Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Which means Cathy, as her daughter, stands to inherit half of it. Instant multimillionairess the day Mum kicks the bucket.”I muttered, “So she stayed for the money.”
“Of course she did. Wouldn’t you?”A knock sounded at the door.
Sebastian glanced at me.
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
He gave Jace a hard look, then stepped out, leaving the door slightly ajar.
I turned back to Jace.
“Then why’d she come back to Skyline?”He laughed bitterly.
“Stayed for money, left for the same reason.”
“What happened?”
“Turns out, Mum was even worse with money than I thought. Her and managers had been bleeding her dry for years, and she had no idea. By the time the will was read, the “fortune” wouldn’t have lasted me a month in Vegas. So Cathy packed up and came crawling back to Skyline. And you know what that proved? She was bloody smart to keep the truth from the Vances. Always good to have a backup plan.”.
I thought hard.
“You said earlier that it doesn’t matter now if the truth comes out because Catherine’s Mrs Granger. Why?”He gave me a look like I’d asked the stupidest question in the world.
“You still don’t get it? Money, of course. The Grangers are loaded, right? Filthy rich. Cathy marries one, and boom, she’s back on top.”
“But what if the Grangers find out? They could demand a divorce.”Knowing Clive Granger, who treated pedigree like a religion, he was probably already frothing at the mouth at the thought of an annulment.
Jace didn’t look concerned.
“Doesn’t matter if they do. Cathy and that Daniel guy didn’t sign a prenup. You know what that means, right?”
“It means if they divorce, Catherine gets half of everything Daniel owns.”
“Exactly.” He grinned.
“So either she stays married and she’s rich, or she gets divorced and she’s slightly less rich, but still rolling in it. And with the baby, she’ll get even more. Alimony, child support… it all adds up. Either way, win-win.”
“That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
“What else? Money.”
“You’re a gambler?”I remembered the Vegas comment.
He didn’t even try to deny it.
“Yeah. Love the roulette. After Mum passed, Cathy ditched me and my dad and ran back to Skyline. Can’t blame her. My dad wasn’t her real father. Her birth father died ages ago. We’re only half-siblings, anyway. But then Dad got sick, and we both needed cash. I’d already blown the pathetic sum Mum left me, so I figured, why not pay dear sis a visit?”I frowned.
“Why are you working at Nyx Collective? Don’t tell me that’s a coincidence.”He shook his head, smug.
“Of course not. Cathy got me the job. Told me to keep tabs on you, let her know if you’re working late or going away for a trip, that sort of thing. Gave her the perfect window to sneak around with Daniel.”
“So, Daniel has been cheating on me longer than I thought. You’ve been here at least six months.”Jace shrugged.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just the tool, remember? Besides, Cathy and Daniel were a couple first. This is just … setting things right again.”I was so overloaded with information that I didn’t even have the energy to be offended at his brazenness.
Jace kept talking.
I just mechanically filed away the words without really registering their meaning.
Sebastian had come back a while ago and was waiting quietly, his eyes on me. rose slowly.
“Done?” he asked.
I nodded.
Jace perked up.
“Wait. I’ve told you everything. So… you’re gonna let me go, right?”Sebastian rested a hand on my shoulder and steered me towards the exit.
Two uniformed officers appeared in the hallway. They nodded at Ahton and stepped inside.
Hey-wait, what the hell-“Jace’s voice rose behind us.
Then the door shut, cutting him off mid-shout.
Sebastian glanced at me.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know. That was… a lot.”
“Tell me on the way home?”
“We’re going home? It’s the middle of the day.”
“You need rest.”
“But you need to work.”
“I’m on leave today.”
“Since when?”
“I’m the boss. I can take time off whenever I want.”I didn’t argue.
Back at the house, Carmen greeted us with a mug of hot chocolate so overloaded with marshmallows and sugar it could’ve revived the dead.
I thanked her. It revived my brain, which was only half dead.
We sat down, and I walked Sebastian through everything Jace had said, trying to make sense of it myself as I spoke.
He took it better than I had. Unsurprising, since it wasn’t his family imploding.
“It explains a lot,” I said.
“What do you mean?”Talways wondered why my parents hated me so much. It wouldn’t have stung so badly if they were awful to everyone, but no, Franklin doted on Preston, his brother’s kid. Caroline smothered Catherine, and after Catherine left, she started lavishing all her aftection on Serenna. Her niece. Not me.”I smiled bitterly.
“For a while in middle school, I actually wondered if I wasn’t their child. Maybe I was adopted. Like in those old telly dramas.”Sebastian nodded silently.
“But Jace told me something that finally made it make sense. I wasn’t the swapped baby; Catherine was. Caroline didn’t know she’d given birth to a stillborn. She didn’t know Catherine wasn’t ers. But… maybe on some level, she sensed it. A few years later, she started having nightmares-bables crying, babies turning into monsters. Coincidentally, the dreams started after I was born.”I stood up and started pacing, unable to keep still.
“And I think she looked at me and felt it. Knew it, somehow. That I wasn’t hers. She must’ve done a DNA test at some point, confirmed I was Franklin’s, so I stayed. But that seed of doubt never left her. It haunted her. And every time she looked at me, she couldn’t love me. Not properly. Because she thought I didn’t belong to her. The facts may say one thing, but her heart’s telling her another.”Sebastian reached out and gave my hand a quiet, steadying pat.
“I’m not sad,” I said.
“It’s just… nice to finally understand.”
“Jace heard all this from Catherine?”I curled up next to him and nodded.
“Yeah. Catherine had her suspicions for years, even before her birth mother reached out. She overheard Caroline talking to Franklin once, voicing her doubts. So Catherine did what Catherine does-she stole hairs from their brushes, paid for a DNA test, and when the results came back she kept them to herself. That’s why she was so ready to believe Jace’s mother when she turned up. She already knew.”
“Franklin and Caroline made a mistake,” Sebastian said.
“They did. They thought I was the swapped baby, but it was Catherine all along.”
“Are you going to tell them?”
“I don’t know. I need time to process everything.”
“Take all the time you need. You don’t need to go to work. Nyx Collective is going to be in some upheaval for the next few days.”
“You’re still buying it?”He nodded.
“What’s going to happen to Jace?”Sebastian checked his phone.
“He’s been arrested as Violet Lin’s accomplice, but the charges won’t hold him for long. He’ll likely be out in a few weeks. Bail’s an option too.”
“He’ll definitely call Catherine for help.”
“I can block bail, if you want.”
“Actually, no. Let him have it.” I smiled faintly.
“Imagine the kind of damage a man like Jace can do. Daniel and his family have no idea what they’ve married into… but they’re about to find out.”Mid-afternoon, I was lying on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.
When my phone buzzed, I nearly let it go to voicemail until I saw the name.
Tanswered.
“You wouldn’t believe what I just You wouldn’t believe what I just saw!” Yvaine shouted.
“Wait, what? What did you say? How could you possibly already know? Am I not the first one calling you?”
“Heard what?”
“What happened at Daniel and Catherine’s wedding!”
“You went to their wedding?” I sat bolt upright.
Sebastian glanced up from the dining table, wliere he was typing away on his laptop.
I covered the phone with one hand and said, “I’m taking this upstairs.”He nodded.
I left. It felt wrong to gossip in front of a working man, even if he was technically on leave.
I tiptoed into my bedroom.
Yvaine hadn’t stopped talking the entire way.
Mum didn’t want to go, so of course I got stuck with the honour, Appearances and all that. But it turned out to be the best decision I’ve made all week!”
“What happened?” I flopped onto the bed, flat on my back.
Yvaine let out another burst of laughter.