Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

he gulped at it greedily, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Slamming the bottle down, he grabbed Teagan by the shoulders. ‘She told you this? You? My mother told you that this person is my father, yet never told me?’

Teagan trembled, the rage in Robert’s face frightening her. ‘S-She wanted to tell you. She was going to tell you, but...’

‘But what? She decided just to tell YOU instead?’

‘Please Robert, it wasn’t like that. She only told me because she needed to tell someone. Someone who wasn’t involved. She’d never told anyone an...’

‘So Peter Adams wasn’t my father...?’ Robert dropped his hold of Teagan and his big shoulders sagged. ‘What is this person’s name?’

Teagan swallowed hard. ‘M-Michael. That’s all I know. I-I don’t think she mentioned his surname. I’ve felt awful not being able to tell you, but it wasn’t my place and...’

‘Save your excuses!’ Robert spat. He stormed back to the cabinet and took more gulps of the port. ‘Who is this Michael?’

Nausea crashed over Teagan. Robert wasn’t supposed to find out like this. ‘I-I don’t know. He... he worked for someone at the Feathers. Dulcie said they were getting married. She’d been with him for a while and after your father... after Peter died, they were going to be together.’ She watched all manner of emotions passing over Robert’s face one after the other. ‘He was supposed to come back for her, but never did. She thinks he was killed.’

Robert’s eyes narrowed. ‘So what is she? The fucking Black Widow? First my father – or should I say Peter dies and then this guy too?’

Teagan moved tentatively towards Robert and reached to touch his arm. ‘Don’t say things like that. Dulcie loves you dearly an...’

‘Why didn’t she tell me then? Robert screeched, shrugging off Teagan’s hand.

Teagan shook her head in despair. ‘I-I guess it was hard. She said once Michael didn’t return there was no point... She didn’t want you to be known as a... as a...’

‘As a bastard, you mean?’ Robert raged, his breathing ragged. ‘Did Helen know?’

Teagan shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Dulcie didn’t seem to think so.’

‘I bet she did! Helen always had a problem with me. Always had a fucking issue – saying I was the favourite! It’s probably half the reason behind what she did.’

Teagan held her hands out in despair. ‘I really don’t know, but Dulcie gave me a box. The night it happened... She didn’t want you or the police to find it. It’s got things from Michael in it. She kept it under the floorboards in her bedroom.’

Robert raked his fingers through his hair. ‘She’d got it all worked out hadn’t she? Christ! I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe it! Is there anything else?’

He picked up the bottle of port, finding he’d finished it and launched it against the wall sending fragments of blue glass scattering across the room.

Teagan shrieked and grabbed Robert’s arm as he rummaged around for another bottle. ‘Robert! Stop this. Don’t drink any more! We’ve got to pick Dulcie up later.’

Swinging around, Robert threw Teagan’s arm away before grabbing her again and shaking her. ‘Don’t tell me what to do! Why the hell should I stop? She’s lied to me. Fucking lied!’

Teagan stared up at Robert; saw the hurt combined with rage. ‘She must have thought she was doing it for the best.’

‘And you were part of this too? You lied as well – the hired fucking help? The hired help who knows more about my own bloody heritage than me? What the fuck?’ Robert shook Teagan again, his eyes wild.

Biting back the hurt, Teagan grasped Robert’s forearms. ‘Stop it, you’re hurting me. I’m sorry, Robert, I really am. If I could change any of it, I would. I didn’t want to upset you.’

Feeling tears brim, Teagan blinked them away, despair rushing over her like an avalanche. Everything was now so much worse. So, so much worse. She looked back up at Robert, his cold blue eyes met hers – focused and intense, yet filled with confusion and just wanted to hide until all of this went away.

Suddenly turning his back, Robert began clearing up the sitting room. In silence, he boxed up bits and pieces whilst Teagan swept up the broken ornaments into the dustpan.

LENA BATTED HER FALSE EYELASHES as Saul Powell slouched against the empty bar in the VIP suite. ‘Oh! I didn’t expect you to be in here.’ She consciously ensured her cleavage was nicely on show under the jacket she’d carefully buttoned up over her ‘bump’.

The bloody kitchen roll was itching her skin like buggery and the whole palaver was getting right on her tits. Gwen hadn’t commented or said a bean, even though Lena had made the express effort of making sure her jacket was undone when she was on her own in the office with the old cow.

Even though it wasn’t a chore coming across Jonah’s brother, it had ruined her plan of getting a sneaky snort in while no one was looking. A function was booked for tonight and Gwen was flapping whether their champagne supply was adequate. Of course it was fucking adequate, they had crates of the damn stuff. Lena smiled. She should know because she’d been half inching bottles on a regular basis for yonks and that was the only reason she’d jumped at the chance to check over the VIP bar stock whilst the place was empty.

‘I’m not disturbing you, am I?’ Saul drawled, his eyes moving over Lena’s enhanced bust.

Loving the attention, Lena couldn’t help running the tip of her tongue along her glossy bottom lip. Old habits die hard... ‘Not at all. I’m just checking the champagne quota for tonight.’

‘Well, that’s simple enough,’ Saul winked, springing up and effortlessly vaulting the shiny silver bar top.

Lena giggled with both admiration and a heady helping of lust as she eyed his taut buttocks inside his well-tailored trousers. ‘You’re very supple for a big man.’

‘That I am.’ Saul fished a