From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 3

Laurinda watched the father and son put on their show, her face cool and just a little annoyed.

“Sure, I’ll admit it. I’m not really an Austin. But I’m not about to take the fall for a murder I didn’t commit. Grandfather, maybe we should call the police. I’d love to know who hired a hitman using my name.”-

Her words landed like a bomb. The whole crowd went quiet. No one expected Laurinda to just come out and admit the truth.

Baily and Aiken looked like they’d been slapped. They clearly hadn’t planned for this. Their mouths opened and closed but nothing came out.

“You… you…”

They couldn’t figure out what Laurinda was doing. Wasn’t she supposed to deny everything so they could expose her and make Laura look like the real deal? Now she’d thrown their whole plan out the window and Aiken was left speechless.

“Laurinda, I’m breaking off our engagement. The Gates family would never want a fake like you.”

Fabian stormed into the room, face twisted in anger. He started to say more but stopped when he realized how tense everything felt. His eyes darted around until he spotted the girl helping Baily catch his breath.

That seemed to give him his nerve back. He practically threw the engagement papers at Laurinda.

“You’re not good enough for me! Take this back. Stay as far away from me as possible!”

Laurinda watched the crumpled papers fly her way. She just tilted her head to dodge them, a small, amused smile on her lips.

“Fine. I never wanted this engagement anyway. Now get out of my sight.”

“You really brought your real daughter home, but you couldn’t even bother to dress her properly? People might think you’re not actually happy to have her back.”

Laura shrank away, looking fragile and innocent. But Laurinda didn’t miss the sly glint in her eyes.

“Laurinda, stop wasting time. You’re not Ms. Austin anymore. Hand over the family seal and give Laura her rightful place as heir. Because you’ve lived with us for eighteen years, I’ll let your past with Laura slide. Once you leave, don’t try anything reckless. Without the Austins, you’ll have to look out for yourself.”

Aiken sounded so generous, and a smug little smile tugged at his lips.

He really thought he’d won. He’d gotten Laurinda out of the way, secured the family for himself, and came out looking like the good guy.