by Nadia Lee
No wonder her father had seemed preoccupied whenever he was dealing with her. He probably wondered about the other man every time he looked at her.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and wet her shirt. She’d never suspected her parents’ marriage was something this foul. And never once did she expect to see her father lose control like that. Her father embodied cool, easy charm. Nothing…absolutely nothing had been able to ruffle his feathers.
Vanessa put her hands on the steering wheel, but she was too shaky to drive. Her legs felt stiff and heavy, and there was no way she could drive back to her condo in her condition.
She managed to pull out her phone and speed-dial Justin. “Can you come get me?” she asked as soon as he answered.
“What’s wrong?” His voice was tight. “Where are you?”
“Outside my parents’ house. Hurry.”
* * *
Justin cursed. Vanessa sounded awful, her voice thin and weak. He’d never heard her like that before. What had happened to her? And why was she at her parents’ place instead of the yoga studio?
He wasn’t familiar with L.A., but by taking directions over the phone as he drove he was able to reach the Pryces’ place within an hour. She was slumped over the steering wheel. He got out of his car and knocked on the window. “Hey.”
She raised her head. He gaped at how wretched she looked. Her eyes and nose were red, and tears glistened on her cheeks and chin. Her misery was a kick to his gut, and he opened the door.
“Sweetheart…what’s wrong?”
He got the seatbelt out of the way and wrapped his arms around her. Her control seemed precarious, so he simply cradled her head on his shoulder for the moment. Tremors ran through her; he whispered soothing nothings as he stroked her back.
A man who had to be Salazar’s butler appeared.
“What happened?” Justin demanded, starting to stand up.
“No.” Vanessa put a hand on his chest. “I just want to go home. Please?”
It was an effort not to grab the butler and start shaking answers out of him, but Justin took a rough breath and nodded. He grabbed her keys, purse and other items. “I’ll send somebody for the car.”
“That isn’t strictly necessary, sir,” the man said. “I can have it driven to her condo this afternoon if you’ll leave me the keys.”
Justin nodded in agreement. That would be easier. He didn’t want to leave Vanessa even for a moment.
She sat in the passenger seat, letting Justin take care of every detail. That more than anything else worried him. Vanessa was normally far too independent to just let people do things for her.
Her eyes were closed the entire time he drove, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. The sound of her breathing was erratic, and every so often she’d wipe at her eyes.
When they reached the condo, he made some hot lemon tea and handed it to her. She took a few sips, leaning against the kitchen counter. Then wordlessly, she put the mug down and went to the bedroom, shoulders slumped and feet dragging. She barely managed to kick off her shoes before she fell on the bed and curled up, hugging a pillow. Justin spooned her, breathing in the soft scent of her shampoo and sweat.
The part of him that went out and fixed things wanted to grill her until she told him everything. Then he would know what to do. But the empathetic part could see that whatever had happened must’ve been pretty traumatic, and so it would be better to wait until she was ready to talk.
One thing he knew: whoever had hurt her was going to pay. People always said it was Barron who had no sense of proportion, that he was the meanest and most vengeful son of a bitch on the planet. They had no idea. Justin hadn’t just learned from the old man, he’d surpassed him. Just because he kept his claws and fangs hidden didn’t mean they weren’t there.
“I met…my half-sister,” Vanessa said finally.
He frowned. It was no secret her family had a half-brother named Blaine, who was Salazar’s by-blow with some woman in Tennessee. “Blaine has a sister? I thought he was an only ch—”
“No. It’s not Salazar’s. It’s”—she inhaled and exhaled—“hers. My mom’s.”
Justin looked up at the ceiling, thinking Uh oh…
“Her name’s Peggy. My new half-sister.”
He’d always known Ceinlys had lovers. Not that he’d ever blamed her for that—Salazar was the worst kind of playboy and would’ve driven Mother Theresa to cheat on him. But Justin had thought Ceinlys would be more careful. She had a lot more to risk by cheating. The prenup she’d signed ensured she’d lose everything if she misbehaved.
“So…this woman just looked you up out of the blue?” he asked.
“Not exactly. She wants some money.”
He sighed. He should’ve anticipated this and created a way to insulate her from greedy acquaintances and so on. People were going to know—already knew, in fact—that she was married to him, which to them was like winning a jackpot. Money brought out all the roaches. “I’m sorry. I hope you told her to contact my lawyer.”
She snorted. “I don’t know your lawyer. And I thought she was Dad’s, so I wanted him to take care of her. She says her mother has cancer.”
“Let me guess. She wants you to pay for some expensive chemotherapy. Or no, wait…some new kind of experimental drug. One that costs a lot because it’s not in mass production yet.”
She turned around. “That’s pretty cynical.”
A frown was pulling her eyebrows together, and he put his forefinger on the spot. “Because honey,” he said gently, “that’s always how it is. So what happened?”
“Dad told me she wasn’t his kid because he’d never slept with anybody in Provo, the city where she’s from. He also said”—her breath hitched—“I wasn’t his.”
“What?”
“He knew about Mom’s affairs. He had a vasectomy after Shane was born. He said there was no way I could be his, but he looked the other way because he didn’t mind ‘another mouth to feed.’”
If Vanessa hadn’t needed him right then, he would’ve driven back to the Pryce mansion and beaten the crap out of her father. Salazar Pryce had lost the right to judge and say cruel things the moment he’d decided to cheat on his wife. Everyone knew he hadn’t even tried to be faithful. He’d started banging other women within a year of the marriage.
Vanessa’s gaze lowered. “He told me to get out. But it explained so much about how he’s treated me.”
“Was he nasty to you?” Justin asked, mentally starting a list of Salazar’s sins.
“It was more like he was always…preoccupied whenever I was around.”
“Bastard.”
“I thought maybe he was busy. I mean, he already had four rambunctious boys… Anyway, I think I was just in shock when Dad told me.”
“Do you want me to take care of your sister?”
“What do you mean by ‘take care of’ her? Don’t ignore her or send her away. She might be telling the truth.”
“Even so, I don’t like opportunistic parasites.”
“She might be desperate to save her mom. I don’t blame her.”
Justin sighed. “Okay. Let me check her out. If she’s who she says she is and her mother really has cancer, I can see about helping them. But if not, I’m going to make sure she never bothers you again.” It wouldn’t end at that. He would make sure she paid for causing Vanessa pain.
“Okay. Her cell phone number is in my purse. She wrote it on a napkin.”
Justin nodded.
“And Justin?”
“Yeah?”
She reached out and took his hand, twining their fingers together. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
His heart swelled so fast and so unexpectedly, it was like his chest would burst. “So am I.”
“I think I want to nap. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”
“Of course.” He kissed their linked hands and watched as she went drowsy and then, eventually, slept.
How odd that things ha
d gotten so much more complicated. He’d assumed that once she was his and their marriage had been made public, their lives would settle down into a simple rhythm and her worries would ease. Instead, circumstances were conspiring to pull her away from him emotionally.
For the first time, he had the thought that marriage and a baby might not be enough to keep her.
Chapter Nineteen
Out in the living room again, Justin gave himself a few minutes to consider Vanessa’s situation. He wanted to get started on this mysterious half-sister, but the whole thing had to be handled delicately.
Very delicately. Salazar apparently knew about Ceinlys’s other men but had been decent enough not to use the information against her. However, if it came out publicly that she not only had other lovers but had passed off one of their children as her husband’s, then the divorce would almost certainly become uglier. Justin didn’t want that, as much to protect Vanessa as to protect Ceinlys herself.
He could use his family’s usual investigator, but the man was a long-time friend of Barron’s, and Justin didn’t want his great-uncle knowing about any of this. It was none of his business.
He considered. The Lloyds have an investigator who won’t say anything to anyone…
Justin called Kerri. “Hello, beautiful.”
“Hello, handsome. What’s up? I thought you’d be on a honeymoon.”
“I’m taking a bathroom break.”
“Eww. Are you calling me from a bathroom?”
He chuckled. “I’m actually at Vanessa’s place right now. I was hoping you could call Pattington and give me a referral.”
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s some delicate stuff that I don’t want anybody knowing, especially Barron.”
Kerri made a sympathetic noise. “I totally hear you on that. He can be so nosy.”
“Tell me about it. So, Ms. Lloyd, how’s pregnancy treating you?”
“Not too bad. I feel nauseous, and sometimes I get emotional, but other than that it’s fine.”
“You get emotional? Wow.”
“It’s the hormones,” she groused. “The stupidest thing can set me off. It’s, like, a thousand times worse than PMS.”
“Poor Ethan.”
“I know. Thankfully he loves me enough to put up with it.”
“A man among men. All right, listen, just hook me up with Pattington, and I’ll owe you.”
“Give me about ten minutes. And here’s his number.” She rattled off the investigator’s digits. “Good luck.”
Justin waited exactly ten minutes and dialed Pattington’s number. A man said, “Hello?”
“Justin Sterling.”
“Kerri told me to expect your call. What’s the problem?”
“Peggy from Provo.” He looked down at the napkin he’d fished out of his wife’s purse and read the numbers. “That’s her cell. She’s in L.A. right now. She claims to be my wife’s half-sister. Apparently Ceinlys Pryce had an affair.”
If Pattington was surprised, it didn’t show in his tone. “And you want me to check her out with an eye toward…?”
“Nothing in particular. I just want to know about her for the moment. Get a reading.”
“Anything else?”
Justin was about to say that would do, then he remembered how worried Vanessa had been about Shane’s whereabouts. “Find out where Shane Pryce is. You can bill everything to me privately. Do not send anything to my office or my assistant.”
“Is this your private cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
* * *
When Vanessa awoke, she was alone in the bedroom. She lay there, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes felt gritty and painful, her throat numb and achy—fallout from her conversation with Salazar. Thank god Justin had been around to listen and help her deal with it.
Her stomach growled, and she finally got up. She’d lost her breakfast, and hadn’t eaten anything since. Despite occasional morning sickness, her appetite seemed to be stronger than ever, and she was doing her best to eat food rich in nutrients.
In the kitchen, Justin slapped five huge slices of roast beef on whole-wheat bread and topped the whole thing with horseradish sauce and another piece of bread. “Hey. Feeling better?” he asked.
“A little.” She went closer. “That looks good.”
“Want some? I can make another.”
“Mmm… Half would be about right.”
He nodded and cut it diagonally. He put it with a pickle spear and pushed the plate her way. “Anything to drink?”
“OJ if we have any.”
“We do.” He served it out of the fridge. She glimpsed tons of food inside and tilted her head.
“Did you go shopping?”
“Yup.”
“I didn’t know you could find your way around a supermarket.”
He gave her a strange look. “Where do you think I get my food? Mars?”
“I thought, I don’t know, that you had people who did that kind of work for you.”
“Yes and no. I may not be a gourmet cook, but I can fend for myself.” He pulled out the ingredients for another sandwich. “And yes, I know how to buy groceries.”
She nodded and started nibbling on the sandwich. It was surprisingly good. “I wonder how I’m going to tell my brothers about Peggy…and what Dad said.”
Justin’s hands went still for a moment. “Do you want to tell them?”
“I don’t know. There’s a part of me that says they have the right to know, but I’m also afraid that it’s going to change our relationship.” She bit her lower lip. “Even if Mom had an affair, we’re still siblings through shared experience. I mean, they’re the only brothers I know.” Even Dane—infuriating and insensitive as he was—meant something to her.
“Yeah, I understand.”
She eyed him warily. “Do you want to tell your family?”
He waved her concern away. “It’s none of their business who your real dad is. All that should matter to them is that I chose you.”
But had he? He always seemed to know exactly what to say to make her feel that honeyed warmth, but he was fudging the details of their marriage. There never had been any choice. It had been about her getting pregnant unexpectedly and him doing the right thing.
“You all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. The timing didn’t seem right to discuss the mess that had thrown them together. Maybe one day, when she didn’t feel as though something was coming to take back what had been given to her, she would be able to talk to him more openly. “I think… I think I should tell my brothers what Dad said.”
“Want me to be there with you?”
“Yes, that’d be great. And afterward we can decide what we can do about Peggy. I don’t want to ignore her.”
“Don’t worry about that. I already took care of it.”
“You did?”
“I’m going to check out her story first, make sure she’s not trying to take advantage of you. Then if she’s being honest, I’ll give her some money to help with her mother’s care.”
“Thank you. I know you don’t have to.”
“If she’s really your half-sister, she’s family. And it’s just money. It’s not like we don’t have enough of it.”
She nodded, but she knew the truth. The money was Sterling money, not hers. She knew better than to rely on anyone. It’d been drilled into her since she’d been old enough to understand what her mother was saying—if she didn’t earn it herself, it wasn’t hers.
Before she lost her nerve, she texted her brothers about getting together to talk. She emphasized how important it was, to ensure Dane would come. Her oldest brother had the annoying habit of avoiding family gatherings. She’d also let them know it was just them, no parents. That might encourage her oldest brother to show up.
“Do you mind entertaining yourself for a bit while I go over to Mom’s?” Vanessa said. She needed to talk
to Ceinlys.
Justin gave her his rental keys. “Take this.”
“Thanks.” She kissed him. “I’ll try not to ask you to come pick me up this time.”
“No, you should call me if there’s any problem. That’s what being married means—taking care of each other.”
She nodded with a small smile. It was sweet that her husband believed it, but experience had taught her that marriage had nothing to do with taking care of each other.
* * *
Vanessa slowed down outside her mother’s condo, looking for a parking spot. She found one not too far from her mother’s Mercedes and sighed with relief. Don’t know why I didn’t call first. Ceinlys was busy, with a calendar full of social obligations.
Her mother buzzed her in, and soon Vanessa was standing in the living room.
“If I’d known you were coming, I might have bought some orange juice. Nothing else calmed my stomach,” Ceinlys said. She was dressed casually in a slim black and white cotton dress that went down to mid-shin. “I only have water, milk…a little wine.”
“Water’s fine. Sorry to drop in like this, but it’s important,” Vanessa said, sitting down.
Ceinlys brought out a glass. “What could be more important than your secret marriage?”
Vanessa’s face grew warm at the reminder of her elopement. In a way, she could see how her mother might be just a teeny bit peeved about not being able to have a grand wedding for her only daughter. On the other hand, would her father have been okay with it? She wasn’t even his. “Why didn’t you tell me I wasn’t Dad’s?”
The smile on her mother’s face didn’t change, but her eyes shuttered. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her diction a tad too precise.
“Dad had a vasectomy after Shane was born.”
A small spot on her mother’s cheekbone twitched. “You must be mistaken. Of course he did nothing of the sort.”
“There’s no mistake. My step-sister came to see me.”
“Your step-sister? Vane—”
“Peggy Teeter. From Provo.”
“Oh, her.” Ceinlys’s mouth set in a stubborn line. Vanessa knew that look. Her mother wasn’t even going to entertain the idea. “The woman is an extortionist. She approached me first, asking for money. When I told her no, she said I owed her and that she’d get what she was due no matter what it took. If she approaches you again, call the police.”
