Page 98 of Dream Girl Drama

“Thanks,” Sig muttered, watching the screen as the call disengaged.

“We’ll begin taxiing in five minutes,” called the pilot from the front of the plane.

Distracted, Sig nodded... and looked back down at his phone, his curiosity multiplying by the second. What important revelation could possibly be in that file?

After another few seconds of hesitation, he tapped his email icon and scrolled down, down, past all the correspondence with LA, ads, subscription renewal alerts, until he landed on the message from Niko. He opened it, went to the attached PDF, and started reading.

While attempting to access marriage and divorce records with the county clerk of Hennepin County, a paternity test was discovered. At the behest of the Gauthier family, Harvey Lerner was asked, via the courts, to take the test that ultimately resulted in a false result.

It was determined that Harvey Lerner is not the paternal father of Sig Gauthier.

The words bled together. His pulse pumped in his ears.

That couldn’t be right. That couldn’t be...

But it made so much sense. His mother’s resentment, her lack of communication with her family, Harvey leaving them so abruptly.My God. Oh my God.

If he wasn’t Harvey’s son, wasn’t his blood relative...

Then the man married to Chloe’s mother wasn’t his real father.

Not even his stepfather. Nothing.

There was no relation whatsoever.

Meaning...

Chloe wasn’t his stepsister.

They weren’t related at all. Not by marriage. Not in any way.

The revelation was too good to be true, though. He needed more than one source to confirm, before he ran with it. Otherwise he’d open up himself and Chloe to another disappointment. One that might very well kill them this time around.

Hands shaking, he called his mother, barely able to speak when she answered. “Rosie? Mom.” Until she made a sound at his use of the word “mom,” until that very moment, the implication of this news where his mother was concerned didn’t occur to him. Now, the shock jolted him almost violently in his seat, his head shaking no of its own volition. She’d known. She’d held the key to his prison cell this entire time and hadn’t offered it to him. “Rosie.”

“Yes, Sig?” Silence passed. “Is something the matter?”

“He’s not my father,” Sig managed, lips parched. “Harvey. He’s not my dad. Is that the truth? Yes or no?”

He held his breath.

“Sig, I...” Something toppled over in the background. “Why would you a-ask—”

Anger and something else—betrayal, possibly, yes—locked around his windpipe, causing the breath he’d been holding to burst out of him. “Don’t lie to me, please. Give me a straight answer, just this once. This... God, if this is true, if Harvey isn’t my father, not knowing the truth could have kept me from her. I could have left her for no reason, don’t youseethat?”

Her confusion was palpable even through the phone. “Who, Sig? Who are you talking about?”

“Chloe.” Sure, he’d never told his mother about Chloe. He’d locked the magic of her up tight, refusing to share until he knew for sure they were forever. But wanting to know the truth about his parentage should have been enough. No, itwasenough.“Who is my father, Rosie? I want the truth now. Now, okay? No more games.”

Several moments swam past, each of them a blur. “Bobby Prince.” Her exhale spoke of relief tinged with a telling dose of shame. “The man I was seeing before Harvey swooped back in... I— Oh my God. I’m very sorry, Sig. I should have told you. Old habits die hard and I was brought up to keep secrets, avoid anything that could poison the family name. And there was... more. There’s more.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “I just wanted to prove we didn’t need any of them. We didn’t.”

Sig struggled to locate his compassion—and miraculously, he did, though it was buried deep beneath a wealth of anger and relief and urgency. Maybe because his mother’s quest to make it alone reminded him of Chloe’s journey. Or maybe staying mad wasn’t possible when life had just become worth living again.

He and Chloe could be together. There wasn’t anything stopping them.

Nothing but this flight to Los Angeles. Signing with another team.

He gulped in a shuddering breath, filling his lungs completely for the first time in a full minute. Maybe days. “Thank you for finally telling me the truth, Rosie. But right now, I have somewhere to be. I’ll call you another time.” He swallowed hard. “And I’ll tell you about her.”

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