Read Online Stolen: Meant To Be (Contemporary Billionaire Romance) by Holly Rayner - Free Book Online

suddenly said, “Oh, there’s Roger. Nice seeing you, James.” He scurried off and that was when James turned to me.
     
    “Adele, you look lovely tonight.”
     
    “Thank you, sir. You look nice also. I’m glad you could make it.”
     
    James nodded at me and then he looked back at Seth. “I hear congratulations are in order. I’m sorry I was late for the announcement.”
     
    I felt Seth’s hand tighten on mine as he said, “Yes, I asked Adele to marry me and she said yes.”
     
    “Congratulations,” he said again. He looked at me that time.
     
    “Thank you.” I felt more awkward at this moment than I had the day we went to his home and asked him for help. He was being polite and saying all the right things, but his posture was rigid and his facial expression hard to read. I finally wondered if he was hoping to talk to his son without me being there.
     
    “Seth, James, if you’ll both excuse me a moment?” James nodded, but Seth acted like he didn’t want to let go of my hand. I felt bad, but they had things they needed to face as father and son. I gave him a look and he let go. As I made my way across the yard towards the house, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw James put his hand on his son’s shoulder. They walked away from the crowd, over underneath one of the canopies. I turned away and let them have their time.

~
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    ~

SETH
     
     
    I watched Adele walk away, leaving me standing there awkwardly with my father. I had no idea what was going through his head. His mood seemed almost melancholy today. It was one I don’t recall ever seeing. I wasn’t sure what to say but after he’d walked me over to one of the canopies overlooking the river, he hadn’t said a word. Finally, breaking the silence I said, “I didn’t think you were coming.”
     
    He was looking out across the river thoughtfully. Finally he said, “I didn’t know for sure if I was until I was here. Do you remember when you were little how your mother and I would sometimes sit out here for hours after you went to bed at night?”
     
    “I was in bed…”He stopped me with a look and I had to smile in spite of myself. “Yeah, I remember. I used to watch you both out my bedroom window.”
     
    Dad smiled then. It was a whimsical smile like he was wishing things were different. “We saw you,” he said. “You were never subtle. Anyways, we did most of our best talking out here. I sat here, almost in this very spot and told her what my plans were for taking over Morgan’s company.”
     
    “You told her? Did she know about Adele?”
     
    He looked at me and said, “Your mother and I never kept secrets. No matter how devious I got with business, I talked to her about what I did, before I did it.”
     
    “She was okay with it?”
     
    “No. She wanted me to “just be an attorney,” she said. She told me that my ability to not appreciate what we had and be happy about all the blessings that were bestowed on us was going to someday make me very miserable. She predicted my life,” he said with a wry chuckle. “I didn’t listen to her about Morgan Corp. or many other things. But after she died, I found out that she was more involved in it all than I ever knew.”
     
    “What do you mean?” I hoped that he wasn’t trying to tell me my mother was actually okay with him stealing from a thirteen year old.
     
    “I found out that although I did tell her everything, good and bad, she didn’t do the same. After she died I found papers in her private things. She had bought stocks that I wasn’t aware of… and she had bought a house.”
     
    “She bought a house? Why? How would she do that without your knowledge?”
     
    “Your mother had her own money. Your grandfather was wealthy in his own right. She had a trust fund account that was only hers. When she died, that passed to you as you know. She used that fund to buy the house.”
     
    “So where is this house?”
     
    “In upstate New York.