Page 44 of Secret Mistress
Part of him wanted to chase after the car that had already passed through his gates, but he was once again paralyzed with fear like he’d been when his father scolded him for living his life under the limelight of school plays.
Theonly emotion he understood in his soul was the joy that came from the applause of the audience.
He could please people then.
With Ashley, he’d hurt her and he hadn’t ever intended that.
She was sweet.
He lowered his head as he went inside his house.
Anthony had helped himself to a bottle of wine, though he poured Matt a glass when he joined him in the livingroom. Anthony handed it over. “Matt, you look beaten.”
“I… I’m not sure what to do.” He sipped but the wine had no taste.
Love wasn’t something he truly understood, though in acting the emotion out he usually pretended the woman in the scene with him had some secret answers to his philosophical life questions, like how in the world anyone could be happy all the time.
Ashleyleft him lost and confused.
Now that she was gone, his spine tingled like he needed to do something to get her back.
“You’re falling for Ashley.” Anthony drank deeply from his own wine.
His private life wasn’t meant for family gossip. He straightened and met his brother’s brown-eyed stare as he asked in a dare, “So? We’re both free and consenting adults.”
Anthony snortedas he said, “But her mother…”
Now that lead-off was meant for him to question. Ordinarily he wouldn’t because Anthony looked just like their father discussing money, but Matt’s neck was hot. Ashley made him… well,feel.“What about her mother?”
Anthony put his glass down on a table next to the couch. “Her mother and her aunt work for Jennifer and handle her PR.”
“What?” Hiseyes widened.
Jennifer’s PR team was amazing. He’d known that but he hadn’t thought Ashley was so close to them.
Had she lied when he’d asked her if she knew Jennifer’s PR team? She must have. He paced and tried to recall the exact conversation, but couldn’t.
Was everything about her since she’d come here false? Was he this much of a fool? His mind shouted the questions andhe wanted to scream—he didn’t know the answers.
Anthony pointed toward the couch. “I did a complete investigation on Jennifer. Give me a tablet and one minute to pull up the report for you to read. We can sit and go through it.”
A tablet. His nose twitched. He returned to his office and Ashley’s rose perfume lingered in the air. He grabbed the tablet and strode out, handing it tohis brother. “Her mother works for Jennifer too?”
Anthony sent information from his phone to Matt’s tablet. “You don’t know much about your new girlfriend.”
His pulse throbbed. He met Anthony’s accusation like he was speaking to his father as he said, “I knew she was related to Jennifer and taking a job with her cousin.”
Anthony gave him the tablet back. “Okay, here it is.Ashley Romero is the daughter of Francesca Romero. Francesca’s expertise is the relationships she’s built with social media bloggers in fashion and entertainment.”
Everything he said was in the PDF document Matt scanned. He rose from the couch and continued to read. Ashley’s family hadn’t been rolling in riches growing up, but she wasn’t poor. Her mother was clearly an excellent PR person.He stopped and asked his brother, “So why was Ashley cleaning houses?”
“She wasn’t the point of my investigation.” Anthony took another drink of wine. “From how little there is about her online, I’m guessing she wasn’t good at the family business of supporting Jennifer’s career, but Jennifer placed her in the Morgan family employment so she’d have access to what the staff said when shewas Peter’s girlfriend.”
Yet Ashley was here in LA and Jennifer had hired her.
Jennifer had also trusted her to have a baby for her. Ashley had her side chosen in some sort of war and it wasn’t aligned with his side.
His mind had a thousand questions all at once that made him question everything.
