Chapter 91 Secrets Don’t Stay Buried
It was me at age twenty-one in the hoodie I had always worn around then.
I had just gained admission into college, so I took that picture with my parents.
How on earth did I drop that at her house?
I stared at it. My breath hitched.
I didn’t know what to say.
“You told me you are the first daughter of Sterling Group. Old money. Boarding school in Switzerland and a father who sits on the board of three banks. Yet here you are, looking tattered as if you were brought up in abject poverty,” Mrs. Hart said, her voice cold.
I gulped.
There was no way I could lie my way out of this.
“You lied to me,” she leaned forward, her voice dangerously low.
“You used my desire for status to work your way into my son’s life, and now you are carrying a child you claim is his,” she added.
“It’s his,” I said quickly.
“Is it?” she muttered, her eyes narrowing.
“You were there when we did a paternity test,” I replied, meeting her gaze.
“I don’t care. You are leaving my son’s house today.”
I smiled slowly and leaned forward, placing my intertwined hands on the table.
“You can do whatever you want. But if you do… I will tell the world everything about how you planted me in your son’s life, how you pushed me into his bed that night with the sedative in his tea. How you planned the whole thing,” I whispered.
Her face paled.
I leaned closer again and looked right into her eyes.
“I will make sure everyone knows. Imagine what that would do to your precious reputation.”
She stared at me.
“Why did you do this? What do you want from my son?” she muttered.
“Hmm… too late. Anyways, I just want to be with your son, nothing more, nothing less,” I retorted.
The relationship was strained, ready to snap but it still held.
Because we need each other now.
At least for a little while longer.
“You just have to leave your son and me to live happily ever after and your secret will be safe with me,” I scoffed.
She stood, reached for her back, and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“One wrong move… one wrong move, Cassandra and I will make sure I destroy you,” she whispered.
“Same goes for you, mother-in-law,” I smiled sweetly.
With that, she walked out of the café.
I heaved a long sigh of relief, letting out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.
EVELYN HART’S POV
Earlier that day, I was looking for a business card I was given months ago, when I stumbled upon a photograph under the couch.
At first, I wanted to put it away, but something in me asked me to check what photograph it was.
And there she was.
A simple Cassandra.
Not the polished, elegant woman I had met at the volunteering camp a year ago. Not the poised and high-society daughter from a respectable family that she claimed to be.
This Cassandra was younger, maybe in her early twenties, in front of a downtown college with her parents at what looked like a matriculation ceremony.
I turned to the back and saw a small handwritten scribble which says, “the Latino Family.”
“This is not the name she gave me,” I whispered to myself.
It wasn’t even the prestigious surname she had given me.
My eyes widened.
I had been scammed.
I stared at the picture for a long while, tapping the edge of the paper with my perfectly manicured nails.
Then I picked up my phone and dialed her number.
And now, she’s manipulating me.
I blamed myself, because I shouldn’t have gotten into an alliance with her based on just words of mouth. I should have known better to investigate her background properly.
And now, even Joan Cole was better than her.
At least, she had something that was fetching her money.
JOAN COLE’S POV
Lena and I curled up on the couch watching a K movie when the sex scenes made me remember the particular one Dave and I had in my living room.
I turned to Lena and smiled.
“I want to tell you something,” I muttered, burying my face in my hands for a second before peeping at her through my fingers.
“Okay?” she replied, raising her eyebrows.
“Dave and I…” I said and paused to tease her.
“Spill,” she picked up the remote control and paused the movie.
“We had sex on this couch. This one we are sitting on,” I whispered slowly, my cheeks flushing.
“Oh my…” she gasped.
“Not even in your bedroom?”
“We didn’t make it to the bedroom,” I started, my voice dropping into a lower tone even though no one was home with us.
She turned to face me very well and fixed her gaze on me as if she would miss a detail if she took her eyes off me.
“Continue.”
“I invited him in… then the second the door turned, he… he just grabbed me.”
Lena’s eyes became wider as she gasped again.
“Geez! I can’t even imagine it. I need details… graphic ones,” she said.
“Hmm… you like bad things,” I teased.
“That’s what I live for,” she smirked.
“Okay… to the graphic details! Are you ready?” I continued teasing her.
“I am… Always.”
“So… he pressed my back against the door and kissed me like he was starving. His hands were everywhere, in my hair, under my dress, gripping my ass so hard that I was sure I had his fingerprints on them afterwards.”
She pressed both hands to her cheeks as if she were trying to suppress a scream.
“Continue. I’m trying to imagine that,” she blushed.
“Then from the door, we came to this couch. Our clothes were scattered everywhere. And if you had arrived at that time, I would have delayed you outside,” I laughed, despite the embarrassment.
“I would have torn the door down,” she retorted, her eyes still beaming with anticipation.
“So you did it on the couch?” she asked.
“Yes, on the couch,” I grinned, feeling the heat creep up my neck.
“I took him in my mouth and… God, Lena, the sounds he made almost made me crazy. I sucked him like my whole life depended on that D… When he couldn’t take it anymore, he flipped us so fast that I barely registered it and boom… he was inside me.”
“Slow or hard?” she requested, fanning herself dramatically.
“Both,” I breathed.
“He started with a slow thrust that made me see stars, but then I wrapped my legs around him and asked him to go harder… which of course he did. It felt… wide. He kept whispering my name against my neck, telling me how good I felt, how much he loved me, how he couldn’t get enough…”
I trailed off, my cheeks already turning red.
Lena was staring at me with her mouth slightly open.
“And…” she reminded me.
“I came so hard, my legs shaking. He followed right after, groaning my name into my shoulder like he was dying,” I smiled.
She let out a long sigh and collapsed backwards against the cushion.
“I hate you,” she sighed again.
“I hate you so much right now. That’s the kind of sex people write in romance novels and you just lived it… on our living room couch.”
“It was mind-blowing and it wasn’t even the best I’ve had with him,” I laughed, still flushed.
Lena looked at me, her smile softening.
“I’m gonna get a man soon too.”
“You have to,” I muttered.
Just then, we heard a knock on the door.
We both looked at each other.
“Maybe that’s him,” Lena guessed.
“Nah, he is out of town,” I replied.
Another knock came.
Lena stood, smoothing her oversized hoodie.
She walked to the door, peered through the peephole, frowned then opened the door slightly.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.
“Joan, come here! You need to see this.”
“What is it?” I asked.
My mind jumped, because what if it was another threat?