Bound To Fall

Something Doesn't Add Up

Isabelle

"Thank you both for joining me in here." Damon spoke as he took a seat at his desk. "I would've loved to discuss this last night but apparently only one of you knows how to answer a phone."

Sterling scoffed in response. "Sorry, but calling to tell me you have some information to go over isn't exactly an emergency."

"Excuse me for wanting to let you know I found something." Damon's words were stern as they left his lips.

"I appreciate it, but it still wasn't something you had to worry us over." Sterling's annoyance was clear in his tone.

When Damon called me last night I made Sterling answer it. He's the one who his father had been looking for in the first place. I just sat back and waited for the conversation between the two of them to be done.

Needless to say, Sterling was irritated when it ended. All Damon wanted to let him know was he had gotten a lead on the information he was looking into. While it was something to be grateful for, it definitely did kill Sterling's mood.

"I didn't ask to be dragged into this situation." Damon's tone grew colder. "I could let you fend for you fucking self on this if you would prefer."

"You brought yourself into this situation the moment you brought Isabelle back into town." Sterling clearly had no plans of backing down.

"Fine, you can go back to your office and deal with this on your own then." Damon was putting up just as much fight as well.

Sterling once again, fought back. "Well fine then, at least if I do it on my own I don't have to-"
"Enough!" I cut him off as I had enough.

The only thing worse than one stubborn Tipton man, is having two. While I could understand why each of them would be frustrated with the other, now was not the time to be bickering.

I noticed after a moment of silence, both of their eyes were on me. I gulped away my nerves and pushed my confidence forward. "You two have been working together and it's been getting us somewhere. I strongly encourage that the back and forth stops, now is not the time to be getting mad at petty bullshit."

My eyes focused more on Sterling with my last sentence. Whether he liked it or not, he needed his father to help him accomplish this. Damon's still the one that most people bow down to as Sterling's still brand new into gaining power.

"She's right." Sterling let out a sigh of defeat. "Let's get on with this."

Damon nodded. "What I have isn't necessarily damning evidence of anything. It is quite peculiar however."

"Well what is it?" Sterling straightened his posture.

Damon glanced down at a paper and then back up to Sterling. "Were you aware that Elise's parents aren't her biological parents?"

"No." Sterling furrowed his brows. "Was she adopted then?"

"That's what my guess would be." Damon answered. "Something doesn't add up though. There's literally no paperwork stating any adoption."

"So what, the Tunt's just show up with a baby and she's automatically one of them?" I asked.

"I don't know." Damon shook his head as he studied the paper again. "It's always on record when a child is born who the birth parents are and who they go home with if it does end with adoption. But for this, there's absolutely nothing on it. No record of her mother giving birth and no adoption paperwork with the Tunt's name on it."

As it did for Damon, this whole thing sent up red flags. How did one of the other well known families get away with a child just appearing in thin air? There has to be more to this, has to be.

"Like I said, it's not anything damning them." Damon sighed. "That's why I didn't feel like it was worth having you come visit last night."

"What's your theory?" Sterling asked as he seemed to be coming up with some of his own.

"There could be multiple." Damon answered honestly. "There could be the cliché that the Tunt's faked a pregnancy and then paid some poor woman off. Could also be that her mother had an affair and there's no record as she didn't want it to get out. Or, they could have had a real adoption but have the papers locked up tightly. Like I said, there's multiple and I can't rule anything out right now."

"So how can we confirm any of this?" I questioned.

"I'm trying to get in contact with the nurses that would've been working at the hospital during that time." Damon answered. "If I can find the one who took care of Elise she may be able to confirm what exactly the arrangement was at the time."

"Okay." Sterling nodded.

"Don't get your hopes up." Damon looked between the two of us. "While this could be something useful it can also be a dead end. Like I mentioned, they could have taken the proper steps but kept it concealed."

Damon finished giving us his information and we began to give him all of ours. He studied each piece of paper that showed Elise's adultery. He then placed them down on his desk.

"This is something we have to be careful with as well." He let out a sigh. "While you have proof she did cheat on Sterling, she can also use the same claim against the both of you considering there was foreplay in the office."

My cheeks immediately went red and I tried to conceal it the best I could. The last thing I expected coming in here was to be called out for what Sterling and I had done. Not that Damon meant it that way, he's just a blunt person who sugar coats nothing.

"I take full responsibility for that." Sterling spoke to try to take the pressure off of me. "If I have to admit to the fact that my first love walked back into my life and still had my heart which caused me to get carried away, I will do so."

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Damon responded. "What's your next plan of action?"
"I planned to meet with Elise." Sterling answered. "I want to discuss the infidelity to hopefully avoid her putting out mom's past.

Damon nodded. "I agree with that, meet with her. It'll help buy us some time as well."