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“I did some digging,” I said, and Francis nodded vehemently in approval, “and I can confirm Ian is who he says he is. He was born in Louisville to my father’s mistress, eight years after Trace was born, right after Axel and I joined the Fairchild family via foster care. Ian’s mother moved away, and Dad kept in touch with his secret family sporadically through the years. Ian says he never knew much about our dad and was always curious why he could only come to visit for a weekend here or there.”
“So your dad kept asecret family?” Jessa whispered forcefully.
Axel expelled an annoyed burst of air and popped up from his chair. “Exactly. One that Trace fucking knew about, and he never said a damn thing toanyone. How wrong do you think that is, Jessa? On a scale from one to ten.”
She blinked rapidly. “Uhhh…”
“There’s no wrong answer, unless the answer is anywhere from one to eight,” Axel replied.
“So a nine or a ten,” she said.
“Exactly,” Axel said, clasping his wrists behind his back as he started pacing the far wall of windows. “That asshole knew and didn’t say a thing. About a secret family, no less. What else do you think he’s keeping secrets about?”
“Axel,” I started, swiveling in my chair to send him a stern look.
Axel looked at me with wild eyes, like he had been all evening. “What? Am I wrong?”
“Just shut up,” I said quietly. “Let’s not beat the dead horse, okay?”
Axel grunted and turned toward the windows, his jaw flexing. “The horse isn’t dead. It’s alive and well.”
I sighed, looking back at Jessa. “I was really hoping this whole half-brother thing would blow over, but it’s looking like it won’t. So we need to strategize. We don’t know how much of a liability he could become.”
“What could he do to you guys?” Jessa asked. “I mean, he’s nobody. You guys are powerful. He’s got nothing on you.”
Francis chuckled sarcastically from the head of the table. “Oh, sweet child. You know so little.”
Jessa’s gaze darkened as she looked at Francis. “So he could sell a made-up story to the tabloids. Big deal.”
“He could do a lot more than that,” I said quietly. “Unfortunately, it’s part of our job to imagine the worst-case scenarios.” Lord knew I was more than adept at doing that. “But just to give you an idea, Ian could wield his last name as leverage in the media. He could approach business partners as some sort of unsanctioned liaison. He could drag us down even further, possibly more than we want to even contemplate during the SEC investigation.”
“He connected the dots to find us,” Axel said as he stared out at the city, which was rapidly becoming bathed in dusk. “What’s to stop him from connecting dots that don’t even exist?”
“Okay,” Jessa said, holding up her palms. “I get it. Tell me what I need to do, and it’s done. Even if it includes arranging for Ian’s untimely demise.”
This time, the chuckle erupted out of me. I squashed the grin and looked over at Francis. “Can you go over the list of tasks?”
Francis nodded, pulling out his tablet. While he organized himself, Jessa reached for her gyro. During the recap, I’d forgotten entirely about the food.Again.For the millionth time in my life. Jessa licked her lips as she slowly unwrapped the gyro. I couldn’t stop watching her.
“Okay,” Francis began, settling into his seat as he peered down at his tablet. “It’ll be best to start with a list of priority tasks.”
Jessa nodded, pausing to swipe open her own tablet before lifting the partially wrapped gyro to her lips.
“Admittedly,” Francis went on, “there are still some things that need to be figured out. For example, how public are we going with the secret family knowledge?” He swiveled to look at me and Axel. “Do we want to be the first to announce or keep it under wraps?”
“Under wraps,” Axel bit out. “Our mother doesn’t even know.”
Jessa gasped softly. Another wave of disappointment crashed through me. Every cell in my body wanted to do anything other than deal with this right now—infidelity ripping apart a family. Now we had to figure out how to handle this suspicious half-brotherandfind a way to bring the topic up with our mom.
If I’d had any spoons left in the emotional cupboard, this turn of events mangled them in the garbage disposal.
I rubbed my forehead. “I think the best path forward is keeping a tight lid on Ian until we either get a better picture of his potential connections or the SEC thing blows over.” The chair creaked as I leaned back in it. “Ian could be a real threat based on any number of potential links. What if someone working against us has planted seeds with Ian already? His gaining entry to our world could just be another way for someone else to hurt us.”
Jessa’s mouth turned downwards. “Someone would do that?”
Francis sighed again. “Don’t be so naïve; it’s not a good look.”
She glanced sharply at Francis. “Excuse me?”
