Guilty As Sin (Sin Trilogy#2)

I still haven’t solved the mystery of why my cousin is such a bitch, but I’m going to assume she just can’t help it. Maybe she only sees the clouds. Either way, her attitude makes me want to redouble my efforts to follow Magnus’s advice and change how I view the world.

“Can I see your nails?” I ask Maddy as I squat beside her, and she holds out her fingers. “Cute! Is pink your favorite color?”

“No,” Karma says. “Her favorite color is blue, but this place is too classy to have that. Of course.”

I cringe at the thought of Karma passing on her crappy attitude to these two precious little girls, but instead of saying something that will no doubt make the situation worse, I ignore her. This isn’t the time or the place.

“Was it fun?” I ask the girls instead.

“Yes! They put bubbles in my water.”

“My feet smell like peaches!” Addy lifts her foot into the air and almost tips over.

I steady her with a hug. “You both looked like princesses sitting there being pampered.”

“They should,” Karma says. “They are my little princesses.”

“And Mommy says someday a prince is going to come take us away to live in a castle!”

“Princesses can build castles of their own too.”

I have no idea where that came from, but as soon as I say it, I realize I mean it. I don’t want these little girls thinking they need a man to give them what they want in life. They can get it for themselves.

“Whatever. Maybe in your fairy tale, but in this town, that’s not how it works.” Karma side-eyes me. “You didn’t save yourself. We’re only here because you’re—” She cuts off what she was going to say, and I’m guessing it’s because it’s not appropriate for children.

“We’re here!” Addy cheers as the door opens.

The girls race out of the elevator when they see Jackie sitting in the lounge, and while they’re distracted, I block Karma.

“I’ve never known what your problem was with me, and at this point, I don’t care. But have you ever thought of checking your attitude around your girls? They don’t need to hear or see that.”

Her eyes narrow on me. “First, don’t tell me how to raise my kids. You don’t have any, and you don’t know jack shit. Second, go fuck yourself.” She knocks into my arm with her sharp elbow, and I step back.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but her attitude seems to get worse by the day, and it’s not just her mom and sister who have to deal with it anymore. Her kids are learning from her, and I would hate to see such sweet little girls end up as bitter as Karma.

I follow her toward Jackie, who has them both hugged tightly against her.

“You look so pretty! Did you have fun?” she asks as she releases them.

“We did!”

“They’re tired. It’s nap time.” Karma grabs both girls by the hand and drags them back to the suite while Jackie and I stare after her.

When they disappear into the room, Jackie shakes her head. “I just don’t know where I went wrong with her.”

Since I have absolutely nothing helpful to say in response, I change the subject. “How did your first day with the new job go?”

The regret on Jackie’s face fades away.

“Really good. Ms. Riscoff and I had a meeting this morning, and I spent the rest of the day training with my new boss.” She lifts a champagne flute from the bar. “I’m out of the basement and working in the light.”

“Congratulations. You look . . . happy.” And she does. Jackie’s face seems to have lost five years, and the smile she’s wearing is the biggest I’ve seen since I’ve been home.



“It feels good to be wanted. To have someone tell you that you’re worth something and you’re a valued part of the team.” She pauses. “Thank you, Whit. I know this is all because of you, and I’m grateful.”

I shake my head. “No. This is all because of you. You’re the one who impressed the boss so much that she was willing to do anything to get you back. How do you feel about having a little celebratory dinner tonight?”

“Up here? Room service? Like we’re fancy?”

The bartender sets a glass of champagne in front of me without me even having to ask.

I shoot a wink at my aunt. “There’s no like about us being fancy. Clearly, we are.”

She lifts her glass and clinks the rim against mine. “Then by all means, we better celebrate. Who knows when we’ll get another chance.”





28





LINCOLN





MY CONCENTRATION HAS BEEN TOTALLY SHOT since Commodore’s nuclear bomb of a disclosure this afternoon. When I return to the office, I work late into the night to take care of everything that needs my attention, but I’m doing a half-assed job at best.

Commodore’s PI is still working on finding a divorce decree or an annulment, but until he does, I have to face the possibility that my father was a bigamist, and all three of us are technically illegitimate.

How the hell am I supposed to tell my mother? Or my brother and sister?

I can’t.

They can’t know anything until we have more information. No one can know anything.



There’s still something I can’t figure out for the life of me. Why the hell would Renee Rango wait until now to push the paternity suit, and why hasn’t she gone public with the fact that she was married to my father?

It makes absolutely no sense to me. Her motive has to be money, but her actions don’t add up.

What the fuck did you do, Dad? The question has circled my brain a hundred times today, and I’m still no closer to coming up with an answer.

After another hour of attempting to be productive, I finally give up. I’m fucking useless tonight, and I recognize when it’s time to quit.

I shut down my laptop and slide it into my briefcase. Even though I won’t touch it again before morning, I won’t risk leaving it here.

That’s how much I don’t trust my own brother, especially now.

When I walk out the door of the office, all I want is oblivion for one night so I can forget about what I learned this afternoon. I want to pretend for a few more hours that everything I thought I knew about my family hasn’t shifted on its axis.

And I know exactly how I’d like to achieve that oblivion—with Whitney in my bed.

I’d give every dollar in my bank account to have her.

I laugh at the thought. Leave it to me to fall for the one woman I could never buy.

My plan to take it slow is working. Lunch was good. She gave me an ultimatum about a date, but that doesn’t mean I can rush back to her room and push her up against the wall and take her the way I need to right now.

No. I can’t do that until I win back her trust.



I’m no stranger to persistence and perseverance. She deserves both and more from me, and she’ll get them.

But that doesn’t stop me from thinking of the suite I keep on the VIP floor for my own personal use. The press may still be camped outside my gate, and I don’t want to deal with them tonight. Getting in last night was like running the gauntlet.

It’s not like Whitney needs to know that I’m sleeping in the room beside hers. I can keep myself from stopping in front of her door and begging for what I really want from her.

I do have some self-control.

Except when it comes to her . . .





29





WHITNEY





KARMA and the girls joined us for dinner on the terrace but headed to bed shortly after, even though the girls begged for dessert and I could tell Jackie wanted them to stay. But they’re Karma’s kids, so she bit her tongue.

To be honest, I wasn’t sad to see the back of Karma because she spent half of dinner talking about how she couldn’t believe I didn’t go to my parents’ graves yesterday on the anniversary of their death. Did I feel shitty about it? Absolutely. Was there anything I could change about how yesterday went? No.

Jackie’s celebratory attitude faded as Karma hit me with jab after verbal jab, so as she left the table, I ordered two more bottles of champagne and every single dessert on the menu.

Splurging has never been the norm for me, even when I could afford it, but when it comes to making my aunt smile again tonight, I’m willing to do it.

When our majordomo knocks, I hop off the chair and head for the door. Before I can open it, a second knock comes, along with a high-pitched female voice.