AMB~she~OUS

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I hadn't stopped thinking about Alex's words or the visit from Mitchell, a lot of things were not making sense.
I didn't know if it was something I should dwell on, It wasn't really any of my business but I knew I couldn't let it go.

It was possible I had stumbled upon something that I could use as leverage over my stepson and that could get him to resign. But who was I kidding? He wasn't the type to be pushed over, he was an alpha male, domineering and intimidating, It was so damn attractive and I hated it.

I was glad Nick hadn't shown up for dinner, It was always very peaceful when it was just my husband and I. We usually discussed business, that's how I learned most of the important stuff I knew about running a company. Craig would talk endlessly about how to deal with difficult clients, how to make a good deal, negotiations and the list goes on. It wasn't boring or monotonous, I enjoyed it cause I've always been eager to learn.

Tonight, however, there were no such talks, it was just peaceful. Every now and then he would ask how I was managing with the new position. My answers were very short cause my mind was preoccupied, I knew I shouldn't have but I decided to feed into my curiosity.

"Tell me more about Daphne." I said putting my fork down and pushing away my plate of ravioli. I watched my husband freeze in his spot, this is a topic that had never been discussed before. He didn't talk much about his late wife and especially not to me, me inquiring about her was probably a huge shock to him. I watched him clear his throat and put his fork down, he couldn't look me in the eye. Strange.

"Why the sudden interest?" Of course he would want to know why I had a sudden interest in her but I didn't want him to know about Mitchell, not till I got a glimpse of what was really going on.

"I figured if we are going to be living with her son, It would do me good to know more about him through knowing what his mother was like. It's obvious that cold exterior he has is not from you." The lie came out smoothly, maybe because it wasn't a complete lie, I really was curious about who Nick was.

"Daphne might have been a tough woman to please but she wasn't cold. Nick has always kept to himself from a young age, he doesn't make friends easily but I can assure he didn't get it from his mother or me." He finished his sentence with a chuckle.

"No aunts and uncles he might have taken after?"

"No. Daphne and I had clicked because we didn't have big families, she was from a small family with very few cousins most of which passed away as we grew."

"So? no surviving relatives?" The more I asked the more Mitchell's claim seemed like a farce. But the fact that she was a genuinely humble woman and her eyes. God, her eyes were exactly like Nick's, there were no contacts there. I refused to believe that she was lying.

"Just some few distant aunts and uncles and cousins. All of them are just as old as I am. They all are very wealthy, probably living somewhere in Greece enjoying life." His low tone being a sign of him not wanting to continue further with the conversation.

I didn't say anything after that. I was wondering if Daphne had some lost relatives or some "stolen at birth" kind of stuff, whatever it was I was willing to find out what it was before I got Mitchell that meeting with Nick. This was my leverage, not sure what it really was or how to really use it but it was something. We continued the rest of the dinner in a comfortable silence, my head reeling from all that Craig had told, which had just confirmed my best friend's words.

Hours later of tossing and turning had me getting up from bed, I was curious to see what Daphne had really looked like, whether she held any resemblance to her sister or her son. I had never seen her much of her, just a bunch of photos but none that ever held my interest. Now that I had some information and her son living under my roof, I couldn't help but be curious.

I glanced out at my knocked out husband, he used to be a light sleeper but that had changed in the past year, no doubt due to his age. I quietly slid on a silk robe over my night dress and moved out of the bedroom. There was Craig's office down the hall, where I knew he kept a lot of his stuff including family albums and that sort of thing, I was fairly confident I would find a photo of his dead wife.

The hallway was cold that evening, I made a mental note to remind Craig to have a heating system installed, winter was just around the corner and this big house could get cold at times. The office door wasn't locked, I didn't expect it to be, my husband wasn't hiding anything from me. I entered, careful to close the door behind me and got to work. Everything was organized well, Craig liked to be neat, he hated having to work in a disorganized environment which is why he always asked the maids to be thorough with their cleaning. All the books on the shelves were neatly packed and his big mahogany desk was clear of any disorder, everything was were it was supposed to be.

I didn't even know where to start, I had to look through without creating a mess which would no doubt raise his eyebrows. I took a look around and decided to start with a few boxes that were packed in the corner of the room. I was positive i would bump into old photo albums in there and boy was i right. At the bottom of one of the boxes was a stack of albums, some of which i recognized to be from Craig's childhood, I knew those because we used to sit and look through them before we got married. The other albums were unfamiliar and I was confident i would find several photos of his late wife.

Kneeling on the carpeted floor, I picked the next album and began flipping the pages, there were images of some of Craig's relatives and friends. A few photos of Craig as a young adult, I laghed as i looked at the dates, I was still just a child at the time. I was about to close it and pick another one when one of the last photos caught my eye.

It was Craig and a young woman. His late wife. My heart stopped for a minute as I looked over the image. The two were standing side by side at a lakeside God knows where. Seeing my husband and his late wife all lovey dovey was not what had my heart nearly jumping out of my chest. It was Daphne. Her eyes to be exact. They were nothing like Nick's or her allerged sister. I pulled the photo out with shaking hands and examined it closer, I didn't know why I was frantic, this didn't prove anything, I didn't even know what it was yet it felt like I was stumbling upon something big.

My heart must have been beating so loud that I didn't hear the office door open. The only thing I heard was a voice and it definitely wasn't Craig's.

"Looking for something?"

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I feel like I'm being a bit slow with the plot but believe me when i say it's coming together now. Be patient with me.❤