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She shrugged slim shoulders, gazed off into the distance as if lost in thought. “I don’t remember.”
“Hey,” he murmured. She met his gaze, her eyes rimmed red, dark circles beneath them, and wan, pale skin. Crying so damn much since the meeting, which infuriated him. “It’s going to be all right, you know. Those test results will come back and prove who you are without a doubt. Then we’ll make the next step.”
“It won’t matter. They still won’t accept me.” She shook her head, pushed her hair away from her face. “No one accepts me. I have no family.”
“You have the Renaldis. You told me more than once your brothers are working their hardest to help you.” They stayed in contact with her, especially Matteo. Gavin had spoken to Rafe only a few days ago with questions in regards to Stasia’s emotional state. They worried about her, didn’t believe her when she said everything was all right. All three of them wanted Stasia back in Italy, working at Renaldi.
But she was so focused on earning acceptance from the Worth brothers, she couldn’t see her family was waiting for her. Wanting her back.
“I could lose them. They could forget me. My so-called father made sure the possibility is there. And now these men, these Worth people who think they are so high and mighty, as if they are above me and can look down their nose at me. They don’t want me anywhere near their family or their business.” She sniffed, disgust and misery written all over her pretty face.
“Not true. You heard Alex.” Alex would always do right and be fair. It was in his blood, and if Stasia was blood, then he would stand by her and rectify the situation.
“Oh, he said all the right things, but I doubt he wants me to interfere with the family. I’m the interloper, you see. And even if they do somewhat accept me into the fold, they’ll view me as the enemy for the rest of my life. I may as well not even bother contacting them anymore.” She grabbed a discarded chopstick, tapping it against the edge of the plate.
“Now don’t go saying that,” Gavin started, but she cut him off with a look.
“It’s true and you know it. You saw how they were, especially Hunter.” The tapping increased its pace, setting him on edge.
“Hunter can be an asshole to anyone.” He’d heard Alex say that more than once. The guy was charming, extremely good at his job and equally extremely protective of those he cared for, which earned him the reputation of acting like a guard dog when a stranger got too close.
Like Stasia did.
“Don’t take it personally,” he said, mostly to calm her down. But he knew she had and didn’t blame her for it either. All the scathing remarks Hunter had hurled her way had most definitely been personal. The guy knew how to go for the throat.
She snapped the chopstick in half, tossed the remnants on the table with a loud clatter. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who’s being attacked.”
“He didn’t mean it. He’s afraid. And when you have a snarling, scared animal backed in a corner, he lashes out any way that he can.”
“I’m not backing him into a corner, I’m trying to tell him the truth.”
“And he doesn’t believe you. Hence his defensiveness,” he countered.
“So that’s what we’re calling being a complete asshole these days? Defensiveness?” Her voice rose, her cheeks flamed pink. She was good and pissed now.
Which he preferred to her being sad and desolate.
“He has a rather gruff reputation in the business.” Now Gavin was the one being defensive.
This entire case was starting to make him crazy.
“I don’t care. He was awful to me. He doesn’t believe a word I say. I bet he fully expects that DNA test to come back negative.” This was Stasia’s absolute worst fear. She couldn’t help but think it would happen.
And then what would she do?
“He hates me,” she continued when Gavin hadn’t said anything. “Funny how the one I look most like absolutely despises me.”
“It is pretty ironic,” Gavin agreed.
She sent him a withering stare. “Do you think I look like him? Hunter?”
He was quiet for so long, he made her nervous. And when he still didn’t speak, she felt like she was going to crawl out of her skin. “Say something!”
“You look like him.” He studied her much like the Worth brothers had earlier. “It’s in the eyes and the shape of your face. From here up.” He held his hand above his mouth. “You resemble him strongly.”
Relief trickled through her. “You believe me, don’t you? That Michael Worth was my father?”
The incredulous look that came over his face stunned her. Her words stunned him, clearly. “I can’t believe you would ask that. Of course I believe you. Why do you think I’m here, helping you?”
