CUZ: Billionaire Stepbrother Romance Read Free Page B

jet…”
    “I don’t want to hear about them tramps,” she said.
    After finishing the entire flute in one gulp, she handed it back to me.
    “More?”
    “No, you know how I get when I drink champagne.”
    Maybe that’s what I want , I thought then scolded myself.
    “Fine. We’ll be there in a bit. My personal assistant is booking us two rooms.”
    She turned to look out the window as we rolled down the runway. A moment later, we were in the air. I got out my laptop and checked the properties I wanted to purchase. With only a couple million dollars investment, I could double or triple my money in four or five years. It was a homerun and would help me toward my financial goals.
     
    * * *
     
    After checking into the hotel, we got into the elevator and rode it up in silence. The door slid open. We walked into the hallway.
    “Bobby will call to get your size for clothes,” I said.
    “Cool,” she replied, unenthusiastically.
    “You need to cheer up,” I said. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
    “Sure.”
    She stopped in front of her room and unlocked the door. I took a few steps down the hall to my door. Once inside, I sighed and surveyed the room. Plain, but not too bad , I thought as I sat down on the edge of the bed.
    While I didn’t know why Ashley was upset, I had to be ready to deal with her and everything else on the trip. I took a deep breath and told myself I wasn't going to lose my temper with her, that she was my blood. Right on cue, I heard a knock on the shared bathroom between our rooms.
    “It’s open,” I said.
    The door opened. She walked in with a look of determination no her face.
    “You ready to go?”
    “Go where? Bobby is going to bring us clothes. I have some work to do, but I thought we could do dinner later.”
    “I want to show you something. It's the reason I brought you here.”
    “Come on, Ash. Quit playing games.”
    “I’m not playing. We’re close to the house that might contain the bible with our family history written in it.”
    I sighed, wanting to unwind. “Fine. Let’s go. Is it close?”
    “Yeah, about half a mile away. I figured we could walk.”
    “Fine.”
    We headed back down to the lobby, which was crowded with tourists of all ages. Outside, the further we got from the hotel, the less people we saw and the more rundown the buildings became. Some of Mr. Knight’s friends in New York lived on Park Avenue. At the same time, just across the river, people lived with the highest infant mortality rate in the country.
    That the same Park Avenue could be home to the ultra-wealthy as well as the ultra-poor was something that had always struck me. What concerned me sometimes was that I didn't see it as a bad thing necessarily. In fact, I had no emotions when I thought about disparity of wealth. I remembered what it was like to be an orphan.
    “What’s going on in that big brain of yours now?” Ashley asked as we walked side by side further away from the hotel.
    “Business stuff. Like I said, that's really why I came down here. Not to walk around with you.”
    “We used to take a lot of walks together growing up, remember?”
    I sighed. “I do, but...”
    “But what?”
    “But we're older now.”
    “So?”
    “Look, Ashley, I love you a lot. You're my sister, but...”
    “Shh,” she interrupted. “We're here.”
    “We're where?”
    “Here.”
    She pointed to an old three story dilapidated house that appeared ready to fall down.
    “And what the hell is this? This the home to some cult you're going to join?”
    “Haha, very funny. This house has a book...” Her voice trailed off.
    “Yeah?”
    “This book that says we might not be related. I found my birth parents, but I haven't been able to contact them yet. While I was doing that, I found out that you might not be my brother.”
    I stared into her eyes. “Are you fucking around? If you're joking right now, I'm going to kill you.”
    “No, I wouldn't do that, Josh.”
    From the tone of her voice, I knew