All Chapters of Sinful Dragon.: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 22 The Aspen Baby The call ended. Nobody moved. Again. I was beginning to think my family had a talent for ending conversations with information so horrifying that normal human functions temporarily stopped. Baby C wasn’t a Vale. An Aspen. I stared at the phone in Gabriel’s hand. “Call him back.” Gabriel didn’t move. “Gabriel.” “He won’t answer.” “You don’t know that.” “Yes, I do.” “Call him.” Gabriel pressed the number. Speaker. One ring. Then— The number you have reached is no longer in service. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t funny. Nothing about this was funny. But apparently my brain had reached its limit. “Of course.” Nicholas looked at me. “Myra.” “Of course the mysterious great-uncle who admitted he sent your father to his death uses a disappearing phone.” Nicholas’s face hardened. “He said he gave the order that sent Chase to the place where he died.” “That’s not better.” “I know.” “No, I’m saying he chose those words carefull

Chapter 24 The Benardi Baby BENARDI. The word sat on Damion’s computer screen like it had every right to be there. It didn’t. I stared at it. Baby A. Vale. Baby B. Black. Baby C. Aspen. Baby D. Benardi. Four babies. Four families. Six men signing a document that Gabriel claimed he didn’t remember signing. And somewhere in all of this was apparently supposed to be an explanation for my life. I wanted a refund. Jenna walked into the office. “No.” Nobody answered. She pointed at the screen. “No.” Katrina followed more slowly. “What does that mean?” I swallowed. “We don’t know.” “That’s our name.” “I noticed.” “Why is our name on a hospital record from the night you were born?” “I don’t know.” Jenna turned toward Gabriel. “You.” Gabriel actually took a step backward. Interesting. Apparently Jenna frightened international criminal families. Good for her. “You’re supposed to be her biological father.” “I am.” “Then explain.” “I can’t.” Jenna stared a

Chapter 26 Edward Aspen “Edward.” Nicholas stopped breathing. I felt it. His entire body changed beside me. Not dramatically. Nicholas didn’t do dramatic unless it involved dragging me away from bullets or ruining my ability to think with his mouth. His reactions were quieter. More dangerous. His shoulders went rigid. His fingers tightened around the gun. And his face became completely blank. “Edward Aspen?” Angelo coughed. Blood stained his lips. “Dad!” Jenna tried to move. Marcus caught her. “No.” “Let me go!” “There’s a pressure trigger under him.” “I don’t care!” “You will if moving him kills everyone in this wing.” She fought him anyway. Katrina grabbed her sister. “Jenna.” “He’s bleeding!” “I know.” “DO SOMETHING!” Nicholas looked toward Henry. “You said it can be disabled.” Henry remained on the balcony. “Yes.” “How?” Victor laughed from behind the railing. “Don’t ask Henry.” Henry’s eyes moved toward him. “You haven’t changed.” “Neither ha

Chapter 28 The Brother Who Disappeared “Because he’s the only person who knows where your sister is.” Nobody spoke. Edward Aspen’s voice came through Damion’s phone from somewhere none of us could see. Nicholas stood beside me with one arm still around my waist. His entire body had gone rigid. Henry Vale was on the farmhouse floor with blood at his mouth, his hands bound behind him. And suddenly the man Nicholas had just nearly killed had become the one man we apparently couldn’t afford to lose. Henry smiled. I hated that smile. Nicholas did too. I felt it in the way his arm tightened around me. “Where is Evelyn?” Edward went quiet. Nicholas stepped toward the phone. “Edward.” “I’m here.” “You’ve apparently been alive for twelve years while my father was dead, my mother was dead, your son was hidden and my sister was missing.” Ethan flinched. Nicholas continued. “So I’m going to ask one more time.” His voice became frighteningly calm. “Where is Evelyn?” “I don’t

Chapter 30 The Other Daughter “My twin.” The words didn’t sound real. They sounded like something belonging to another woman’s life. Another family. Another nightmare. Not mine. But the photograph in Evelyn’s hand didn’t care what I believed. The woman beside Edward Aspen had my height. My build. My dark hair. And when Evelyn enlarged the security image again, the woman turned just enough for the camera to catch half her face. My face. Not exactly. Her cheekbones were sharper. Her mouth slightly different. Her hair longer. But— Me. Enough of me that I felt physically sick. Nicholas’s arm tightened around my waist. I realized he was holding most of my weight. “I have a sister.” Jenna stood beside the old pickup with Katrina. Neither spoke. That hurt too. Because I’d always had sisters. Now apparently there was another one. A sister who had been born beside me. A sister who had vanished. A sister currently walking into a bank vault with Edward Aspen. Henry