She shrugged, sipped her drink. “I was named after my Dad’s sister Annette, but she was a real nightmare. By the time I was about ten, she and my parents had completely fallen out, so I started going by my middle name. I liked it better, anyway.”“Ohhh-kay,” Dux said slowly. “That all makes sense. But from Morris to Cross?”“Cross is my birth name,” she explained. “When I was fourteen, my Dad was killed in the line of duty, and Mom remarried two years later, to Edmund Morris. She legally changed her last name, and my name too, but I never felt like Briley Morris, you know? So as soon as I was out of the house, I started telling everyone that my name is Briley Cross. I never legally changed it, just because I knew that it would really hurt my mother for me to do that. She died a few months ago, and I could officially be Briley Cross but now I doubt that I ever will, with current circumstances being what they are. So you see…” She smiled at the men. “The house will be purchased by Annet
Last Updated : 2026-01-01 Read more