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“Hey, man. Watch the paint job.” Tiberius tries to grab Antony’s hand, but Antony takes a swing at him instead.
“They were never going to let you take over the family,” I say. “Eli overheard Nero and Constantine planning to kill you. It’s better this way. Now you’re free of this, and all our secrets are out in the open.”
“Fucking hell. Our secrets were the only power we had over them.” Antony slams his fist into a wall. “Fuck.”
“You should be thanking me. You’re free, Antony. You can finish college. You can have a life. I’ve held you back for so long, you deserve this. So what’s the problem? You wanted power that badly?”
“Yes. No. You don’t understand.” His jaw works. “If they decide Julian’s seal isn’t enough evidence, they’ll make you take the DNA test.”
“So? If it’ll prove once and for all—”
Antony whirls around again. His fingers circle my wrist, squeezing so hard my hand throbs. “Claudia, the DNA test will destroy us all. Because you’re not Julian August’s daughter.”
Claudia
“Fuck off.” I tear my hand from his grasp.
Eli winces as my voice bounces through the cavernous garage. “I think we’d better go inside.”
“No, we’ll talk about this right the fuck here,” I yell. “Antony’s got something to say, and we’re all gonna listen.”
Antony grabs my arm and throws me over his shoulder like I’m twelve years old again. I kick and scream and batter him with my fists, but he’s made of malice and concrete and he doesn’t feel a thing. He carries me through the house and dumps me on the sofa in the ballroom.
Queen Boudica looks up from her bed atop the kitty castle, her reproachful look bemoaning the disturbance of her calm.
I try to scramble up, but Antony holds me down. “Sit there and stop being so fucking melodramatic.”
I’m hit with a serious wave of deja vu. Only a few weeks ago I stood in this room and told Eli the same thing. Now it’s my turn for an ugly truth. But this? It’s impossible.
“You just told me my father isn’t my father,” I growl. “That’s some Days of Our Lives bullshit right there.”
“Like sands through the hourglass…” Gabriel pipes up from the doorway before Noah elbows him in the ribs.
“It’s the truth. Julian couldn’t have children. He had all kinds of tests done – low sperm production, according to your mother, who wouldn’t dream of fathering a child by another member of the family. I heard her discuss it with my mother once when they thought I was asleep. They were talking in Slovenian so the staff wouldn’t overhear, but Mom taught me the language. I was too young to understand what they said for the longest time. My mother advised her to get pregnant at all costs, she even suggested going to Brutus to do the deed – anything to produce a viable heir for the family and prevent the instability of a broken dynasty. Anything to stop them being sent back to Eastern Europe. The next thing, your mother’s gone away on a retreat for a few months. She returns with a perfectly healthy baby girl who looks nothing like either of her parents.”
I tear my fingers through my hair. This is impossible. It’s too much. And yet… I don’t look like them. My mother had auburn hair, shiny and impossibly straight, luscious curves, and a Slavic nose. My father was tall, strong but willowy, like Eli, and he had the olive skin and long face of his Italian roots.
“How long have you known?” I choke out.
“I always had an inkling, but Uncle Julian told me a few weeks before he was killed,” Antony says. “He suspected Brutus would move against him. He thought I was the only one he could trust to take care of you.”
“But I don’t understand. If Julian wasn’t my father…” I can hardly get the words out, they’re so vile to me. “Why was I living with them? Am I adopted? How come I’ve never seen any paperwork?”
“Jeez, for a bright girl you’re thick as two planks.” Antony rolls his eyes at the ceiling. “You’re in your parents’ house. Your real parents.”
My head swims. My body cracks into pieces – skin and bone falling away to expose raw meat and organs. Everything I am and hoped to be disintegrates. My fingers touch my small nose. I want to rip it off my face.
Howard Malloy’s nose.
I can’t believe it. I won’t.
“Uncle Julian and Howard Malloy had business dealings. Howard purchased antiques from Julian – special things plundered to order from some of the world’s most magnificent museums and collections. But Howard Malloy could never satiate his lust for ownership, for possessing things that others could not. When Julian realized he couldn’t have children, Howard proposed a swap – his wife was pregnant with twins. He’d give up one of his children if Julian agreed to procure for Howard a treasure beyond compare. Julian gave Howard his treasure and in return, you became his. You are Mackenzie Malloy’s twin sister.”
Claudia
You are Mackenzie Malloy’s twin sister.
The words shouldn’t make sense.
