Page 1 of Obsession

Part One

Rocky Foundations

Prologue

Daddy Issues

Ella

“Ella!”

Her name echoed up the marbled staircase of her seven-bedroom house and floated along the ivory corridor to her room.

“Ella!” Her mother’s next yell was even shriller, the sound drawing Ella’s attention from the phone in her hands.

“What?” she muttered, irritated to have been disturbed.

Hadn’t she already told her mum, Susie, that she was busy? What was so important that she was hollering for Ella?

If she and Lizzie didn’t nail down the arrangements for Ella’s birthday party’s guest list, how could she ensure Tommy Willingham would attend? It was like she’d told Lizzie last week. If Tommy wasn’t there, then neither would Ella be.

“What is it?”

Ella’s voice was louder, although her stare stubbornly refused to leave the screen. It was only the quiet tap at her door that finally forced her phone to her lap.

“Miss Bennett?” Holly, their maid, hovered in the doorway, her fingers balling into her hands.

“What is it, Holly?” Ella snapped.

Frankly, someone with Holly’s poor style should know better than to disturb her at all, but no doubt her mum had sent the mouse-like brunette up to find her.

“Ms. Anders asked for you to join her downstairs, Miss.” Holly’s voice was quieter as she leaned closer. “There’s a man here to see you.”

A man?

She straightened at the idea, her pulse racing as she typed a quick reply to Lizzie before sliding her latest iPhone into her pocket. Tommy’s invite would have to wait.

“What man?”

“It’s not my place to say, Miss.” Holly’s gaze lowered as Ella paced to the bedroom door. “But I think he might be your father.”

My father?

Despite taking his name, Ella had never even met the man. Her mother had told her about her intention to reach out to him, though. Apparently, the already luxurious lifestyle they led was due to for an upgrade, and Susie thought Daddy should pay.

It’s the least he owes me.

Striding past Holly, her gaze fixed on the top of the staircase. If the maid’s guess was correct, then the man who’d denied paternity and insisted she and her mother provide the proof was now waiting for her downstairs.

What a scumbag.

Defiance resounded in her chest, covering up the sting of rejection her father had inflicted. Pulling in a sharp breath, she gripped the golden hand rail and started her descent, the words her mother had told her when she was younger ringing in her ears.

‘No man has the right to make you feel less than yourself.’ Ella recalled the advice clearly. ‘Don’t give him that power over you.’

Reaching the bottom step, her gaze landed on the stranger standing in their vast hallway. The cut of his suit said he had money—the sort she was used to—but his red-face and thinning hairline revealed a man who was easily in his forties. He turned at her approach, his weight shifting from one foot to the other.

Her focus flitted to her mum, whose stance suggested she was enjoying the disheveled state of her ex-lover.

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