“I don’t have time for games,” Axel stated. “I need you to take this seriously.”
She stiffened at his commanding tone, but unsnaked her arm from around the pole, shifting so she grasped it behind her back.
“Would you take it seriously if you received messages like these?” she challenged. “My birth father wants to meet me, and I stand to inherithundredsof millions of euros? Along with a company I have no idea how to run? And all I have to do is submit to a DNA test and show up in Germany?ThenI will meet him and learn his name? Please,” she dismissed the idea with scorn. “Would you like my bank details up front, so you can start pouring those millions into my account?”
She shifted her weight, causing her robe to slip a fraction of an inch, exposing more of her bra and a wider sliver of skin below it.
He dragged his gaze upward. “It’s a delicate matter. He can’t risk you selling the story before you’ve agreed to his narrative.” Just as Axel couldn’t risk her speaking to Otto first or tipping Otto off to his presence here. “I will need that DNA sample but…”
He told himself he was looking so closely at her features to compare her to the photo of Lorena as a young woman. Joy had her same arched brows and narrow, high-bridged nose. Her cheekbones were spaced with perfection in her oval face. Her lips were definitely her mother’s, despite the makeup that made them seem fuller and plumper.
He didn’t see much of Otto in her, thankfully, beyond her height and a feminine version of a mulish chin, which was good because he didn’t want to kiss—
He bit back a curse. This was a business partnership he was courting. He had no intention of getting personal with her, let alone physical.
“But?” she prompted.
“Hmm?” DNA. Right. “Your birth name is Enja Fontaine, is it not?”
She tried not to react, but the way her expression blanked was its own tell.
“I’m confident you’re the woman I’m looking for.” A strange buzz arrived in his ears as he said that. He cleared his throat. “I don’t have time to mollycoddle you. There’s urgency around proving your identity and proceeding to the next steps.”
Mira hadn’t gone to the press yet, but she could. Revealing she wasnotOtto’s biological daughter would embarrass him, which Otto deserved, but it could also harm her chances of getting at least a compulsory portion of his estate in the future.
Otto thought he had the upper hand with both of them, believing he could keep Axel on a leash while they waited for Joy to show up, but Axel wasn’t waiting. Not anymore.
“Do you know what the top signs of fraud are?” Joy asked conversationally. “I looked them up. They include pretending to represent a family member…” she touched a fingertip, counting them off as she continued “…pressuring the victim to act quickly, asking for personal information—my DNA feels very personal—and asking the victim to spend their own money in order to get whatever is promised. Like paying for a DNA test?” She blinked her overly long, purple eyelashes before stating clearly, “No.”
“I’ll pay for the test. Maybe I’m wrong, and you’re not her. There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”
“Are you hoping I’m not?” She smirked and looped her elbow around the pole, tilting her head against it. “What’s wrong? Now that you’ve seen my profession, you’re worried my father won’t be so keen to meet me? How do I know who you’re comparing my sample to, anyway? No.” She shook her head. “It’s too fishy.”
“This won’t affect his desire to meet you.” Not when Axel introduced her as his wife and staked his claim on Vorstoben.
“But I haven’t decided if I want to meet him.” Her playfulness dropped away, leaving a solemn expression that held no subterfuge whatsoever.
That was a wrinkle Axel hadn’t anticipated. “You’re not curious about him?”
“I was curious about my birth mother,” she admitted. “But when I contacted the agency, all they could tell me was that she had already died. Which was a huge bummer.” Dark shadows entered her eyes. “I knew that she didn’t put my father’s name on my birth certificate because he was married. I’ve always assumed that meant she didn’t want him in my life or the other way around.”
“That might have been true when she had you, but she signed an affidavit that was delivered to him after she died. I have a copy in my hotel room.”
“Why didn’t she want him to know about me until after she was gone?”
Spite, Axel suspected. Otto didn’t invite many other emotions from those close to him. “His wife was pregnant at the time.”
“I have a half sibling?” Her face brightened with wonder.
“No.” Damn. For one second, she’d glowed with such delight, she’d hurt his eyes. Now all of that dimmed, and she glared at him as though he’d kicked her.
“Dead? See, this is why I don’t want to do this. It’s a roller coaster that I don’t need.” She looked to the door.
“His wife had a baby who isn’t his. We’ll get into all of that once I confirm your identity.”
She shook her head. “If he’s so interested in meeting me, why isn’t he here himself?”
“There’s a lot of money involved. It’s complicated.”
