“I’m sorry, you’ve both lost me,” Molly huffed, her eyebrows crinkling.
“The woman of the family my father had investigated is the bitch he cheated on my mother with. His medical records have been checked against the woman’s son. And why? Because Daddy wants to see if the child is his.”
As only part of the story was our best guess, I again played devil’s advocate and suggested. “What if your dad’s investigating this family foranotherreason?”
Storm frowned as if that thought hadn’t occurred to her. Trying to lighten the mood, I attempted a joke. “Maybe she didn’t vote for your father, and he’s planning on offing her. Have you ever thought about that?”
“Offing her?” Molly said as she tipped her head back to meet my gaze.
I glanced between them with a grin. “Yeah, take her out, have her killed.”
Storm rolled her eyes and released a cry of despair. She could see I was attempting humor by being ridiculous. “Great. So, Daddy is a murderer as well as an adulterer.”
The girl had a point. I pulled my feet off the floor and tucked them under my legs.
“Sorry.”
In a tone of pure contemplation, Molly took that moment to jump in. “So, your father thought the child could be his?”
“Yes. Imagine the shitstorm that would be caused by it being leaked that my father has an illegitimate child. Imagine the papers?” Storm’s shoulders slumped as I lifted the letter back to my face and re-read the conclusion.
“But your dad didn’t father anyone, well, not this boy anyway. The profiling doesn’t match. The findings arenegative.”
“I know. I just needed to hear someone else say that,” Storm admitted, and I could sense her relief that we’d both drawn the same conclusion.
Allowing the report to flutter back onto the table, I offered my closing assumption. “So yes, your dad may have been a dick years ago, but at least there were no consequences. The age of the boy also doesn’t fit with the timeframe of the affair, unless it started up again at a later stage. Who knows?”
“I just have an awful feeling. What if he’s had other affairs and there are loads of his bastards scattered across the city?”
We all moved at once, shoving the damning documents back in the box. “Well, you have two options. Confront your father or…” I knew my casual tone hit a wrong note as Molly grimaced.
“Or?” Storm looked at me hopefully.
I had no clue, really, but not wanting Storm to have another meltdown, I shrugged and went with, “Allow Jeeves to throw this in the trash as instructed and forget you ever found it.”
Storm made a face. “You mean Noah?”
“Whatever,” I huffed. I knew sweeping stuff under the carpet was never the best course of action. “You said yourself it would crush your mother. It happened almost two decades ago; what good would her knowing about it do now? You never know, she mayalreadyknow about it, and they’ve put it behind them. Bringing it up may rehash painful memories. I mean, it isn’t like your dad went to extremes to hide this shit. Not if he left it in the corner of his office for his assistant to move? If that were me, I’d be beside the shredding machine until it was all destroyed.”
“True,” Storm sniffed, that haughty edge to her voice now gone. My suggestion of taking the easy way out, i.e.,ignorant bliss, worked like a charm. “Fuck this. I need a drink. Anyone else?” she questioned, pushing to her feet and walking across her bedroom.
Molly and I exchanged a wary glance as Storm pressed a button on the wall. It caused a hidden panel to open, and inside was a mini fridge surrounded by neon lights. Oh, dear.
Rolling my eyes, I checked my phone, seeing more messages from Nix; so much for being excited about watching Jaws on the big screen!
I glanced back to watch our hostess grab some shot glasses and a bottle of spirits. Storm then came back to the sofas and poured three fingers of vodka into each glass, almost finishing the contents.
Nodding towards the almost empty bottle, I grabbed a glass and saluted the girls with it. “Well, I’d say you’re going to need a bigger bottle.”
Storm grinned. And the party girl was back. “There’s plenty more where that came from. What shall we drink to?”
“Ignorant bliss?” I suggested with a strained smile.
Things were about to get messy. I had many issues, but being foolishly spontaneous wasn’t one of them. We were about to get trashed on a school night, but at that point, I figured, why the hell not?
Then something occurred to me, Maple Avenue? Wasn’t that the name of the street where Phoenix’smotherlived?
I pushed away the thought.
