Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [44]
Alyssa Chen? A relative to Jasmine? A daughter?
Paige suddenly felt a knot in her stomach, a knot that grew tighter and twisted painfully with each passing second. "Turn it off."
Riley shot her a quick look. "Turning it off won't make it go away."
"Yes, it will. I don't want to know."
"Then don't look. But my gut tells me Jasmine Chen has something to do with the dragon. And maybe this Alyssa does, too."
Paige walked away from him, staring out the window behind her desk, which overlooked Union Square. She wasn't seeing the stores or the park; she was seeing Jasmine Chen's face, her apartment, the painting of the dragon on the wall, the photographs of a young woman on the table. Alyssa?
Well, so what if her father gave Jasmine money?
It also didn't matter if Jasmine had a daughter, and her father had generously given that daughter money for college. He was a generous man. He gave to lots of charities. Jasmine probably couldn't afford to send her child to college; she was a painter, an artist, and her father would have wanted to support an artist. He was all about art, about making it possible for people to create freely, to express themselves without worrying about how to make a living.
"Hmm, this is interesting," Riley murmured behind her.
She didn't like the sound of that. She was almost afraid to ask. But she had to. Turning, she asked, "What are you looking at now?"
"Vital statistics."
"Whose?"
"Alyssa Chen. She's twenty-two years old. Mother: Jasmine Chen. Father: Unknown."
Paige's heart skipped a beat. "Why is that important? Lots of women have children without knowing who the father is."
He cast her a speculative look. "True. But how many receive money from a complete stranger for that daughter every month for the past four years at least?"
"Okay, maybe my father has been involved with Jasmine, but that has nothing to do with your dragon, so turn it off."
"She has a picture of my dragon on her wall. I don't think that's a coincidence. And your father took the dragon to her. Another connection."
"He just showed it to her. He didn't leave it there."
"So she said."
"Their relationship is not relevant to you. An affair is only important to me, to my family."
He didn't say anything right away, but his silence was damning. She didn't need his words to put the equation together.
"Paige --"
"Don't say it."
"Fine. I won't say it."
She stared at him for a long moment. "You think Alyssa Chen is my father's ..."
"Daughter." Riley met her gaze head-on. "And you think so, too."
* * *
It was easy to get his room number. Jasmine's neighbor's daughter worked in pediatrics. So Jasmine bypassed the information desk and took the elevator to the fourth floor. Visiting hours were almost over and the hallways were quiet. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure she could go through with it. She had spent most of the day worrying about David. What if he died? She didn't want to face that possibility, but it was there all the same.
David Hathaway had been so many things to her. She had liked him, loved him, hated him, then loved him again. Every time she had tried to cut him out of her life, he had come back in some unexpected way. He had brought with him nothing but trouble, nothing but pain. He had shamed her, and in turn she had shamed her family. She had spent the past twenty-two years being shunned by the people who had once loved her. And all because of David. So why had she come here now?
Because she still cared. God help her.
She found herself in front of his room. The door was closed. Was he alone? What would she say if he was not? They would wonder who she was, why she was here. Or maybe they knew. She thought back to Paige's visit. There had been a question in Paige's eyes that had nothing to do with the dragon or her father's accident. Paige suspected something; she just hadn't had the courage to ask, and for that Jasmine was grateful.
She tapped quietly on the door. No one answered. She slowly opened it. The room was small but private.