Page 63 of Sweet Little Thing

“Stone won’t allow me in the building. You won’t answer my calls or texts. I didn’t know how else to talk to you.” The pleading in his voice wasn’t easy to hear.

“Jasper, there is nothing for us to talk about. We need space and time right now.”

Jasper took one step toward me, and Geraldine took a step toward him as a silent warning. She didn’t seem to care that Jasper was a foot taller than her. She held her head high and glared at him with determination.

“Gerry, you know I won’t hurt her. I just need to talk to her.”

Geraldine shook her head. “You’re talking, but you’re not getting closer. I wasn’t supposed to let you inside.”

Jasper lifted his eyes to look at me. “I want a DNA test for Heidi. And I’m having one done for me, too. I…Hell, I don’t know what my parents were capable of. I could be a bastardof one of my father’s secretaries,” he let out a hard humorless laugh. “Wouldn’t that fix everything.”

Heidi didn’t need her DNA tested. It would scare her or confuse her. I shook my head no. “I won’t have Heidi upset.”

He took another step in my direction. “She won’t ever know. We need a swab from inside her mouth and a strand of hair. Nothing else. If she is a Van Allan, then she deserves the inheritance that is rightfully hers.”

“No! She is an Edwards. My mother,” I felt emotion clog my throat, making it hard to speak. “My mother…was our mother, and she always will be. Heidi needs to know nothing more than that. I WILL NOT let you upset her!” I was shouting. Fear clawed at my chest. If he tested her DNA, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to protect Heidi if she was a Van Allan.

“I would never, ever hurt her. She would never have to know anything more than she does now. But…I’d like permission to visit her. If she is my sister, then I’ve missed out on that. I never had a sibling. I want to know mine.”

My throat was closing up, and my hands felt sweaty. I shook my head and backed away from him. My vision was starting to blur. All around the edges it darkened as it tunneled.

I could hear my heart hammering rapidly in my chest as I considered no longer having any claim on Heidi. I could lose her. They could take her away from me. They could whisk her off to wherever they wanted, and she’d need me. She’d be scared and confused.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe.

The sound of the front door swinging open barely registered with me. I gasped trying to draw oxygen into my lungs. It burned and I blinked trying to stop the darkness closing in on me.

“JASPER!” Stone’s roar echoed through the house. He took long, quick strides into the parlor with a furious expression. He looked terrifying and if I wasn’t currently fighting for air, I mightbe scared. But as it was he wasn’t the most frightening thing at the moment.

His gaze swung to me, and he appeared to pale. “Are you okay?” he asked, his tone still harsh but there was concern in his gaze which meant I might be dying.

He closed the space between us his hands grabbing my shoulders. “Breathe,” he ordered as if it were that easy.

I tried as my eyes watered.

“Fuck,” he growled. “Look at me. Focus on my face.”

I did. I was willing to try anything.

“You’re okay. Everything is okay. I swear it,” he said softly. I’d never heard him use that tone before. “Focus,” he encouraged. “Think about taking a deep breath in.”

I shook my head thinking it wasn’t going to work when his thumb brushed my bottom lip. As if it were a magical button that had needed to be pressed, I sucked air into my lungs falling forward with the force.

Stone’s hands steadied me. “That’s it. Now count slow steady breaths. You’re fine. I’m here.”

“Heidi,” I croaked. “They’ll take her from me.” My eyes filled with tears and a sob broke free from my chest.

“No,” was his simple response.

“It’s all my fault. I let him in. I forgot. I thought he’d come to visit me,” Geraldine began to explain. Her high-pitched tone sounded frantic. I’d upset her. I hadn’t meant to do that. Jasper had talked about the DNA test and I’d lost it.

Heidi was all I had.

“Beulah,” Stone said my name again. “Breathe.”

I nodded but another cry fell from my lips. What if I lost her. How was I going to survive that. “He…” I sobbed. “He wants a DNA test.” I sucked in a shaky breath trying to calm down. “I’ll lose her.”

The veins in Stone’s neck stood out as he clenched his teeth,and his gaze darkened. He turned his head until he was looking over at Jasper.

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