Page 37 of Be My Traitor

Lucas read it and frowned. “I have no idea.”

“Really? So there’s nothing you’re not telling me?”

“There’s lots I’m not telling you Mills, just as I’m sure there’s plenty you’re not telling me,” Lucas said. “I mean, you have no idea about the various businesses I’m launching over the next year or two, just as I don’t know what’s going on within House Knight.”

“Lucas, If you’re going to treat this as a game, you might as well leave now and don’t bother coming back.”

I made to get up, but Lucas gestured at me to stay where I was. “I’m sorry, Milly. I’m so used to being on the defensive all the time, it’s an automatic reflex when I’m in a difficult situation.”

“So you do know what the note means?”

Lucas read it again, grimacing. “Without more details, it’s hard to say. I mean, it could be about my ex-girlfriend. We broke up not long before I came back to King Town and she didn’t take it well. Maybe someone thinks I’m still with her, but I promise you Milly that my relationship with Tilda is well and truly over.”

“Is that the only thing you can think of?”

Lucas ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “No,” he final said. “There is something else. It was something I was hoping to keep to myself, at least until I had more information to go on.”

“More information about what?”

“I have a sister, Milly.”

“A sister?” Of all the things he could have told me, this was the last thing I expected.

“I only found out about her recently,” Lucas said. “As you know I was adopted. Even if I hadn’t been old enough to remember the adoption process, Penelope never let me forget how ‘lucky’ I was she’d swooped in and saved from the terrible life I’d been born into. I’d always thought my mother had died when I was little, which is how I ended up in care, but after Penelope died, I found documents which showed that my mother was very much alive. She’d put me in care because she couldn’t look after me and had always intended to come and get me when she’d turned her life around. Instead, Penelope Donatello gave her money in exchange for giving up any hold on me. Since I thought my mother was dead, I didn’t bother asking Penelope if we could go look for her.”

As he spoke, Lucas kept his gaze firmly fixed on his coffee cup, like he was ashamed to meet my eyes. “Now that Penelope’s no longer here, I’m free to find my biological family, but it’s proving difficult to track my mother down. However, my investigators discovered that Penelope’s money helped her turn her life around, at least for a while, because she had another child, my sister. I don’t know her name. I know virtually nothing about her. What Idoknow is that she’s in her final year at King Academy.”

“She’s at the Academy?” I gasped.

“Apparently so.” For the first time, Lucas looked directly at me. “You can’t tell anyone this but the real reason why I took the head teacher position was so I could find my sister. As head, I have access to all the students’ information. I’ve been working my way through them, narrowing down possibilities so I can find my sister. I have a shortlist of five names and I’ve been doing a more in-depth background check on all of them to see if I can prove if one of them is my sister. Milly, this could be my chance to build a real family. I’ve been on my own all my life. Penelope was never really a loving parent. I was more of a fashion accessory to her than a son. I moved around too much to ever make proper friends. I can’t trust anyone in my business because they’re all looking to stab me in the book. Suddenly, I’ve gone from that to having a daughter, a sister… maybe even a partner.”

His eyes were filled with a hopeful innocence that melted my heart.

“Five names you say?”

Lucas nodded. “Yes. They’re the only girls whose backgrounds raise the possibility of being adopted or not being who they say they are. There’s a lot of reasons why that might be. We both know that subterfuge reigns in King Town and plenty of families send their children to the Academy under a false name to keep them safe. I’m convinced that one of those girls is my sister.”

“Okay.” I thought for a moment, drumming my fingers on the arm of my chair. “I think I know how we can get that list down to one name. How would you feel about bringing in some outside help?”

“It would depend on who that was.” Lucas was cautiously optimistic.

“My father knowseveryonein this town,” I told him. “We don’t have to give him the full details. We don’t even have to tell him that the girl we’re looking for is your sister. But I can ask him to prepare a report on each of the names on your list and I guarantee that he’ll be able to find the information you need to find your sister.”

“You really think he can do that?”

“Iknowhe can. Do you want me to call him?”

“Yes! Yes!”

I got my phone and called my dad. He answered within the first ring.

“Hi, Milly. Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine, Dad.”

“And Amber’s good?”

“Yes, dad. All tucked up in bed for the night after a weekend with Lucas.” I glanced over at Lucas and smiled briefly.

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