Free Unchained Hearts (Baxter Family Saga) by Palessa

actually in a black pouch taped to the side. If one of our agents hadn’t brushed against it, we probably would have missed it. It was pretty well hidden.” Agent Regan showed them pictures of the vials. “We’re sending them away to be tested, but we’re relatively certain it’s related to the scopolamine drug Dr. Evigan mentioned.”
    “We also pulled these.” He pulled Michael’s and Glynda’s IDs and documentation. “The wedding license has the name Newton Cassius Baxter as the groom and then Glynda Hall as the bride.”
    “Newton Cassius Baxter?” Michael said, looking at the agent and then at Kim. “After being confronted with the evidence, Glynda confirmed that is your real name.”
    “So, she knew?” Michael asked. “She’s been drugging me?”
    “We don’t think she was working alone. It seems that Newton Cassius Baxter was reported missing four years ago from the Port of Miami right before a cruise he was about to take with his girlfriend, Virgilia Avery, an architect. “
    “Virgilia?” Michael said. That was the name he remembered from the paper.
    Agent Regan continued, “Newton Baxter was heir apparent to Baxter Chemicals, a national conglomerate, run by Julian Baxter, Newton’s father. He has one brother Grayson Baxter, a therapist and Quinn Baxter, an aspiring actress.”
    “Grayson…Gray?” Michael was familiar with the name, but it was so slippery that he couldn’t hold on to it. He put his elbows on the table and rubbed his temples.
    “Agent Regan, can we take a break?” Kim asked, looking tentatively at Michael. He could only imagine the pressure he was feeling after hearing all of this.
    Just as Agent Regan was about to stop, Michael turned to Dr. Evigan. “No,” he said. “Don’t. I’ve got to hear this. I want to hear this. All of it.”
    “Okay,” Agent Regan said, pulling another card with an older woman’s picture. “This is an identification card for Amy Kent.”
    “What? She’s not really my mother?” Michael quipped as he sat back in his chair.
    “The name is an alias.” Agent Regan confirmed. “The techs said it was the best forgery they had had ever seen and it looked like the work of some South American forgers we’ve been tracking.”
    “So who is she, really?” Michael asked.
    “Her real name is Joan Baxter, wife of Julian Baxter, mother of Newton Baxter.”
    Michael sank even further in his chair. “So what you’re saying is, she’s really my mother and she’s the one behind all of this?”
    “The evidence suggests she is the lynchpin, yes. Glynda is small time and doesn’t have the brains or the connections to be the mastermind.”
    “So, my own mother did this to me?” Michael looked from Kim to Agent Regan. “Why?”  
    “I don’t know,” Agent Regan said, “but my colleagues in Miami are going to pick up Joan Baxter and hold her for questioning. We have her on fraud at least.”
    Michael got up. This time he really believed like his head was about to explode. His own mother plotted this whole thing, drugged him, manipulated him for years…to what end? Who were these other people? His brother, his sister, his father? Were they party to this as well? He didn’t remember any of them. Virgilia, her name sounded so familiar, but he still couldn’t even remember her other than the picture.
    Kim watched Michael try to absorb it all and empathized with his plight. He knew at this stage it was an exercise in futility, but being presented with this kind of news so hard and fast must have been like hitting his head against a brick wall, repeatedly. Michael was going to need some answers if he was going to make a go of the recovery. The question was, how was he going to get them? Agent Regan gathered his papers and pictures, while Michael stood with his back to them, staring at the wall.
    “Thank you, Agent Regan,” Kim said as they got up and shook the agent’s hand. Before leaving, he looked at the man formerly known as Michael