Epilogue
Natalie
It’s her hair that catches my attention. Perfectly blonde, split down the middle in two perfect braids. Nothing unusual, really, but for some reason it makes me look twice. Maybe because it doesn’t really feel like it fits the rest of her. With her pretty, perfectly fitting sundress and expensive shoes, she should look just like any other spoiled rich girl enjoying the early summer weather in New York City.
But the hair just feels… wrong.
God, I really have been spending too much time with gossip column bullshit if I’m judging some random woman’s hair .
I’m just about to force myself to look away when she tilts her head up at her companion and pouts. The hair and the pout combine to make her look far younger than she is. But that’s not what keeps my attention.
The man she’s with, the one smiling down at her as he grips her chin between his fingers, is none other than Jasper Blackwood. Heir to the Blackwood family fortune.
And now that I’m getting a really good look at her, I’m pretty sure the woman he’s teasing is his stepsister, Juliet Blackwood. An heiress in her own right, she all but disappeared from the face of the earth a few months back. There’s been no official missing persons report, but when a woman like that goes from attending pretty much every major event in the city to “poof, gone” overnight, people take notice.
People like me.
Maybe my time writing gossipy trash hasn’t been in vain, after all.
Shooting my friends a text, I beg off our plans for the day, and set off after Jasper and Juliet. It’s almost as if they’re playing tourist, wandering from one major landmark to another, with Juliet squealing like an excited child over things she’s seen her entire life.
All in all, it’s not very interesting. And it doesn’t give me a whole lot of insight into where the hell she’s been . But I persist. At some point, they’re bound to give something away.
They’re at the top of the Empire State Building, taking pictures together, when I finally get my first real break. I’m finally close enough to hear more than just a few snippets of their conversation, and it’s only years of training on the red carpet that keeps me from reacting when Jasper very firmly states it’s time for her nap.
“No!”
Even without knowing a damn thing about their relationship, I know you don’t tell a man like Jasper Blackwood “No” without serious consequences. Heart pounding, I lean over the railing, doing what I hope is a good impression of a bored tourist as I listen.
“Excuse me, little girl? Is that how you answer me?”
There’s a note of warning in his tone that sends a shiver up my spine, and I’m not even the one in trouble.
From the corner of my eye, I see color bloom in Juliet’s cheeks as she ducks her head, looking every bit like a naughty child being firmly chastised. “No, Daddy. Sorry.”
Holy shit. Little girl? Daddy? What the hell are they into ?
“Maybe we should cut our trip short,” Jasper says with a shake of his head. “Your behavior just seems to be getting worse the longer we stay away from the island.”
“But we have so many plans!” Whining loudly now, apparently not caring if anyone hears them, Juliet bounces on her toes, her hands clasped in front of her. “Please, Daddy. You promised!”
“I suppose I did. And our parents will never forgive me if I whisk you away again before our dinner.” Sighing, Jasper grips her chin again, though now the move seems less playful and more commanding this time as he forces her head back. “But we are going back to the hotel right now and you are going to take a nap, without argument. Got it?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” A smile curves his lips, and even without looking at him straight on I can sense the wickedness in it. “Maybe I’ll make you wear your naughty girl plug to dinner tonight as a reminder to behave yourself.”
Juliet’s hands fly behind her, as if protecting her ass from something. “No, no, I’ll be good! I promise.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise, princess. Because if this behavior continues, I will have Maxwell send the plane to fetch us sooner rather than later, and you will spend the entire flight remembering how to be Daddy’s good little girl. Am I making myself clear, Juliet?”
Shoulders slumping slightly, Juliet nods as best she can with him still gripping her chin. “Yes, Daddy.”
Removing his hand from her face, Jasper slides an arm around her waist and presses a kiss to her forehead as he leads her away.
Leaving me behind, my head reeling with the information I’ve just been given.
An island. A plane owned by someone named Maxwell, who is likely just as rich, if not more so, than Jasper himself. And two very, very fucked-up stepsiblings.
If this isn’t the story of a lifetime, I don’t know what is.
Time to do some research. And get myself out of the gossip column game for good.
When a nosy reporter finds her way to the island, Evander Hawthorne is already there, ready and waiting to spring the trap he’s set for her in Daddy Dangerous , book four in the Forbidden Pleasures Island series.