31 ~ Sloane

I knew they would eventually find out. Those were my thoughts. I mean, whose marriage could he possibly be talking about? That was the only coherent thought I managed in the seconds after the glass shattered, the rest of my mind became a kind of white static. My hand still curled where it had been holding water that wasn't there anymore while Zane's fingers tightened around mine beneath the table, warm and steady, and I realized he'd reached for me again without thinking, the same automatic gesture from the car ride was here again. No one else noticed. They were all looking at the broken glass, the spreading water and of course me who had done it. “Oh my gosh dear, you must not be used to such high stake meetings.” Beth said condescendingly. My face burned up from the embarrassment I felt even though Zane’s hands on my thighs helped reduce it. “Let’s get the help to clean that up for you.” She added and pressed a small bell that summoned a help who rapidly cleaned up the place

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32 ~ Zane

This didn't make any sense. He had to prove he was whom he claimed he was. Asher placed the documents on the table without ceremony. I reached out, grabbed them and started going through them. It contained DNA results, formatted in the clinical language of two separate laboratories. Letters, yellowed slightly, the handwriting on the envelopes unmistakably my father's, though I wasn't ready to admit that out loud yet, not until I'd seen them myself. Then I returned them. I was sure that as power play, he went ahead and laid them calmly, evenly spaced, like a man presenting evidence he'd already accepted rather than evidence he expected anyone else to dispute, trying to prove he had nothing to hide. Roman wouldn't look at them. He sat with his arms crossed and eyes fixed somewhere past Asher's shoulder, with denial and anger plastered on his face. His expression suggested refusal from a man who understood that looking would mean seeing the quite irrefutable fact and acceptin

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33 ~ Sloane

The room exploded again."This is theft." Roman was on his feet, both hands flat against the table like he needed something solid to keep himself upright. "You're telling me my own father's empire is being handed to a stranger based on letters and a lab result?" Cole yelled."I'm telling you what Gerald specified," Marcus said evenly. "I don't make the will. I only read it."“I don’t care! I demand answers!” Roman screamed.“This guy just came out of nowhere and most especially right now and we are supposed to just accept it?” Cole asked angrily.Beth had gone pale, paler than I'd seen her all morning, her composure entirely gone, replaced by something raw and unguarded that made her look years older than she had standing on those front steps.Asher said nothing.Marcus began reading.The properties came first, a list that took up two full pages, holdings across three states and two countries. It was an empire that had clearly been built across generations and protected with the sa

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34 ~ Zane

Was she giving me my space or was she terrified of what she saw of my family?That was the thought that kept swimming through my head as we drove home.Why?Sloane didn't say anything for the entire drive home.I noticed it because I noticed every single thing she did now, small or large. The details always caught my attention and over time I had discovered it was a deliberate choice, and I did enjoy looking at her.She did not push me to tal,k seeing my mood. I was not sure if I should have been thankful for that or not. Instead she just sat next to me with her hands folded in her lap watching the city lights go by outside the window. She let the silence sit between us without trying to make me feel better with words I did not want to hear.Maybe the city lights and the silence were what I needed at that moment. Maybe I was thankful for her being quiet with me, in a way that I could not really understand now.My mind was thinking about the things that were revealed at the meeting ov

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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Marrying The Wrong Brother: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 34

31 ~ Sloane

32 ~ Zane

33 ~ Sloane

34 ~ Zane