Page 120 of Snapshot

Denny was one of my first calls after I saw the article with Spellman’s announcement. She’s the one who suggested animmediate all-hands meeting to hunt down the rat. Except it wasn’t a devious rat at all. Just my innocent wife who had no idea how Spellman would use her against the company.

“It was Lennox. An accident. She ran into Richard at the charity event and no doubt he lured her into spilling some secrets. She had no idea?—”

“Please, Dex. She’s not an idiot. She should know better.”

I narrow my eyes. “He alluded to the fact that we finished the merger. She thought she was talking to a team member.”

Denny shrugs her shoulders. “Dismiss her from the CEO position. We’ve dealt with this incompetence long enough. First Tearney, now Richard. Get rid of the weak link.”

Now I’m pissed. “The weak link you’re referring tois my wife.”

Denny crosses her arms tightly, her lips pursing. “This whole dedicated husband bit was cute at first… Now I’m over it.”

“What the hell are you doing right now?” I ask, shocked at her audacity. “Why are you speaking to me this way?”

Denny holds up two fingers, her long, white acrylic nails filed into what look like daggers. “Two things you need to know, Dex. One, Lennox will be removed. That was an extreme dereliction of duty, and the leadership board will call for her termination.”

“Denny, why are you coming down so hard on Lennox? She’s been nothing but kind to you.”

She grumbles in frustration. “Thesecondthing you need to know is that once Lennox is removed, I’m legally challenging you for ownership of the company. Actually, I’m challenging you for ownership ofeverything.We both may be bastards, but at the very least I’m a Hessler. This is my office”—she glances around the room, then narrows her gaze on me—“not your wife’s, not yours, and goddamn, am I sick of babysitting your spoiled ass.”

Denny picks up a folded piece of paper on the desk and holds it out to me. I take two steps in from the doorway but don’t reach for the paperwork. “What’s that?”

“DNA test.”

The familiar rush of adrenaline fills my veins. The throbbing in my head begins as the familiar signs of a panic attack emerge. I fight it the best I can. This is not a moment to show weakness. I’m feeling a lot of things, mostly shock. This is the woman who all but begged to be my second mother, and now she’s trying to take away my company.

“Whose DNA test?” I muster out.

“Yours, of course. I’ve known who my father was since I was thirteen years old. Why do you think I never left with my mother for Europe? I found out I was a product of Harrison’s affair from my mother’s drunk ramblings. She wasn’t supposed to tell me, but it slipped. And once I knew, I stuck around for so long because I thought…” She shakes her head, not finishing her sentence.

Thinking back on the stories Grandma told me, I begin to fill in the blanks. “You thought you’d win Harrison over if he got to know you? Then he’d give everything to you?”

Denny rolls her eyes. “It’s not that wicked. I just wanted a relationship with my father. I wanted one of my parents to give a shit about me. The closest I got was Dottie. But I never really had her, did I? I thought I got close when your mother died.”

I take a few steps closer. “Tread lightly when you talk about my mother, Denny,” I say between gritted teeth, not knowing where this is headed.

“I could never say anything bad about Melody. She was perfect. Sofuckingperfect that even when she was gone, Harrison would rather drink his grief away, mourning the daughter that wasn’t even his. He couldn’t be bothered to get to know the one who was still right in front of him. And Dottie…”Denny has to press her trembling lips together. She takes a moment to compose herself. “As soon as Melody was gone, she fixated onyou.Golden Child Dex. You’re all Harrison talked about when he was sober enough to form words.Fuck,I was so sick of hearing your name. I was always the help. Never family. And now…well, let’s just say payback is a bitch.”

It's too much to absorb all at once. Denny has secretly hated me all this time? So, all her affection and attention wasn’t love. It was just to keep tabs on me. Like a cobra waiting for her moment to strike. “What do you even want with Hessler Group? Hmm? I thought your passion was spending money, not making it. You really want to inherit and run all this bullshit?”

“No, I don’t. I’m going to sell it off in pieces. Then, I’ll do the same with Hessler Estate. I’m going to tear down everything that piece of shit worked so hard to keep together.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Spite is a poison, Denny.”

“Well, revenge must be the antidote.” She taps the desk, her lips curling into a cruel smile. “Because this feels pretty damn good.”

I glance at the paper in front of her, wondering if she actually has a claim to any inheritance. I suppose it’s possible if Harrison had an affair. And if Denny is a product of that affair and I’m not a Hessler… But wait, how can that be? That would mean Grandma lied to Harrison, to Mom, and me—for my entire life.Grandma’s not a liar.This…this can’t really be, can it? I need more answers. “If I’m not Harrison’s, then who?”

“Hell if I know, Dex. This paper just proves you’re not a Hessler,” Denny says with a snarky tone. “You’re a lost puppy. Sucks to be lied to your whole life, huh? Join the club.”

She’s around so much, I have no doubt she snagged a hair or a used cup for those test results. Denny’s my emergency contact. She hires my staff and orders my medication. This woman hashad so much access to my life…while hating my guts the whole time. “I didn’t agree to that DNA test. It’s not legally admissible.”

She nods. “You’re right. But when I sue you in place of your grandma for fraud and con artistry for impersonation of a family member to steal a fortune that was never yours…well, the court is going to require a legal DNA test that’ll give the same results I have right here.” She taps the paper in front of her. “Just bow out, Dex. This isn’t your fight.”

“I’m still Dottie’s grandson. That means something.”

“You’re forgetting,” Denny seethes as she rises. “She’s not a Hessler.I am. I am the only motherfucking person alive with a legitimate claim toall of it.” By the end of her sentence, she’s shrieking, near deranged, as if years of angst and hatred are bubbling to the surface. “I gave up everything for this family. My marriage. My chance at motherhood. I tried for years to be the mother you lost, and never once could you look me in the eyes and tell me genuinely that you loved me. I was always treated like an outsider. Fuck all of you. Now you can be the one left out, watching everything you ever wanted from outside a glass window. An article is running next week exposing Dottie for the con artist she was. I’m telling the world what the Hesslers did to me. Hiding me, bullying my mother…all of it. It’ll ruin you.”

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