Page 72 of Forbidden Mistress

And now I’m pregnant with his baby…whoever he is!

I’m on the verge of throwing up, and I rush into the house, grabbing my purse from the foyer.

“Hey, Cassie,” Skye says brightly. But as soon as she catches sight of my face her tone changes. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” I say, fishing my keys out of my purse. “Everything is definitely not okay. I need to go see my stepmom. I’ll be back.”

Her hand flies to her chest. “O-okay.”

I fly out the door and get into my car. I just need some advice. Someone who can tell me what to do. And Lori loves me like a daughter. She just got home from the hospital this morning, but I know she’ll help me figure this out.

Since Lori’s house is in Malibu, it’s a full forty-five minutes later before I’m pulling into her driveway. I blast my music loudly to drown out my thoughts, and prevent me from freaking out.

When I arrive, I enter through the back door, which the family uses almost exclusively. The door’s unlocked, so I push it open and call out Lori’s name.

“I’m in the den, hon!” she replies.

Oh, thank God. Just hearing her motherly voice fills me with a sense of relief and comfort. I move through the kitchen, and into the den. Lori is sitting in her recliner, wrapped in her favorite fleece robe, watching a game show.

“Hi, honey,” she says, glancing over at me.

I walk up and give her a hug. “Are you excited to sleep in your own bed tonight?”

She grins up at me. “Yes, thank God!”

Just then, her phone beeps, and she asks me to bring her a bottle of water so she can take her medication, which I do.

When I pull the bottle out of the fridge, I walk by the little landing area that has the hooks on the wall where we all used to hang our car keys. Lori’s car keys are there and just beside her is another set of keys. One of the fobs on the key chain has a red stylized trident on it. I’ve seen that symbol before—on Liam’s car.

His spare set, hopefully?

I walk back in and hand her the bottle. “Liam’s here?” I ask, my heart suddenly thudding. He’s the last person I want to see right now. And I definitely don’t want him around when I ask Lori for advice about my predicament.

“Oh, yes. He canceled his afternoon meetings. He wanted to stick close to home to make sure I was doing okay.”

I frown. “But he knew I was coming…”

She shrugs and opens her water bottle, knocking back her pills. “He’s out for a run on the beach. He said he’d be gone for a while. Said something about needing to clear his head.”

Relief washes over me, and my muscles immediately unclench.

“Oh, but he mentioned that paperwork you were looking for. You can probably go grab it now if you want.”

I shake my head. “What papers? He didn’t say anything to me the other day.”

“Your dad’s will, and a copy of the trust, is what I think he said.”

I blink. Oh! Finally. Something I said at the hospital the other day must have gotten through to him. “Where did he leave them? In the dining room?”

“Upstairs, in the guestroom.”

The guestroom is what Lori calls Liam’s old bedroom that she has mostly left decorated with his high school athletic memorabilia, some kind of empty-nester shrine to the ghost of kid past. Liam is most likely staying in his old room while he’s been here.

Well, it’s not his room anymore and I’ll be quick about getting what I want. I can shove them in the car, make sure Lori’s comfortable, then be gone by the time he gets back from his run. No harm, no foul.

“Okay, let me run up and grab those before I forget, then.”

I’m still swimming in confusion and emotion about the Hart thing, but there’s no way I can pour my soul out to Lori knowing Liam could walk in at any second. I’ll just have to talk to her tomorrow, I guess.

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