Falling for his Step-Sister by Alie Garnett

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jonas turned awayfrom his computer to look out the window. It was storming again, the second time this week. For weeks he had been practically living at work, and he didn’t think that would change anytime soon.

It had been over a month since his uncle had finally broken down and confessed to stealing in order to cut a deal. It had been a great one for the old man. He was sitting in a cushy federal prison and would be there for five years. The company he had left behind was in shambles and would take a lot longer than that to get it back on its feet and gain the trust it had lost.

Jonas had made some great strides in that department, but only because he was working nonstop to make that happen. The more time he spent working, the less he thought about the redhead that was still on his mind.

His anger at Buzz had dissipated over the last month since he had last seen her. Looking back on it, he had realized that in the beginning, she was just doing her job … just not conventionally. If he hadn’t tried to scare her from the closet and had sex with her, she might have gotten an interview—an interview that he wished he had released before his Uncle Harvey had gone to the press, even if it hadn’t helped him in the long run. Maybe Harvey wouldn’t have fought it for weeks before giving up.

Now that he knew her real name, which was Beatrix Lovely, he had been able to find out so much more about her, including that her stepmom was indeed married to Harrison Dean. He would have known that if he hadn’t skipped the wedding. Also, that her older sister, the one he had met as she made breakfast, was married to Kaine Hawthorn, one of the very companies that his uncle had stolen money from. On top of that, her other sister was married to Clifton Scott V of the Scotts and had money invested everywhere. Happily, not with Raiden & Son’s Financial.

He had read every article she had ever published, and his sister had been right; nothing she had reported before was anything close to the scandal that his uncle had created. It seemed the woman had gone above and beyond to get his story. And failed.

After the night in his hotel room, she had never once asked him a question about his job. Not that she asked in the hotel room, but she had been distracted then, after all. It seemed she knew that after what had happened between them, she had to let go of that hot, juicy story, and she had.

Then she hadn’t just blurted out her relationship to Louisa in front of the girl when she knew Louisa wasn’t ready, letting everyone think she was after a story and not the genuine person she actually was. All to save Louisa’s feelings.

After all that, he had told her she was just like her mother, a manipulative person who didn’t have a heart. Buzz hadn’t walked away from the one sister she barely knew; she had taken her in the moment Louisa needed her.

But he had burned that bridge, and no matter how much he wanted to rebuild it, he hadn’t heard from her once. She was suddenly absent completely from his life. For weeks afterward, he had thought she would show up someplace: at work, on his jog, when he went shopping, somewhere. But nothing.

Now he was resigned to the fact that it was over, and he would never see her again.

“Hello, Son.” George Raiden walked into the office, followed by Jonas’s personal assistant on his heels.

From the panicked look on her face, it seemed the man just walked in, and she hadn’t been able to stop him.

“Dad,” he stated and smiled at Jill, letting her know it was okay.

“We have to talk, Jonas.” His dad sat down and then didn’t say anything, as if it had taken everything inside him to get him there and was done.

“Have you talked to Louisa lately?” Jonas asked.

Jonas hadn’t heard from Frankie or Louisa since they’d gone to Chicago. Not that he really expected to. His relationship with Louisa was fragile, and with Frankie, nonexistent. All he knew was what his dad told him since Louisa had called him a few times.

“A week ago. She’s looking for a job, but no luck so far,” George replied absentmindedly.

“I can give her a job here. Both her and Frankie if they want them. They can move back in with you,” Jonas said, something that he wished both his sisters would automatically know. There was always a place for them in the family company, and more importantly, in his life.

George’s eyes instantly went to his lap. “No, they can’t. I’ve decided to not stick around here anymore. The house is for sale.”

“What?” Jonas sat up in his chair, shocked.

“Yes, decided this last week. There are just too many memories in the house, and I need a change. I’m moving to Belize,” George replied, a little sheepishly in his admittance, still not meeting Jonas’s eyes.

Jonas raised an eyebrow. “What’s in Belize?”

“Sun, surf.… It’s a nice place to retire.” The older man shrugged.

“You’ve been retired for years. Why now?” The last time he had retired, he had moved here, as far from sun and surf as you could get.

“Judith—” his dad’s voice cracked over the name, and then he cleared his throat and tried again, “Judith wants to move away from here also. She says that there are too many memories, and a fresh start is the best for us.”

Jonas wondered if he was hearing things. It sounded like his father was taking back his lying, cheating wife—again. Not divorcing her like he had always said he wanted to do.

“You’ve been talking to Judith?” But he didn’t have to ask, because his dad had just told him. It was so hard to believe.

George smiled a ghost of a smile and finally answered. “She showed up a few days ago out of the blue. We talked for a long time and realized where everything went wrong. We need a new start, a new start in a new place. We need to leave everything behind and focus on us being happy again.”

“What about Louisa? Frankie? Her daughters?” he reminded his dad. Did they have a place in this new life?

“They’re adults now, and they don’t need us anymore. We can all get together for the holidays if you want to. Frankie hasn’t needed us for years, and Louisa seems to be doing just fine without us. We can’t just sit around waiting for our kids to come home; we want to keep living.” George seemed to believe the words that he was saying.

Jonas leaned back in his chair. It seemed the woman had gotten her claws back into his dad. As he wondered how deeply, he asked, “You do know that she has five more kids, right? Kids that she abandoned when they were just little? Did she tell you that?”

“Of course, we have no secrets. Their father hid them from her for years. We spent a lot of money trying to find them, but no success. They were gone.” George shook his head at their loss.

Jonas bit back the anger that his dad didn’t deserve. It was his wife who had abandoned those kids and lied to her husband about them, though he wasn’t going to let his father believe the lies anymore.

Leaning forward over his desk, he told the man the truth, “They have lived in the same house their entire lives, Dad. She knew exactly where they were. Some of them still live in that house. Their father abandoned them a decade later.”

George shook his head at the revelation. “She doesn’t know that. It would break her heart.”

“Stop defending her, Dad. She showed her true colors, and you still don’t see them. For a week, she knew that Bea was her daughter; she knew and didn’t care. Not once did she actually talk to her. Even when her older sister was in the house, and Judith knew exactly who that daughter was. Still nothing,” Jonas argued.

“She loves her kids, Jonas. She just has a hard time showing that love sometimes.”

“You mean when she smothered your child for nineteen years and ignored Frankie? I know for a fact you saw that. And did you ever think to step in and protect Frankie? Once?” Jonas was just as mad at his dad for what had happened as he was at himself. He had chosen to not be there for his sister, and now he didn’t think their relationship could be mended.

“I love Frankie. It’s just her attitude that I have a hard time with,” George argued.

“The one she adopted because her parents only paid attention to her when she acted up? Because her mother had chosen who was her favorite and who was not. Nothing she ever did was good enough for Judith. Or even you,” Jonas said.

George huffed and straightened in his chair. “Not true.”

“You know, I’ve always blamed how distant our family is on Judith, but you’re just as much to blame as she is. You let her do whatever she wanted, even if it was harmful to everyone but her.”

“You just don’t understand, Jonas. You have never loved anyone enough to where their flaws don’t matter, that you love them despite the fact that they have them. That’s how I love Judith. She’s my other half,” the man said, as if he didn’t spend years saying just the opposite.

“Why are you constantly separating from her then, trying to divorce her?” Jonas demanded.

“Because she can be a little annoying. But at the end of the day, I want to have spent that day with her. Once you find that love, you’ll understand.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

“I understand love, and it’s not giving a woman an oath of loyalty. Buzz has made mistakes, but she also takes complete responsibility for them. She doesn’t make excuses for her actions that caused harm to others.” He couldn’t not think of that gorgeous redhead admitting why she said she did what she did, and it was for someone else.

“And Buzz is what?”

“I didn’t say Buzz.”

“Yes, you said Buzz made mistakes.”

“Okay, fine, I said it. But …” He stopped. He could say he didn’t mean it, but he did. She may have her faults, but she owned up to them every time and put everyone first, taking everyone’s feelings into account before her own.

George smiled at the answer. “Tell me about this woman who has captured your heart finally.”

“Ask your wife, but she would know her as Beatrix,” Jonas hissed, not wanting Judith anywhere near Buzz or anyone Buzz loved. Ever.

“The chef then? I could tell you were interested in her. Judith doesn’t like when you mess with the help, but I think it can be forgiven this time.” His dad grinned at him.

Jonas barked out a laugh. “No, Dad. She was never really a chef. She took the job in order to meet Judith, her mother.”

“I don’t think so.” George looked uncomfortable, very uncomfortable suddenly.

Jonas smirked. “She’s your stepdaughter, Dad. Don’t you remember her from all those holidays? Or maybe because she has four sisters, you don’t remember her specifically. She’s the youngest.”

“But …” George had nothing more to say.

“But nothing. She was four when your wife walked out on her and her family. Four. Until the day she applied for the chef’s job, Buzz hadn’t seen her or even heard from her. Her name is Beatrix Lovely. You can ask your wife the rest of her kids’ names. She might remember.”

“You didn’t sleep with her, did you? Your sister?” George demanded, as if George and Judith being married made them anything but strangers. The step between them was more like a cliff.

“Stepsister, Dad, and it happened before either of us were aware of our connection, which wouldn’t have been an issue if you and your wife had introduced us at some point over the last twenty years. Or maybe I would have fallen in love with her anyway,” Jonas said and knew it was true. He was in love with her. He had been for a long time now.

“But, Jonas, it’s not right.”

“It’s more right than you forgiving that woman. Because she not only abandoned now seven children but also slept with two college students she invited to live in your house! One of which broke your daughter’s heart!” Jonas reminded him of what had driven them apart.

George scoffed. “That wasn’t what it looked like.”

Jonas shook his head at his poor, gullible father. “I think you need better glasses because I saw exactly what was happening.”

“They …” he started to explain.

“You can stop talking. I don’t care what she told you. There’s no excuse for anything she has done. She has a history of abandoning her kids, and you are going to do the same. I never thought you would do something like that,” Jonas told him and watched him pale at the words.

“I am not abandoning them.” George got to his feet in anger.

Jonas followed suit. “Yes, you are. I just hope you follow your wife’s lead and never come back. We will be fine without you.”

“You just don’t understand, Jonas.” George’s shoulders slumped at the words, letting Jonas know that he was choosing his wife and not his kids. He may have been able to deny it when he walked into the office, but not anymore.

“You got that right, Dad, and I never will.” Jonas shook his head at the man. He didn’t know him anymore. “Bye, Dad.”

His dad only mumbled something Jonas couldn’t understand as he walked out of the office and out of Jonas’s life.