Page 96 of Seductive Scoundrel

“Did you cheat on Dad?”

The silence tells me everything I need to know.

“It’s not what you think.” She’s crying, and if there’s one thing a good man never wants to do, it’s make his mother cry.

But there’s no time to be soft. Not when everything I know and love is at stake. “What I think is that you cheated on Dad. Did you? That would be a yes or a no.”

“Yes.”

She doesn’t offer anything more, and I don’t want to hear her petty justifications anyway. There is no excuse for cheating. Everyone tells me I’m too black and white, but I call it being a decent fucking human being. If you want to step out of your marriage so badly, end it. Don’t betray a person you made vows to. It’s not acceptable.

“Who is my biological father?” I can’t believe I even need to ask this question.

“I don’t know.”

“Let me rephrase since it seems we’re playing games. Who do youthinkmy biological father is? If the man you married is infertile, wouldn’t it stand to reason that your lover sired me?”

It’s a completely inopportune time to think it, but I can hear Mia in my head asking who talks like that and me answering that rich people do.

She’s part of my DNA now, and I’m never going to stop thinking about her.

It will be my penance for taking my head out of the game and deviating from my life plan of remaining single and focused.

“Dean…”

“Answer the question.”

“It’s possible. I don’t know.”

“Well, didn’t you ever think it would be a good idea to find out? That maybe I should know who my goddamn father is?”

I can’t stand this conversation anymore.

I can’t even believe the words I’m saying are my life. What is this, an episode of Maury? The results are in, and you are not the father…

I never want to see her face again.

And I’m definitely going to be sick.

This is the first time I’ve ever hung up on my mother. I drop my phone back into my pocket and lean against the hot bricks of the building. I need to calm down. My pulse is racing and my chest is closing, so maybe I’m having a heart attack.

I take a dozen deep breaths and then return to both Dexters without sitting down.

“Let’s do the DNA test,” I say.

Dexter Senior nods. “I’ll have my assistant set it up.”

“I can only imagine how you’re feeling right now. Bianca’s sister went through the same thing and…” Dex’s voice trails off. There’s nothing to say, and he’s just filling the dead air.

He’s trying, and it’s not his fault, so I shoot him a half-hearted smile. “I’ll be fine. Just want to know the truth. Is the deal still going through?”

I deserve double what Dexter Senior offered me at this point.

“If you want it to,” he says. “Jane confirmed everything is good on their end.”

Jane. Mia’s boss. What a goddamn mess every facet of my life has become.

“Let’s do the DNA test today. Okay?” I ask.

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