Page 39 of Secret Revenge

“No, not Skye. Anderson. Search for Anderson.” My world was spinning.

He looked at me strangely but did not ask me why I had changed my name even though I knew he was curious. He typed the name into the search bar and clicked on it when it appeared.

I saw a picture of my father in the folder, along with details of his company and how the older Ross had caused ruin to his business.

I read everything that they wrote about his company and what had been done to him, and looked down to the label that read ‘reparations to be made’ and felt tears well up in my eyes.

He cared. Travis actually cared. It wasn’t just for show. Not when he’d encrypted this file so deep we’d barely been able to find it.

I remembered what he had told me the first time we met, when he had said that I seemed to have a bias against him and his family. That I seemed unwilling to give them a chance, even though I’d never met them and knew nothing about them.

I choked on a sob as I realized that he was completely right. That was exactly who I was. I had decided that the Ross brothershadto be evil simply because their father was. As though evil were something you inherited.

I was no different from anyone else who judged people based solely on their parentage. Now I had committed serious crimes because I was trying to find something that never existed. Trying to find proof of my prejudice. And soon he would know what I really was.

I could no longer fight the feelings I had for him. I had tried all I could to lock it all away and pretend that I did not feel anything for him but now that the dam had been broken and I had come to see the wrong I had done, I could not pretend anymore. More tears ran down my face as I struggled to get control of myself without success.

“I can’t believe this,” Michael said as he got up from the chair in front of his computers and proceeded to sit on the sofa instead.

He planted his head on his hands, his expressions clear to see. I understood what he was feeling as it was exactly what I felt myself. Apart from the feeling of love that was now blossoming, I also felt empty. All this time, this was the only thing that hadbeen driving me for years but now there was no more purpose, everything had vanished in front of my eyes.

Jonathan’s investment would be for nought. If the spreadsheet was accurate, Michael and I would both have money coming−from Travis Ross. But that was the least of my problems now that I had seduced him and broken into a mega-corporation’s secure servers in my determination to prove that he was evil.

Struck by a sudden idea, I searched for Jonathan’s name in Travis’s secret file. Nothing came up.

I shrugged. Maybe the Rosses hadn’t found Jonathan yet. Maybe he’d changed his name, like I did when my mother remarried. Maybe his daughter had never shared his surname in the first place and so he hadn’t come up in their search.

I took a deep breath, knowing what I needed to do next. I needed to tell Jonathan that he didn’t have a story.

19

TRAVIS

My mind was all over the place as I stood in front of the island waiting for my pot of coffee. The night had come and gone, and with it was my peace of mind and any hope of relaxation I had.

I had tossed and turned all through the night as my mind danced around various matters… all of them leading to one person. Emily.

I knew that I had been cold to Emily last night, before but I had not been able to help it. My emotions had been going haywire and I was in turmoil. Realizing you were in love with a woman the same night you found her breaking into the vulnerable heart of your company was a lot.

Try as I might to forget about it and move past it, it remained on my mind. I had allowed myself to be distracted by her, enjoying her embrace and the moment we spent together… but the realization of my feelings for her had thrown me off balance.

I had spent the night in the family villa, knowing fully well that spending the night at my condo, where Emily had once slept beside me, was a bad idea. If I had done that, I would have second guessed everything and gone running back to her,apologizing for the way that I had treated her and asking for her forgiveness.

I had chosen the easier path, spending time with my cousins and ignoring my feelings until they died.

That was the theory, anyway.

I poured myself a steaming cup of coffee and took a large gulp before filling it back up. I plated my breakfast of pancakes and some eggs with bacon before taking a seat on one of the stools at the island.

I cut into the stack of pancakes on my plate and stuffed them into my mouth, letting out a sigh as I chewed. I was exhausted from thoughts that had been running through my head from last night.

“Alright, spill,” Alexi said, looking at me. “What is your problem? What is wrong with you?”

“Why do you think there’s something wrong with me?” I asked, raising my brows at him as I forked more pancakes into my mouth.

“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you look a lot more shitty than you usually do?” Leo chimed in, causing me to roll my eyes at him.

Brendan and Jackson had left before the sun came up to attend some sort of urgent business, so it was just the three of us in the villa this morning.