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24. Father

Talking about the past in the James house was an unlikely occurence.

So a few days later when I finally got the chance to talk to Mr. James about his past, I acted like Stephen had told me everything. We were sitting in his office at home, he had just finished work.

I could not believe that I had to thank the green Stephen smoked for the starter information.

Mr. James first reaction looked very scary. It was like Stephen had burned down his 25£ million mansion. He looked like a man that was able to anything. Then his features softened abruptly.

"Did you hate Lanot?" I asked him.

"I could never hate Dark Lanotte. He was my friend and your father," Mr. James revealed.

In that moment, I was gone.

Dark Lanotte was my father's name? I needed to contact my mother to confirm that.

"Where is my mother, Mr. James?" I was shaking. My father had been a business man that was murdered? I could not put my head around it.

"I do not know, Stella." He looked confused at my reaction.

"I want to talk to her," I demanded.

Mr. James instantly responded, "Well, that is illegal. I am not sure I want to risk it."

I had to find a way to talk to her. Perhaps Stephen could help me?

"So you took over my father's company? Did you know of my existence all these years?" I was a mixture of devastated and furious.

Who knew that after all these years I would find out about my father without even asking for it?

"I did. That is one of the reasons why I donate a lot of money to the agency," he confessed. "Please do not get upset about this. You are pregnant."

"Why did you not tell me earlier?" I asked.

"Should I have greeted you as the daughter of my murdered friend?" he asked me in dead humour.

"Yes! You kissed me..." He had done way more than that with me. We had not had sex, but close enough. "I can't believe this."

I stormed out of his office and went straight to Stephen. I hoped that he had no guests over. Luckily, he did not. He saw my fuming face and immediately asked, "Who rained on YOUR parade today?"

"Did you know that Mr. James knew my father?" I directly asked him. He was bewildered.

"What?"

"My father is Dark Lanotte. The man your father took over the businesses from," I bluntly stated.

"Seriously?" Stephen was shocked. He ran his hand through his hair. "And my father just told you like that?"

"I said you revealed everything to me and then it slipped out of him."

"How can he think I told you when I have no clue that you are a billionaire's daughter?" Stephen was agitated. He looked around his spacious room and muttered, "You probably deserve all of this more than I do."

"No, that is the least I care about. I want to know how my mother got to know him and everything that happened..." I started imagining things. If my father had survived, would I have lived my life outside of the agency, or was I an accident?

I needed answers.

Desperately.

"Stella, you need to take it slow. You are pregnant," he pointed out.

"I have it all under control," I mumbled, diving into the ocean of what could have been.