Secrets Of A Fake Fiancée
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“Daddy.” Fallon rose to greet him. Morgan watched as Henry embraced his eldest daughter and accepted the kiss on her cheek, but his eyes never left Morgan’s.
Morgan spoke quietly yet succinctly from the couch. “I’m here because it’s time you acknowledge I’m your daughter.”
“I don’t know what lies your mama has been filling your head with, but I’m not your father.”
“Prove it,” Morgan stated. “Take a DNA test. If I’m wrong, which I don’t think I am, I’ll publicly admit I made the whole story up. But if I’m right—you have to claim me.”
“I don’t have to do a damn thing,” Henry responded, moving toward her until he was inches away. “Who do you think you are? Steamrolling your way into our lives, into my home, and making demands?”
“Back off.” Ayden jumped to his feet. Morgan appreciated that her big brother was ready to defend her from the big bad wolf, but she could fight her own battles.
“I’m—I’m your daughter.” Morgan’s voice broke. “How can you treat me this way?”
Fallon stepped between them and pushed her father backward. “Daddy, please…don’t make this any worse. Do you have any idea how upset Mom is? I know you’re no saint, but admit what you did. Maybe she can forgive you, but if you continue to act as if nothing happened—” she glanced at Morgan “—you’re going to dig yourself deeper into a hole.”
“Fallon, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but my relationship with Nora is mine alone. I don’t need your interference.”
“I think you do,” Fallon responded hotly. “Look at her!” Once again, Fallon’s gaze rested on Morgan. “She has our same eyes, Daddy. I’m surprised I never saw it before, but I suppose I wasn’t looking.”
“Admit it, Henry!” Ayden snarled. “You cheated on Nora. Just like you did my mother. Be a man about it and own up to what you’ve done!”
Henry walked up to Ayden. And Morgan thought if looks could kill, both men would have been struck dead in an instant. “Don’t get in the middle of this, Ayden, and start stirring up the past. We’ve come to a truce. Let sleeping dogs lie, son.”
Ayden shook his head. “I won’t let you deny another child. Not this time and not on my watch.”
“Why are you both ganging up on me?” Henry asked, looking at Ayden and Fallon. “Isn’t it enough my marriage is in shambles because of this girl?”
“This girl?” Tears sprang to Morgan’s eyes. “This girl grew up poor with nothing to call my own. No friends. We moved from pillar to post as my mother tried to find work, but it’s not easy for an aging Vegas showgirl to find work. She turned to men, hoping they’d take care of her. There was an endless stream of them in and out of her life. In and out of my life. So I never had a father, much less a home. And when the men were gone, the drugs started—until eventually her body gave out from the drug use.”
“I’m sorry for your childhood. Truly I am, but I owe you nothing. And if either of you—” Henry glanced at his other children “—are with her, then you can show yourselves out because I’m done with this conversation.”
Morgan watched in astonishment as the father she’d hoped would acknowledge her walked out of the room. Morgan pulled the knife out of her heart and stood ramrod straight.
“Wow! I can’t believe the nerve of that man.” Ayden scrubbed the stubble on his jaw. “Just when I think he can’t sink any lower, he proves me wrong.”
“I have to go.” Morgan started toward the exit.
“Wait!” Fallon reached for her arm. “Don’t go. Give me some time to talk to him. I can get through to him.”
Ayden nodded. “If anyone can, it’s Fallon. She’s his favorite.”
“Ayden…” Fallon glared at him.
He held up his hands in mock surrender.
“Please stay,” Fallon said softly. “We can figure this out. As a family.”
Morgan snorted. “Didn’t you hear him?” She pointed at the empty doorway. “I’m not your family. I’m a nothing. A nobody. So leave me be. I want no part of any of you!” She wrenched her arm away and ran out.
When she got in the car, Morgan was hyperventilating and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She slammed her fists against the steering wheel.
Damn him!
Why had she let him get to her? She had been determined to be strong and demand what was rightfully hers, but instead Henry Stewart made it obvious he had no intention of recognizing her as his daughter. Instead, he was going to keep his head in the sand and act as if she didn’t exist.
Morgan was done with being nice. She was going to the press with her story and give the press an exposé on the great Henry Stewart. She wouldn’t allow him to ignore her ever again.
Four
“I need to see you right away,” Ruth Robinson told Jared later that evening.
Jared rarely received a summons from his grandmother. In fact, he tried to stay off her radar. Similar to his father, his grandmother wished he was more like his brother. Chris was the smart one with the brains and business acumen to run Robinson Holdings. Chris had never caused their parents a moment’s worry. He did exactly what was expected of him. Attend Harvard. Check. Attain an MBA. Join Robinson Holdings. Check. Check.
Jared, on the other hand, was the screwup. He’d attained his bachelor’s degree in marketing by the skin of his teeth. He’d been too busy partying it up with his fraternity brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi and taking the ladies to bed to bother with classes. After graduation, he’d taken a year off to travel Europe and then returned home to work at the family business.
After driving through the hills of Westlake overlooking Austin’s skyline, Jared pulled his Porsche Cayman GTS through the gates of his grandmother’s estate and parked. The grounds were kept immaculate by her staff and the house was nothing short of castle-like.
Stepping out of the car, he walked the short distance to the front door and rang the doorbell. A uniformed butler greeted him. “Hey, Antoine.” He patted the older man’s back as he entered the sprawling home. Antoine had been with his grandmother for years and was devoted to her. “Where’s Grandmother?”
“In the library,” Antoine replied. “Allow me to show you there.”
“No need to stand on ceremony. Go back to whatever you were doing. I can find my way.” Jared strolled down the Italian marble corridor until he found his grandmother in the mahogany-paneled library seated in a gold leaf armchair.
“Well, look who finally decided to make an appearance.” She rose to her feet as he walked over and placed a kiss on her cheek.
Ruth Robinson was nothing short of regal with smooth café au lait skin and expert makeup. Even at seventy-five, she looked amazing in a crisp white shirt with billowing sleeves, black slacks and pearls. Her blondish gray hair was in an elegant coiffed bob that reached her shoulders.
“Grandma, it’s good to see you too,” Jared replied. “Would you care for a drink?”
“Would love one.”
Jared crossed the room to a small bar tucked in the corner. He poured himself a Scotch and a sherry for her, then brought her the glass and settled on a plush tan leather sofa. He leaned back and took a swallow of his drink.
His grandmother sipped her sherry and looked him directly in the eye. “You’re going to have to learn the value of time once this scandal hits.”
Jared sat upright at her comment. “What are you talking about?”
“Mimi, a dear friend of mine who owns one of the Austin newspapers, gave me a call about an exclusive story hitting their paper tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah? What’s it about?” Jared brought his tumbler to his lips.
“Your brother knocking up an exotic dancer,” Ruth stated unceremoniously.
Jared’s drink sputtered from his lips. “Excuse me?”
“For Christ’s sake, Jared.” His grandmother rolled her eyes. “Clean yourself up.”
Jared jumped to his feet, swiftly walked to the bar and grabbed several napkins, then dabbed at his shirt. When he was finished, he returned to stand in front of his grandmother.
“Sit.”
Jared didn’t argue and sat down. “I don’t understand.”
“What I’ve told you is as much as I know,” she responded. “Chris has been MIA from Robinson Holdings the last week. He must have known the story was coming. But the worst part is he got the young woman pregnant. It’s a travesty. I had such high hopes for your brother, but I guess that leaves you.” Her eyes rested on him and Jared shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Chris has shown poor judgment. If he can’t manage his own love life, how can he be expected to run a billion-dollar real estate company? The answer is simple. He can’t.”
“Yes, he can,” Jared replied. “So what he got a girl pregnant? It happens. It’s not the end of the world. You’re making too much of this.”
“I disagree. Your grandfather and I worked too hard building up the business and our image as respectable stewards for our investors. We can’t allow your brother’s bad behavior to negatively impact the company. He’s out. And you’re in.”
“Me?” Jared couldn’t contain the disbelief in his tone. “You’ve got to be kidding. Chris has been groomed to run the company. He’s your man. Furthermore, I’m not interested.” He tipped back his glass, finished his drink and placed it on the cocktail table in front of him and stood.
“Sit down.” His grandmother’s voice rose.
“Grandma…”
“I said, sit down, Jared. I won’t repeat myself.”
Jared sighed, but did as she instructed. “I’m not cut out for this. I don’t know the first thing about running the company. I’m in marketing.”
“With the right people behind you, you’ll learn.”
“No.” Jared shook his head and pursed his lips. “I can’t do it.”
“You can and you will.” His grandmother stated unequivocally, dismissing his protest. “For too long, we’ve allowed you to monkey about, but no more. You will pick up the mantel like your father and brother before you.”
Jared hated being pushed into a corner and he certainly didn’t relish going up against the matriarch of their family, but what she was asking was ridiculous.
“You will start tomorrow.” Ruth spoke as if Jared’s taking Chris’s place was a foregone conclusion. “I’ve taken the liberty of requesting the files on Chris’s current acquisitions.” She rose to her feet and went to a side table containing a stack of files. She handed them to Jared. “Read them over tonight and we’ll talk in the morning.”
He stared at her incredulously. “You’re serious about this?”
“Of course. You should know me well enough to know when I make up my mind, it’s done.”
Jared did know and that was exactly what he was afraid of. He wasn’t cut out to run Robinson Holdings. He was good at being a ladies’ man and working when he felt like it, but this, this was too much. And he had no idea how to get out of it. God help them, because the business and their family were in for a bumpy ride.
When Jared made it to his penthouse after leaving his grandmother’s, his first call was to Chris. But it went straight to voice mail.
What was going on?
Chris’s silence was unusual. He never ignored Jared’s calls—usually because he was bailing Jared out of a mess of his own creation. But this was different. On his way home, Jared stopped by Chris’s usual spots—the gym, the office, a gentleman’s club he sometimes frequented—but nothing. Chris didn’t want to be found.
Jared couldn’t understand his brother giving away everything he’d worked so hard to earn. For what? A woman? They were interchangeable at best or had always been for Jared. He had never met a woman who made him want to risk it all for love. Because that’s exactly what Chris was doing. Their grandmother was ready to disinherit him for this stunt.
But this time, Jared was left holding the bag. Was this what it felt like when Jared went MIA after causing trouble? Now that the shoe was on the other foot, Jared was not pleased. He was used to Chris saving the day, but his grandmother was looking to him.
The responsibility she was putting on his shoulders was heavy and Jared felt the weight. He felt unsure. Unworthy. How could he ever live up to Chris? He couldn’t. He would have to prove his worth until he earned his grandmother’s respect, but it wouldn’t be easy. The question was whether he was up to the task.
Morgan curled up on the sofa in her hotel room with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream she’d picked up on her way back from the Stewart estate. She’d already consumed half a pizza and two beers and was doing her best to eat herself through her troubles.
The last week hadn’t been stellar. The only bright spot had been seeing Dane and Iris get married and ride off into the sunset. Maybe she’d been wrong in approaching Henry after the reception, but she’d thought confronting him in public would force his hand. Make him own up to the truth that he’d cheated on Nora and had a child with another woman.
Morgan hadn’t banked on Henry’s temper. Or that he would completely shut her out and refuse to acknowledge her existence. Even when confronted by his own children, who begged for the truth, Henry refused to admit it.
Maybe she was better off not having a father?
None of the men her mother ever brought into her life had been father material. They were interested in using Crystal only for their own pleasure. Morgan hated seeing her mother dependent on them and so desperate for attention she’d take it from anyone. Including him.
Morgan sank her spoon into the chunky mixture and kept eating as she recalled one of those men. Troy Wilkins had been one of her mother’s boyfriends. Often, he’d stay the night and when he did, Morgan locked her bedroom door. She’d hated him on sight. He was lean and wiry with ominous-looking eyes that were always roving over her. Morgan tried to steer clear, but one day when she’d come home from high school, he’d been at their apartment. Troy told her Crystal had gone to the grocery store.
Immediately Morgan invented an excuse and tried to make a quick exit, but Troy was faster than her. He’d slammed the front door and put the chain across, locking her inside with him. Morgan had been terrified and rightfully so. Troy told her it was time she was friendlier to him and had grabbed her by the arm and hauled Morgan into her bedroom.
He’d thrown her on the bed and covered her with his weight before she could move. She remembered the stale scent of cigarettes permeating his skin, the smell of alcohol on his breath. Then he was lifting her shirt up, palming her small breasts and rubbing his crotch against her. Morgan tried to fight him off, knowing if she didn’t, he would assault her, but he was too strong. His hands were reaching for the snap on her jeans when they both heard the door. Her mother was calling out to them.
“If you tell your mother, I’ll deny this ever happened. Who do you think she’ll believe?”
Morgan would never forget the look in his eye. That was when she’d known she couldn’t stay there. She’d had to get out. If she didn’t, he’d come back and there would be no guarantee she’d be as lucky the next time. And so she’d run. She’d packed her meager belongings and left. She’d gone to her mom’s friend Marilyn, another dancer, and begged to sleep on her couch. Even though Marilyn had two kids of her own, it was better than living in fear.
Marilyn allowed Morgan to stay on the sofa so long as she cooked, cleaned and tended her two kids while Marilyn worked nights as a dancer. Morgan happily agreed. The funny thing about it was—Crystal hadn’t cared. She seemed happy to be rid of Morgan because she was cramping her style.
Somehow Morgan found a way to finish her senior year. Due to her good grades, she’d been able to attend the University of Southern California on a full scholarship.
When she thought about it, all her struggles were because both her parents refused to do right by her.
Morgan put down her ice cream on the cocktail table and reached for her iPad. Searching the web, she found the email for a local gossip blogger in Austin.
It was time one of her parents—Henry Stewart—paid the price.
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