not funny."

I am pleading with Kayde to tell me it is all a joke. Plead with him to tell me I am having a nightmare.

It is time to wake up now, Aisling.

Wake

up.

Instead, he places a light kiss on my forehead—earning a groan from Grayson—and shakes his head. Without looking at me or saying a single word he confirms my fears:

It is not a lie.

"But... how... this doesn't make any sense," I fumble.

Kayde walks me over to the couch that Henry has vacated and sits me down like I am a hydrogen bomb.

Dangerous and ready to explode at the single push of a button.

I squeeze his hand to the point of bones breaking but he does not flinch.

I wait for Grayson to speak but Henry beats him to it. "You mentioned earlier that you once had a grandfather named Henry?" he asks, though it is more of a statement than a question. I nod my head anyways. "May I ask what happened to him?"

I recall the story that my mother has told me for many years. "Mom said that he left when she was a small child, leaving her with my grandmother Jeanine. I think she was around seven at the time," I think hard for the accurate details. "She said that he had moved somewhere up North—Illinois maybe—and that she received a call a few years later that her father had died from brain cancer. It was closed casket funeral. She never got to say goodbye." I remember how heartbroken my mother looked when she told me the story of my grandfather. And I hate him for leaving her so young. I swore that if I would have ever met him, I would have punched him square in the jaw.