Page 115 of Just One Silver Fox

“So, that’s what it’s about,” Katia said with scorn. “Money.”

“Money raised you,” Olivia snapped. “Money paid for your clothes and your schooling and the roof over your head…”

“Go on. Throw the glass,” Katia taunted and Olivia looked like she just might.

“You don’t understand anything,” Olivia began, then caught herself and closed her mouth tightly. Her eyes flashed with fire.

“Well, this is unpleasant,” Derek said, the back of his neck turning a dull red. “Maybe we made a mistake thinking we could trust our daughters.” He stood up but no one else moved.

“But we’re not your daughters, are we?” Sonia demanded. “Not really.”

He clutched a fist to his heart, apparently wounded. His performance, in Nate’s view, was a little over the top. “I raised you as my own! Fatherhood is about caring and responsibility, not about biology.”

“Exactly,” Olivia agreed hastily.

“I don’t think fathers are supposed to make secret visits to their step-daughters to demand sexual favors,” Sonia said.

“Doesn’t sound very Norman Rockwell to me,” Katia agreed.

The room was silent for a moment and Nate wondered how Tobias’ jaw had hit the floor so quietly.

“Lying again,” Olivia said, but she was anxious. “When will you grow up, whichever one of you is Thalia?” She looked between the sisters more quickly and Sonia straightened slightly.

Nate recognized the moment that Sonia realized her mother had known the truth.

“Why did he come back to you?” Sonia asked. “A career move?”

“We’re in love,” Olivia tried but the twins shook their heads in unison.

“Seriously,” Katia said. “You were too old for him the first time he married you.”

“That’s why Thalia was his special girl,” Sonia said, obviously mimicking the way Derek had said those worlds.

“And he left because Gloria wasn’t just younger but had custody of her little sister. Ewwww,” Katia said. “She must have grown up, too. Time to move on to the next victim.”

Derek made a choking sound.

Sonia reached out and took her sister’s hand. “Olivia and Derek are right. Let’s do the photo shoot tomorrow, and we can be interviewed, too.”

“Someone will be thrilled to have the scoop on America’s Heart-Throb and his midnight needs,” Katia said. “It’ll probably make the front page of every single tabloid.”

“That would be an event worthy of the archive,” Sonia agreed.

“Maybe its own special volume,” Katia said. “Should we compile it for them, too?”

“You wouldn’t,” Olivia said with heat, her expression revealing that she thought they just might.

“Lies!” Derek hissed. “Malicious lies.”

“Truth,” Katia replied coldly.

“You think I don’t remember you coming for me?” Sonia demanded of him. “You told me it was a dream. You told me you were helping me get back to sleep, but youtouchedme.” She said the word with vehemence and disgust.

He paled under his tan. “You can’t possibly remember that.”

“I’ll never forget it,” she snapped. Katia stood up. “You came to my bedroom at least once a week. You taught me to suck you off. You made me promise not to tell.”

“And when I did, you called me a liar,” Sonia added, standing up, too.