Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“More than a friend, actually.”
“Girlfriend?” I guessed.
Jace snorted.
“Hell no. She’s my…” He paused, watching me closely “Sister.”
“Your sister?” I repeated, incredulous.
“You mean like a cousin?”
“No. I mean actual sister. Same mother. Real deal.”
“No way.” I studied his face again.
“You look nothing like her.”He shrugged.
“There’s no way you’re her brother. I am her sister-her real sister and I’ve never heard of you. And don’t tell me you’re some kind of illegitimate son. If the Vance family had a son, my father would’ve brought him home ages ago. The man’s so desperate for an heir he’s practically adopted his brother’s kid.”
“Who said anything about illegitimate?” Jace let out another snort. I’m as legitimate as they come, babe. I-“
“Watch your mouth,” Sebastian warned.
“Say that again and you’ll be picking your teeth out of that wall.”Jace’s bravado slipped. He straightened, taking a cautious step back.
When he spoke again, his tone was considerably meeker.
All right, take it easy, man, I don’t mean nothing by it.”
“Explain,” I demanded impatiently.
Jace checked his watch.
“Well, seeing as she’s officially Mrs Granger now, I guess it doesn’t hurt if the truth comes out.”
“What truth?”
I told you-she’s my sister. That’s the truth.”I opened my mouth, but Sebastian’s hand brushed my arm. His voice was low.
“Not here.”I followed his gaze. All of Nyx’s staff were gathered, eyes wide, plines discreetly raised.
Conference room,” he said to Rexford.
The man jumped to life and led the way.
Inside, Sebastian gave the order: “Clear the room.”Savannah, Sebastian’s assistants, and the entire gaggle of curious staff vanished.
“When the police arrive, ask them to wait,” Sebastian told Rexford, then shut the door.
It was just me, Sebastian, and Jace now.
Sebastian knocked once on the table.
“Talk.”Jace swallowed, then glanced nervously at the door.
“What do I get if I tell you?”
“You get to spend your time in lockup unmolested. That, or we let things take their natural course.”Jace swallowed again.
“I’m not going to jail. You can help me, right? You’re the famous Mr Laurent.”
“Yes, I am. And yes, I can. But I won’t lift a finger until you tell my wife what she wants to know.”I folded my arms.
“Start talking. Or I’ll start talking to the police about what I saw between you and Violet. I’d make a very compelling witness.”
Jace muttered a curse, slumped into a plush leather chair.
“All right, all right, I’ll spill. I should start by telling you that I come from Stonewick, Wessexia.”
“That’s where Catherine disappeared to years ago,” I said.
He smirked.
“Yeah. She came looking for me. For us.”
“Who are you to her?”
“I told you. Family. I’m her brother.”
“Explain!”He leaned back lazily.
Sebastian rapped a knuckle against the table.
Jace flinched, straightened.
“Catherine’s not a Vance by blood. She’s my older sister. Same mother.”I blinked.
“What?”
“My mum and her first husband were travelling through Skyline years ago. She gave birth to a baby here, in a hospital, and then…” He hesitated.
Sebastian’s stare hardened.
“She left the baby,” Jace said, almost flippantly.
“Why?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“No clue. She never liked talking about it. From what gathered, there’d been a fight. Something about him cheating, she wanted out. A baby would’ve complicated everything And Skyline was a foreign city. No one back in Stonewick would know. She could disappear, start fresh.”I stared at him, waiting.
“She left the hospital right after giving birth. Just… vanished. Came home without the baby. Or the husband.”
“The baby was Catherine?” I asked, the pieces rearranging themselves in my mind.
“Yeah.”
“Then how-what…?” I couldn’t even find the words.
Jace leaned back again.
Sebastian’s hand hit the table, harder this time.
“All right!” Jace snapped, sitting up.
“Look, it was years ago. Mum married my dad, had me. Life moved on. But something must’ve started gnawing at her, because she got… weird. Depressed. Obsessive. She’d mutter things now and then, but I didn’t pay much attention. It didn’t have anything to do with me, right?” le scratched his jaw.
“I didn’t know she’d reached out to Cathy.”
“When was this?” I asked.
He frowned.
“Five, maybe six years ago.”
“How did she even find Catherine?”
“No idea. Probably hired a PI. Someone must’ve looked into the hospital records. From what I gathered-from her and later Cathy-it went like this: after Mum left the baby, the staff tried to contact her, but she’d already left the country. Around the same time, another woman gave birth at the hospital. Something went wrong, her baby was stillborn. A nurse or doctor, I dunno which, maybe both, decided to fix the situation.”
“They swapped the babies,” I said quietly.
“Pretty much. Gave the grieving woman a living, breathing, healthy baby. She went home happy. Everyone else washed their hands of it.”
“That woman was Caroline Vance?”
“Yeah.”I felt a chill creep up my spine.
“Anyway,” Jace went on, “somehow Mum tracked Cathy down. Told her everything. Got her to come to Stonewick. They did a DNA test that confirmed Mum’s story. That’s when I first met Cathy. My half-sister.”
“And then?”Jace snorted.
“You already know what happened next. Cathy left Skyline. Came to live with us.”I was dumbstruck.
The pieces locked into place, finally.
I’d never understood why Catherine left so abruptly when she and Daniel were practically joined at the hip.
He’d been utterly besotted, and she-well, she wasn’t indifferent That nonsense excuse about stepping aside so I could have Daniel?
Franklin and Caroline might’ve bought it, but I never did.
Catherine was many things, but self-sacrificing wasn’t one of them.
She didn’t leave for me; she left for her birth mother.
But that only answered one question and raised a hundred more.
“Do Franklin and Caroline know?” I asked.
Jace shrugged.
“Beats me. But from what I figured, no. They don’t know Cathy’s not theirs. And after she found out, she sure as hell didn’t tell them.”
“Why not?”His lips twisted into a smirk.
“You really don’t give your sister enough credit. She’s she decided to stay in Stonewick?” lot sharper than you think. You know why “Why?”
“Perhaps I should mention my mother’s name. Isadora Montague. Ring any bells?”I frowned.
“Should it?”
“It should. The Montagues are old money. Ancient, actually. Fingers in every pie, family tree thicker than a hedge maze. They made a bloody fortune, and Mum inherited the lot. She didn’t have a head for business, never worked a day in her life, so it/ shrank a bit… but it’s still a substantial pile.”I stared.
He spread his arms.