Page 49 of Faking It with my Bestie's Billionaire Brother

I obviously wasn't going to get these answers from Spencer, but I remembered somebody who I was fairly certain could give me the answers.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed my phone out of my bag, and with shaky hands, I dialed a very familiar number.

"What's up, kiddo?" Leo answered amiably enough. "It's not like you to call me in the middle of the day."

"No, it's not," I said in a measured tone, and I could almost feel his attitude shift immediately after he heard my voice.

"Ava? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Leo, but I need to find something of a delicate nature out," I said. "It’s about somebody I care for very much. I’ll pay you."

Leo snorted. "Ava, you do not hire your big brother, but I will be more than happy to help you out."

"Leo, really, whatever you find out, it has to stay quiet."

"Okay, I'm intrigued, but you forget that staying quiet is kind of the name of the game for me when it comes to my clients. So, what's going on, Ava? Does this have something to do with your new hotshot boyfriend?"

"Sort of," I replied. "But it has more to do with Penny."

There was a brief silence, and I could feel him completely tuned into me then, just confirming my long-held suspicion that he had the hots for Penny.

"Give me the details," he said, all business-like, and I proceeded to fill him in on the conversation I overheard, the weird vibes I was getting, along with necessary details, like what I knew to be Penny's mother's name and approximate age when she supposedly died in childbirth.

"Any ideas as to why he would hide the woman's existence from Penny?" my brother asked.

"I don't know, Leo, but he called her a monster, so I'm scared. I want to know the truth, and I think Penny has a right to know if her mother is alive, but I also don't want to open Pandora's box."

"Oh, hey, kiddo, calm down. Now, just because I find information, that doesn't mean it needs to be shared with one and all. It's like you said, we need to be discreet. Let me find out what's going on with this mystery mother, and then, you can decide if it's something that needs to be shared with Penny or not."

"Alright, but Leo, I'm nervous. I don't want to know something that's going to ruin her whole life."

"Hey, I'm not going to do anything to hurt Princess Penny," he reassured me, and I knew that was just as much for my sake as it was for Penny's.

"Thanks, I owe you."

"No sweat, I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

When I got off the phone with him, I wished I could say that I felt some measure of peace, but if anything, my nerves were twisted up worse than ever.

I felt an urgency to uncover the secrets, and yet, I was scared. I was just grateful I had my big brother to help me out on this, because if Connie really was the monster that Spencer said she was, then I would need Leo's help to make sure that monster never got to Penny again.

Meanwhile, I would have to decide how to deal with cold and arrogant Mr. Ashbury. I already had an idea, and I knew he wasn't going to like it, but he had sealed his fate with his nasty words. There was no going back now.

***

After work that day, I managed to beat Spencer home, and I was relieved for that for once.

He found me in my official room, packing up some of my art supplies, and I could see the dismay on his face as he watched me put some of my tools into a box without acknowledging him.

"Ava? What are you doing?" he asked in a slight panic.

"I'm packing up some supplies that are needed in my classroom, calm down."

He looked at me with tired and apologetic eyes. "Look, about earlier—"

I put up a hand to stop him. "There's no need to rehash that," I said flatly. I had made up my mind about what needed to happen next.

"No, Ava, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have been so harsh. It's just a sore subject, and it's not something that anybody needs to get close to, especially not you."

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