Page 29

“Your husband. Who are you?”

“Lydia Cipriani. Perhaps it’s time she knew it all,” said the woman, staring at Claudia.

“Shut up, Lydia. You weren’t invited to this ball.”

“I was invited in your very covert way, darling. As you always did things.”

“Will someone just tell us what the hell is happening here?” asked Nash.

“It’s quite simple. This whore was sleeping with my husband because her own was infested with disease,” sneered Lydia. “Anthony was so smitten with you he would have given you the world. And he did. He gave you a daughter.”

“If you loved him, why did you not try to find me?” asked Jenna.

“Find you?” laughed Lydia. “She had you kidnapped. She hired those pathetic people to care for you and keep you away.”

“Wh-why? I don’t understand. Why would you do that? You let your only child live away from you, grow up in another home? Why? No money, not a decent home, no education?” Jenna stared at the woman, who only stared back in silence. “I deserve to know!”

Her scream echoed in the cavernous room, and even Claudia jumped.

“He couldn’t leave Lydia as we planned, and Jacques refused to divorce me. We were trapped in loveless, horrible marriages. I looked at you and only saw him. It was a reminder every day of what I couldn’t have.”

“But you had me!” yelled Jenna.

“Oh, that’s not all,” said Lydia. “Tell her the rest.”

“I despise you,” said Claudia, staring at the old woman.

“Same.”

“Anthony put you in his will. If Lydia dies, everything, all of his businesses as they are today, go to you.”

“What?Why?”

“Because you’re his only heir.”

“But why would that anger you? Isn’t that what you want, for your daughter to have it all? All of it?” asked Kane.

“She’s not quite that generous,” said Lydia. “If I die, everything goes to Genevieve. But if Genevieve and I are both dead…”

“It goes to Claudia,” said Erin.

“Yes. It goes to me, as it should. I would sell every business, every building, all of it. I would have endless amounts of money and riches. With everyone in the world believing that Genevieve was dead, I had all of it free and clear.”

“Lady, you’re eighty-seven years old. You won’t live long enough to spend it.”

“It won’t matter. I’ll have it. There is never enough. Never.”

“I want to make sure I understand this,” said Jenna quietly, standing in front of the two old women.

“You had an affair with her husband, resulting in me.

The only child between the two of you. Instead of recognizing that I could carry on your family legacies, both of them, you made the horrible decision to have me kidnapped and taken away, declaring me dead.

“I live more than fifty years in the states without knowing anything. My protectors, kidnappers, whatever you call them have no money, no education, and cannot provide for me in the way they should have been able to. Then, I’m attacked, and somehow you found out.”

“You left the convent. That’s how I found out.”

“So, you knew I was in a convent?”

“Who do you think suggested that to the stupid priest and to Victor? It was me. You’d be safely tucked away, no spouse, no children, no knowledge of who you really were. Then you decided to become savior to those whorish girls.”

Jenna took one step forward and slapped Claudia so hard she fell backwards onto the sofa.

“Those young girls were kidnapped, raped, beaten, and tortured. They were not whorish. From the sound of this story, you were the whore. Both of you. Because I highly doubt that you were innocent in any of this, Lydia.”

“I wasn’t,” she said, lifting her chin. “I admit that. I was more concerned for our businesses than Anthony. He was only concerned for her. And you.”

“He knew about me?”

“He knew. He was devastated when you were kidnapped. She thought it would bring them closer. Instead, it drove them apart. She wanted to leave and go somewhere, just the two of them. He wanted to find you. So, she devised a plan that would make it look as though you were dead.”

“After just a few weeks? You must have paid a pretty penny for that,” said Ghost. He saw the shame in Claudia’s face and knew. “You didn’t pay them what you said you would, did you?”

“I paid them. For a few years and then stopped. It no longer mattered after a few years. They’d fallen in love with the child by that time.”

“Where is the will?” asked Jenna.

Lydia and Claudia both stared at the woman, frowning. Lydia was the first to reach for it, handing her a copy.

“You just happened to have that with you?” growled Gaspar.

“Call it women’s intuition,” smirked Lydia.

Jenna walked toward the others, each of them looking at it. In the corner of the room, Trak stared at the two old women, making them squirm in their seats.

Handing Jenna a pen, she wrote several sentences on the will and signed it, then handed it to the others to sign. When she turned, she tossed it to Lydia.

“There. I’ve declined my inheritance. When you’re both dead, which at this moment I hope is very, very soon, the entire estate will be divided and sent to multiple charities.

My friends have witnessed my request, and it’s been signed.

If the lawyers need anything else, have them contact us. ” Jenna turned, headed to the door.

“Where are you going? I’ve planned this ball for you. You cannot leave!” said Claudia.

“Oh, I’m leaving, and I will never set foot in this horrible place again. Not that you were going to leave me anything, but when you die, again, I hope soon, burn it to the ground, or I will.”

Nash smirked at his beautiful girl as they left the chateau, passing dozens of partygoers coming in. Gaspar and Nine stood in front of the old women.

“Advice? Hell, I’ll give it anyway,” said Gaspar. “Just poison one another and be done with your miserable feud. You’ve wasted your lives and could have been enjoying that beautiful woman related to both of you.”

Gaspar and Nine walked away as Lydia and Claudia just stood staring at the empty room. They nearly had heart attacks when they heard the deep baritone voice.

“If you do not poison one another, I will be happy to come back and do it for you. In fact, I may do it anyway,” said Trak. He pushed through the two women, knocking them both back down to the sofas, shaking in fear.

When he stepped outside, the others were waiting.

“All good?” asked Ian.

“It will be.”