Chapter 31 - Sasha
Chapter thirty-one
The moment I pull out of the driveway, leaving Lucy behind in our cottage, I know I’ll never be able to let her go. I can’t live without her. Without holding her in my arms, feeling her body against mine…The way she melts into me, taking everything I give her.
I don’t even realize where I’m going when I pull up to Ledger’s house.
If anyone can figure out the truth behind everything, it’s him.
He’s been hacking into systems since adolescence, and at this point, there isn’t much he can’t get into.
It’s how he started his relationship with Sloane.
And if it worked for them, maybe he can give me the all clear that Lucy isn’t actually some paid actress placed in my life to fuck me over.
It’s dangerous for me to allow even a small part of myself to hope, but I don’t have another choice.
I need her so intrinsically that she’s more essential to me than oxygen at this point.
I have to know if there is at least a chance I can trust this woman.
If my suspicions are correct and she’s up to no good, I’ll figure it out.
But if by some miracle she’s telling the truth, I’ll never let her go again.
“Hey, man! What’s going on?”
I’ve barely gotten out of the car when I’m met with Ledger, holding his baby daughter, Gisele. He bridges the gap between us, meeting me with a one-armed bear hug and pulling me to him. “It’s great to see you! Is everything okay?”
“Actually, I need your help with something,” I say as he leads me into his house.
“It’s your girl, isn’t it?”
“How the hell did you know I was having girl problems?”
Before Ledger can respond, I’m greeted by Sloane and their eldest child, LJ. He runs and jumps into my arms, squealing as I spin him around. “Sassa!”
“Hi, buddy!” I ruffle his blond hair before Sloane steps up behind him and pulls him from my arms.
She sets him on the ground and takes Gisele from Ledger. “Come on, kiddo, let's give these two some privacy. I have a feeling Sasha needs Daddy to help him with his special friend.”
Jesus, what energy am I giving off right now? I can’t look that pathetic.
Ledger leads us through the house to his office.
I’ve been here countless times, but I’ve never considered how cute it is.
His half is full of monitors and top-of-the-line equipment with sleek industrial vibes, but the other half couldn’t be any different.
He had it fixed up for Sloane when she moved in so she had a space to hang out while he worked, and it embodies her femininity perfectly.
It reminds me of the color Lucy brought into my life, but instead of shades of pink, my girl brought golden sunshine right into the heart of my monochromatic existence.
Ledger sits behind his computer and gestures for me to follow suit in one of the chairs across his desk. “Alright, spill. What’s going on with you and Lucy?”
“How did you...?”
“I know because I’ve been there. I could see the shadow in your eyes from the moment you stepped out of your car. I can tell how much you love her. And can I give you some advice? Don’t let something stupid keep you apart. Nothing is worth it.”
His words hit me hard. I’ve heard his and Sloane’s story time and time again.
How he fell madly in love with her and practically claimed her.
Stalked her and spoiled her until she conceded to him.
They both had insecurities to work through to reach their happily ever after, but it was worth it, and anyone who knows them would tell you the same thing.
There’s no doubt that they were made for each other.
With a sigh, I recount my troubles to Ledger.
“Things were great, man. Too good, really. You know my situation, though. With my position in the family, I’ve never considered a partner.
For starters, it’s too dangerous to trust someone new with so many lives on the line.
But even if I could easily give another my trust, I always swore I wouldn’t drag anyone into the danger the Taranov name comes with… ”
He listens as I tell him all about how I fell madly in love with Lucy, how I finally gave her my trust, then how I saw her in that café with Lawrence.
How she claimed that it was nothing and that he actually ended up threatening her at the end of it.
I leave out the parts about why she came to this city in the first place out of respect.
And of course I leave out the fact that his mom has been paying us to fuck, posing as her and his late father…
“Alright, let me get this straight. You’ve never trusted anyone, and then Lucy comes into your life and gains your trust in just weeks. And then you saw her with someone nefarious, created your own narrative of the situation, and didn’t once think to look into the validity of her account?”
Well, fuck. When he puts it that way.
“I…I guess so. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”
Ledger chuckles and grabs a handful of gummy candy from a jar on his desk.
“Alright, Sasha, I won’t give you much grief about this because I was in a very similar position as you a few years ago.
Our dear Jack talked some sense into me, so I’m going to try to do the same for you.
Your first mistake, of course, was not learning everything there is to know about her from the moment you learned her name.
Especially someone in your position who needs to know who they’re in bed with.
“Second, I need you to tell me the whole story. You’ve left out a major detail here that I can’t seem to get around. What grounds did this Lawrence guy have to threaten Lucy in the first place?”
I search his eyes for a moment, contemplating whether I should go ahead and tell him that Lucy is very likely his half sister. Ultimately, I realize if we are about to hack into her entire life, he’s going to find out anyway.
“Lucy…came here from California for a specific purpose. She received a pretty large sum of money from an anonymous trust, and the only clue she had to where it came from was that the lawyer who signed off on it worked for your father…” I pause, giving Ledger a moment to wrap his head around this news before continuing.
“She…she was able to get a piece of hair from one of MJ’s bows to send for a DNA test, and I've seen the results. It’s a match.
She shares the appropriate amount of DNA to be MJ’s aunt. ”
“Shit.” He runs both hands through his hair as he releases an exaggerated breath. “So you’re telling me that Lucy is…my half sister?”
“Yes.”
His wide eyes narrow on me. “And you’ve been treating her like shit?”
“Hey, look, man, I’m just being honest with you,” I say, throwing my hands up in surrender. “I’m here now, though, right? I want to figure this out. I mean, for all I know, she fabricated the DNA test.”
Ledger rubs his temples before turning to his main computer screen. “Alright, let's do this.”
We sit in silence as he does his super secret spy shit, and in no time, he’s found something.
“For starters, the DNA seems fake. Years ago, I did one of those crazy ancestry things because I was convinced there was no way Father and I were related. It was one of the more popular companies. It looks like she also has an account, and we’re not matches.”
“Fuck.” That doesn’t look good for her, honestly. I slump down in my chair as my already broken heart cracks even more.
“I know it doesn’t look good, but let's keep digging, alright? You said she received a large anonymous trust? If it came from one of Dad’s hired lawyers, it would have been documented and digitized by now. I’ll start looking into the family archives to see if I can see anything.”
Time ceases to exist as Ledger types away, pulling up countless tabs. I know he’ll tell me when he comes across something important, but I have to restrain myself from asking him every couple of minutes nonetheless.
At last, he ends my torture. “Well, Sasha. I think you need to apologize to your girl. Her story about meeting Lawrence outside Henry’s office before she started working for Mom tracks. I went back through the surveillance, and everything adds up. I also hacked into her phone.”
He pauses, and my heart sinks. If he finds out about the work with his mom…
Did we text about the time Blanche grabbed my dick?
He raises a brow and smirks, waiting for my response, but I keep my expression neutral.
He finally breaks our stare off with a laugh.
“I didn’t go through your texts with her or anything.
I just looked at the text thread with Lawrence.
Here.” He turns his screen toward me and hands me the mouse so I can scroll through their texts.
“Everything she said tracks. It seems he really did come in super friendly and then turn on her.”
My anger rises as I scroll through the texts from that lowlife imbecile threatening my girl.
When I reach the end, I’m ready to go to war.
He may have been able to slip past my radar recently, but after seeing this, his days are numbered.
I look up at Ledger and know there’s more, and from the look on his face, it’s pretty fucking important. Fuck.
“What is it?”
“What did you say Lucy used for the DNA test? Where did she get the hair?”
“It was one of the girls’ bows. I think she said it was MJ’s. Why?”
Ledger pulls his computer screen back toward him and clicks on a different tab, then turns it back to face me.
“I found the paperwork for the trust. It was Father’s lawyer who worked on the case, but it wasn’t for Dad.
” He clicks through to another page with a notarized agreement.
“Turns out he was doing his buddy a solid. Lucy’s mom didn’t want to take any money from her dad and only agreed to let him set that trust up if it was practically untraceable. Take a look…”
I scan the document on the screen and see that Ledger was right. It’s a written agreement notarized by the state. Signed by Donna Sommers and John F Carter II.
“No fucking way.”
“Yep.”
“So her and Jack?”
“Yep.”
Holy fuck.