Free The Seduction 2 by Roxy Sloane

before. Maybe he knew I’d
try and use it for good.
    I’m a hundred envelopes down when my cell
starts to ring. I snatch it up hopefully. Justine. I sigh. “Hey,” I
answer.
    “What’s up with you?”
    “Nothing.” I try to sound more cheerful.
“What’s going on?”
    “Well...” She pauses, and I know right away,
something’s wrong.
    “What happened?” I demand. “Is this about
the will? Did Brent get it thrown out already?”
    “No, but...” Justine sounds reluctant. “I
did something, and now you’ve got to promise not to be mad at
me.”
    “What?” I ask, my nerves growing. Justine is
usually joking around, but she sounds deadly serious.
    “So, I was thinking about why Ashcroft named
you heir,” she says quickly. “And it doesn’t make sense, right? You
only met him a couple of months ago, and the guy was eccentric, but
not crazy, he still had his shit together.”
    “Right...” I answer slowly, not sure where
she’s going with this.
    “But I got thinking about what you told me,
that thing with the bracelet. He really wanted you to have it, like
it mattered to him. Anyway, I just had this hunch, so I made them
run a test, comparing your DNA to his.”
    I freeze. “What? How?”
    “You left your toothbrush at my house, one
time you crashed there,” Justine explains, “Anyway, I figured it
was a long-shot. I wasn’t going to say anything until the results
came back.” She pauses. “They arrived today.”
    I get this feeling of dread, like something
terrible is about to happen.
    “What does it say?” I whisper.
    “They match,” Justine replies. “The DNA
samples. They match. It explains everything, Keely, why he named
you heir to his fortune. Ashcroft was your father.”
    I sit down with a thump. “No.” I say, then
again, louder. “No, there’s got to be some mistake. I know who my
father is, he raised me!”
    “I’m sorry, but it’s true, I can show you
the lab report if you want,” Justine offers.
    “I don’t understand,” I say, dizzy. “My
parents were happy together, they were in love.”
    “But they married super-fast, didn’t they?”
Justine reminds me.
    “Because it was love at first sight,” I
whisper.
    “It still might have been,” Justine tries to
comfort me. “But I checked the dates. It looks like your mom was
already pregnant when they met.”
    “But with Ashcroft?” I try and wrap my head
around it. “It’s impossible.”
    “I’m sorry,” Justine says. “I know this is
weird for you, but I found employment records, showing she was a
secretary at his company for a year. Then she quit and moved to
California and married your dad.”
    “What? No,” I protest. “Mom would never have
an affair with a married man.”
    “She didn’t.” Justine reassures me. “This
was before he met his wife. I guess it was scandalous enough,
sleeping with the boss. They broke up right around the time she got
pregnant. I don’t know what happened there.”
    My head spins. My whole life I grew up
believing I knew my parents. Why wouldn’t I? But now, the things
Justine is telling me make me feel like they’re strangers.
    “Are you OK?” she checks. “I know this is a
lot to process.”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know what to think
about anything anymore.”
    “Well, the bright side is Brent can’t really
contest the will,” Justine points out. “The DNA results show why
Ashcroft left you the money. If they can’t claim you manipulated
him into naming you in the will, then you’re safe from that
morality clause.”
    For now.
    But the money is the last thing on my mind.
“I have to go,” I tell her quickly. “Thanks, for...”
    I stop. For what? Tearing apart my memories
of my family? Making my head ache with a hundred questions about my
past?
    “I’ll call you later,” Justine promises.
“Try not to freak out.”
    It’s easy for her to say. I hang up, staring
blankly around at the cartons of flyers. I need to get out of here,
so I bolt,