Jace scowled, visibly annoyed, though the expression vanished the moment he caught sight of Ashton behind me.
‘A friend,’ he muttered, sullen.
‘I’m asking for a name.’
Irritation flickered in his eyes. He looked like he’d rather punch me than answer me.
But then he looked me up and down again, and something shifted. A smug glint replaced the irritation.
‘I guess it doesn’t matter if you know now. I was calling Cathy.’
‘Cathy? Catherine Vance?’
He crossed his arms and gave a slow nod. ‘Yeah, that Cathy. Bet you didn’t see that one coming, eh?’
So I’d been right. The number was Catherine’s.
‘She’s a friend of yours?’
‘More than a friend, actually.’
‘Girlfriend?’ I guessed.
Jace snorted. ‘Hell no. She’s my...’ He paused, watching me closely. ‘Sister.’
‘Your sister?’ I repeated, incredulous. ‘You mean like a cousin?’
‘No. I mean actual sister. Same mother. Real deal.’
‘No way.’ I studied his face again. ‘You look nothing like her.’
‘There’s no way you’re her brother. I am her sister—her real sister—and I’ve never heard of you. And don’t tell me you’re some kind of illegitimate son. If the Vance family had a son, my father would’ve brought him home ages ago. The man’s so desperate for an heir he’s practically adopted his brother’s kid.’
‘Who said anything about illegitimate?’ Jace let out another snort. ‘I’m as legitimate as they come, babe. I—’
‘Watch your mouth,’ Ashton warned. ‘Say that again and you’ll be picking your teeth out of that wall.’
Jace’s bravado slipped. He straightened, taking a cautious step back.
When he spoke again, his tone was considerably meeker.
‘All right, take it easy, man, I don’t mean nothing by it.’
‘Explain,’ I demanded impatiently.
Jace checked his watch. ‘Well, seeing as she’s officially Mrs Granger now, I guess it doesn’t hurt if the truth comes out.’
‘I told you—she’s my sister. That’s the truth.’
I opened my mouth, but Ashton’s hand brushed my arm. His voice was low. ‘Not here.’
I followed his gaze. All of Nyx’s staff were gathered, eyes wide, phones discreetly raised.
‘Conference room,’ he said to Rexford.
The man jumped to life and led the way. Thɪs chapter is updated by n̷o̷v̷e̷l̷f̷i̷r̷e̷.net
Inside, Ashton gave the order: ‘Clear the room.’
Savannah, Ashton’s assistants, and the entire gaggle of curious staff vanished.
‘When the police arrive, ask them to wait,’ Ashton told Rexford, then shut the door.
It was just me, Ashton, and Jace now.
Ashton knocked once on the table. ‘Talk.’
Jace swallowed, then glanced nervously at the door. ‘What do I get if I tell you?’
‘You get to spend your time in lockup unmolested. That, or we let things take their natural course.’
Jace swallowed again. ‘I’m not going to jail. You can help me, right? You’re the famous Mr Laurent.’
‘Yes, I am. And yes, I can. But I won’t lift a finger until you tell my wife what she wants to know.’
I folded my arms. ‘Start talking. Or I’ll start talking to the police about what I saw between you and Violet. I’d make a very compelling witness.’
Jace muttered a curse, slumped into a plush leather chair.
‘All right, all right, I’ll spill. I should start by telling you that I come from Stonewick, Wessexia.’
‘That’s where Catherine disappeared to years ago,’ I said.
He smirked. ‘Yeah. She came looking for me. For us.’
‘Who are you to her?’
‘I told you. Family. I’m her brother.’
He leaned back lazily.
Ashton rapped a knuckle against the table.
Jace flinched, straightened. ‘Catherine’s not a Vance by blood. She’s my older sister. Same mother.’
‘My mum and her first husband were travelling through Skyline years ago. She gave birth to a baby here, in a hospital, and then...’ He hesitated.
Ashton’s stare hardened.
‘She left the baby,’ Jace said, almost flippantly.
He shrugged. ‘No clue. She never liked talking about it. From what I gathered, there’d been a fight. Something about him cheating, she wanted out. A baby would’ve complicated everything. And Skyline was a foreign city. No one back in Stonewick would know. She could disappear, start fresh.’
I stared at him, waiting.
‘She left the hospital right after giving birth. Just... vanished. Came home without the baby. Or the husband.’
‘The baby was Catherine?’ I asked, the pieces rearranging themselves in my mind.
‘Then how—what...?’ I couldn’t even find the words.
Jace leaned back again.
Ashton’s hand hit the table, harder this time.
‘All right!’ Jace snapped, sitting up. ‘Look, it was years ago. Mum married my dad, had me. Life moved on. But something must’ve started gnawing at her, because she got... weird. Depressed. Obsessive. She’d mutter things now and then, but I didn’t pay much attention. It didn’t have anything to do with me, right?’ He scratched his jaw. ‘I didn’t know she’d reached out to Cathy.’
‘When was this?’ I asked.
He frowned. ‘Five, maybe six years ago.’
‘How did she even find Catherine?’
‘No idea. Probably hired a PI. Someone must’ve looked into the hospital records. From what I gathered—from her and later Cathy—it went : after Mum left the baby, the staff tried to contact her, but she’d already left the country. Around the same time, another woman gave birth at the hospital. Something went wrong, her baby was stillborn. A nurse or doctor, I dunno which, maybe both, decided to fix the situation.’
‘They swapped the babies,’ I said quietly.
‘Pretty much. Gave the grieving woman a living, breathing, healthy baby. She went home happy. Everyone else washed their hands of it.’
‘That woman was Caroline Vance?’
I felt a chill creep up my spine.
‘Anyway,’ Jace went on, ‘somehow Mum tracked Cathy down. Told her everything. Got her to come to Stonewick. They did a DNA test that confirmed Mum’s story. That’s when I first met Cathy. My half-sister.’