Her Stepfather's Mistress

002

Jewel

“Sit," Skylar commands, her tone leaving no room for argument.

I do as she said, knowing it's wise not to argue with her, given our present location.

“Speak." She barks as soon as my ass touches the chair.

“I…”

"What? You've suddenly lost your voice?" She mocks. "You've been following me, and at first I thought it was cute. I thought you would have the guts to approach me eventually.” She pauses, her lips pursing dramatically.

“But that's clearly not going to happen anytime soon. And my patience has worn out, so here we are. Talk. Tell me what you want.” She finishes decisively, her tone calm and collected, while anxiety claws at my throat and I struggle to breathe.

I gasp, gripping my chest.

I can't have an episode in front of her, not like this. But thinking about that only makes it worse.

I wheeze, gripping the table tightly.

‘You can control this, ’ I repeat in my head, but the fog continues to pull me under, my muscles getting ready to spasm.

“What’s going on here?” A deep, familiar voice reaches me through the fog, and I blink, sure I must have heard wrong. But when I open my eyes, I see Reed dropping into a seat.

My heart skips a beat.

“Honey, you called me," Reed whispers to Skylar, but I can hear him, and I hate that it twists my gut to see him sit so close to her and speak very sweetly.

What is wrong with me?

Skylar glances at him with a bright smile, batting her lashes as he speaks.

“Yes, I want you to be here when this w***e lies about carrying your baby so you can debunk it."

“What?" I wheezed. “I'm not…I…”

“You've been following me; what other reason could it be about if not for extortion?" Skylar snaps. “Yes, I know you must have seen the news of us getting married and thought you hit the jackpot, but I'm not going to be blackmailed over a silly mistake."

She turns to Reed.

"Baby, I'm sorry, I hired her to seduce you two months ago. It was foolish, and I apologise. I know you didn't fall for it because she never got back to me with the evidence. But she's clearly about to lie, so I just had to bring you here.” She finishes.

My eyes dart from her to Reed, unable to believe she thinks this lowly of me. But how could she not? She doesn't know who I am.

"I'm your daughter.” I blurt out before I can chicken out, and the smug smile on her face drops. Reed closes his eyes and clenches his jaw. It's almost as if he knew…did he?

“What?" Skylar croaks, her eyes wide.

“I'm your daughter. You dropped a note for my mom in case I ever wanted to look for you, and I found it on my seventeenth birthday. I've been searching for you since then. You're the reason I moved to LA.” I rush out, sweat gathering at my forehead now that the truth is out.

Skylar blinks repeatedly, gaping.

I look at Reed to see what he's thinking, but he won't meet my stare. He looks straight ahead, his jaw occasionally ticking.

“No. No, you can't…this is impossible.” Skylar jerks out of her seat, stumbling as she puts some distance between us. "I don't believe you. Stay the hell away from me!” She yells, her eyes hooded with what I'm struggling to describe as anger or disgust.

I stand up, looking after her as she stalks off. We've managed to draw some attention to the table. I expect Reed to follow his wife, but instead, he remains seated.

“You shouldn't have done that.” He finally bites out, and I frown.

"What?”

"That was really stupid.” He mutters, standing up. He stares at me disapprovingly, his eyes darkening. "Why couldn't you have kept your mouth shut?” He hisses, bridging the gap between us.

“You think you've known pain? You think your life is miserable right now? Well, congratulations, sweetheart, you just opened yourself to a whole new world of anguish.” He barks, towering over me.

He's furious, but I can't for the life of me understand why.

“I don't understand. Why are you so angry?"

“I am angry because you ruined everything I've been working on for the past decade when you opened that big f*****g mouth of yours, goddamnit!" He booms, and I stumble back in fear.

My chest tightens with despair, and I feel the approach of another episode from the emotional distress.

Oh, for God's sake!

Reed seems to notice my discomfort, and he sighs, putting enough space between us to steady my puls

“It doesn't matter. Forget everything I said. Skylar is never going to accept you, anyway. She’ll rather die than be a mother." He scoffs, and my heart breaks into a million pieces, both by his tone and words.

It's not that it hasn't dawned on me by now that the mother I've been yearning for all my life doesn't want me back, but to hear it from Reed, so dismissively at that? It crushes my soul.

A single tear escaped my eye.

“Stay away from us, for your own sake.” He declares with finality and turns to walk away, but he stops only a few feet from me, his eyes following something —someone coming back towards us. It's Skylar.

She has a smile on her face and a new confident sway to her steps. When she reaches Reed, she whispers something to him, and he whips his head around, staring after her in shock.

Skylar stops before me, a bright smile still on her face, then she drops the bomb.

“Let's all be a family. Move in with us, Jewel, be our daughter."