AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
“Okay, let’s get this over with.”
Ainsley rested the clasp envelope on the dining room table and sat a few seats down from her stepmother.
Asher nodded her way and slid into the chair between Genevieve and Rafe. The room was too quiet without the addition of his siblings’ husbands-and wives-to-be. Even Harper wasn’t around, as Dulcie had taken her off for a bath.
Just seven family members crowded around one end of a cloth-covered table. The absences of both Payne and Ace had never seemed starker or more obvious. They hadn’t even asked Dulcie to provide a last-minute meal for them as none of them would have been able to eat, anyway.
When everyone was seated, Ainsley opened the envelope.
“Has Jace reached out to any of you since the discovery of the burglary? If so, we’ll wait for him before we read this.”
“I tried calling his cell, but it went right to voice mail,” Marlowe said.
One by one, they said they hadn’t heard from him.
“Okay, then.” She pulled the stack of documents from the envelope and read down the first page.
Asher’s gut clenched as images of another set of tests results filtered through his thoughts. Conclusions that had both thrilled and unsettled him as he’d confirmed he was Harper’s dad but not Luna’s. He doubted now that any results on those sheets would give anyone sitting around that table joy.
Callum leaned forward on his elbows. “Well, are you going to tell us what it says?”
Asher lifted a hand to stall him. “Give her a minute. There’s a lot of information to digest.”
Callum nodded and sat back.
Finally, Ainsley cleared her throat and read aloud, “In the case of the child, Jace Smith, the alleged father, Payne Colton, is excluded as the biological parent.”
Marlowe struggled to her feet. “You mean Jace is not our brother?”
Ainsley nodded. “That’s what it means. On the Combined Paternity Index, it says ‘zero.’”
“That jerk!” Grayson called out.
Asher had to unclench his molars to be able to speak. “That’s what I thought. At least after what we found this afternoon.”
“Me, too.” Ainsley tucked the papers back inside the envelope. “He must have had something to do with the delay in getting the DNA results back from the hospital, as well.”
Marlowe gripped her hands on the edge of the table as she sat again. “But that would have required help from inside the hospital.”
Ainsley nodded. “How else can you explain that our test had to be repeated, and we received our results after Asher and Willow did?”
Something about that bothered Asher, too, but they had to deal with the truth on the documents first.
“We just have to admit that we’ve been duped by a grifter. Me most of all.”
Rafe shook his head. “You don’t get to own that. We all believed him.”
Marlowe slumped in her chair. “We were all so naive to think the ‘real Ace’ would just appear out of nowhere. We never considered that there might be people out there ready to take advantage of this mess affecting all of us.”
Asher crossed his arms and shook his head, refusing to be let off the hook. Sure, the others had bought him gifts. They were rich. They could buy things for every resident of Mustang Valley if they wanted to. But he’d gone a step furt
her.
“I was worse than any of you. I wanted him to be my brother.” He was furious with himself, but more than that, he was ashamed.
Grayson chuckled. “You weren’t alone, Asher. We all did.”
