Page 76 of The Heiress

After I fixed a plate I joined her on the couch.

“Is there anything off the table?” she asked.

“Such as?” Maybe she didn’t realize how new I was at this?

“Your adoptive parents? Are you willing to answer questions about them? My aim is for this to be an extensive interview. Your childhood, your life growing up, and how much it has changed in the weeks since you learned the truth. People are frantic to know as much about you as they can. I’d love to show the juxtaposition of your two lives.”

It sounded like I was going to be here for a long time. “I’m happy to talk about my childhood and my parents, but only in a favorable light.”

“Of course,” she assured me. “I have no interest in speculation. I have gone over everything we know about your kidnapping and I’d like to address that as well, as long as you’re comfortable.”

Thirty minutes later I knew that Julia Aston loved poker and dog shows, we agreed to which topics would be covered and she walked me through what to expect.

Jace shot me a reassuring smile from across the room as I sat in the mostly comfortable chair. A man adjusted microphones and a woman worked on the lighting. And then we were recording.

It went as expected. Julia was funny and kind, I answered as honestly as I could. But it was somewhere around the one-hour mark of the interview that things went just slightly awry.

“The day of your disappearance you were in the park with your nanny because your parents were fighting. Is there any residual guilt inside the family over the events of the day?” Julia asked as if this were well known information.

Except it was not known to me. Nor was it any of the reports I read. So I ended up blinking a lot and stammering. “I—I’m sorry. They were fighting?”

Julia blanched. “We’ll move on. I only have a couple more questions.” She glanced down at her notes.

I should ask her what she meant. What she knew. But my heart pounded so hard I was pretty sure my whole body rocked with each beat. I couldn’t seem to find the words or remember how to talk.

Georgia and Bernard were fighting the day I disappeared. Why wasn’t it mentioned in any of the reports?

“As women, do you believe you and Georgia will be able to build a new relationship?”

Build a relationship? I could barely figure out how to answer because my mind was already speeding down the highway, wanting to know all the information about this fight.

“We’ve already become friends. I’m enjoying getting to know her.”

“All right, Samantha. Last question. Now that you’re home, what do you hope to accomplish?”

Home.It was a single word that held a lot of meaning. A place, a feeling, a state of being. I had a home growing up on Calusa Key. I made a home in Gainesville with Hazel and Excel Research. Now home felt more emotional. I was at home when I was with Hazel and Yara. At home when I was with Jace. Would Georgia and the Roark empire ever feel like home? A few hours with cousin Clancy made me think it was possible. “I’d like to make a difference. This company has so many resources, so many opportunities to make the world a better place for its workers and for the communities we’re part of. I hope to help the company move forward in this direction.”

The minute the mics were off I was in front of Julia. “Hello, yes, I have a question.”

I didn’t miss the fear in her eyes. She wanted to escape me immediately. “How can I help?”

“You said Georgia and Bernard were fighting the day I disappeared. Where did you get that information?”

She held up her notebook. “It was just here in my notes.”

“But didn’t you write those notes?”

“Some, but not those. I have a staff that helps me research for these interviews. It must have been a mistake.” Then she gently squeezed my arm. “I’ll be sending over the edited interview in a couple of days. You were amazing and this is going to be one of my most popular interviews ever.”

She was lying about the notes. And not very well. It pissed me off to have yet another roadblock thrown up in my face, but she was unmistakably scared, which meant she wouldn’t share what she knew no matter how many times I asked.

Her team and my team both got back to work, naturally separating us as arrangements were made to exit the building. We wove back through the station and out to the waiting cars. The minute Jace was on the highway his jaw ticked and he glanced at me in the mirror. “I’ve already got the guys looking into it. We’ll get to the bottom of this fight, Sam. I know you’ve got your own guys and you’re really good at finding information, but sometimes people bury the stuff they don’t want found. We’re good at digging up dirt.”

“Do you think it means anything?”

His eyes darted between me and the road. “People don’t hide things that don’t matter. There’s something they don’t want known. It’s worth finding out what.”

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