Page 41 of Miss Taken Identity

A nervous hush fills the whole room, but then the old man laughs to himself, Daphne’s hand slipping from his shoulder.

“Sit down, everyone, sit down,” he urges us, suddenly sounding friendly again.

He also sounds tired, like he’s had enough drama for one day.

“I told you the truth, Daphne,” he goes on to explain loud enough for us all to hear.

“You are my daughter, and you will be taken care of. I promise you that,” he says somberly.

I can see Daphne’s eyes shifting back to bitterness. The kind of nastiness that only being from the streets brings out in some people.

“But you said I was your heir…that I’d have it all once you were gone,” she says under her breath, leaning closer to him.

“I said what I said to see what you’d do with your newfound power,” Condor retorts, looking at Xander.

“And the first thing you decided was to stab the one man who’s helped me, tooth and nail, through thick and thin for over half his life, right in the back.”

Nobody says a word, but Daphne looks betrayed as well as confused. Her penetrating, hateful stare only intensifies in the silence.

“Xander Alexander Condor. That’s your real name,” he finally says in a powerful, deep voice that sees his whole body flushed with vigor for a change.

Almost making him look young again.

“When you came along, Xander, it would have been a scandal for the world to find out you were my son outside of marriage. The second child I’d had to a different woman,” he adds, glancing at Daphne.

“So you and your mother were kept a secret. But I kept you as close as I could, for as long as I could….”

There’s a low, painful sound from the end of the table, and turning to look, I can see it’s Daphne. The shock of learning she has a half-brother who also just happens to be her new boss who she was planning to get rid of now dawns on her.

Destroying her inside. Whatever’s left of her.

“It’s a lie!” she shrieks, jumping to her feet and pointing her finger at me.

“It’s all her fault, that little bitch turning up, pretending to be me. It’s all her fault,” she tries to say, but her emotions get the better of her.

She slumps back into her seat, sobbing, and buries her face in her hands.

Condor puts his hand on her shoulder in a rare show of affection, reminding her that although she’s made a huge mistake, she’s still family. And true to his word, she’ll be looked after financially.

“But I’m thinking, Xander,” the old man continues. “That if you’ve quit on me, I’m about as useful to this company as these old legs of mine… Then who’ll carry the torch? Who’ll be the next head of Condor?” he asks.

A glimmer of light shines in his eyes as he focuses on me, and I feel my hand run over my belly again under the table.

Daphne lets out another pained groan.

“I think,” Xander says, finally getting his say. “That if you give Chloe and me a chance, and maybe just a little time, we’ll have an heir for you. Won’t we, darling?” he asks, taking my hand in his again.

“But not a child born outside of marriage,” old man Condor warns us both.

“There’s been too much trouble that comes from that.”

Xander stands up, my hand still in his.

“Then I guess there’s only one thing for it,” he says, looking sheepish for the first time ever.

I think I know what he’s talking about when he starts to think aloud about one day or something far off in the future.

People say those kinds of things when they don’t really mean it or don’t want to commit but like the idea.

But Xander’s not an ordinary person.

He’s a man who knows what he wants, and before he’s even done asking me, I know what he was going to do regardless of what happened here today with his father, with his own strange and equally messed up family.

Keeping my hand in his, he shifts his seat back far enough to get down on one knee, which draws a cry of disbelief from my mom.

I can already feel the tears in my eyes, but they’re tears of joy.

Knowing my man’s about to ask me the one thing I never dreamed he could after just a single day together.

But it’s the only question I know the answer to when it comes to my heart.

It’s what I want for the rest of our life together.

“Chloe,” he says, a line of silver at the edge of his own dark eyes. “I love you, and more than just those three words could ever mean. I want to prove it to you. Give you and our baby the life I know you deserve…Will you? Just say it. Just say yes. Tell me you’ll be my wife.”

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