He Loves Me Right, Finally novel Chapter 165

"Buoymount, Cedar Hollow Town," Lorelei said, dropping the Shepherds' secret like a stone into still water. "Justin has an illegitimate child there. The kid's been living in a group home."

Wynette's voice came out sharp with surprise. "How do you know all of this?"

"Justin told me himself," Lorelei said, her laugh carrying a cold, cutting edge. "Noah can't have children now. I need you to take Justin's little secret and make it as loud and public as possible."

That child was Justin's last card to play.

As for how Lorelei knew, the answer was something she still ground her teeth over.

Back when she and Noah were still together, Justin had shown up at Noah's place completely drunk and forced his way in, and had nearly assaulted Lorelei.

She'd fought back and knocked him unconscious with whatever came to hand.

When she'd gone to collect herself afterward, she'd found his phone on the floor. She'd used his fingerprint to unlock it while he was still out cold.

What she'd found was a secondary device crammed with reports from a group home, all of them updates about a child.

The realization had hit her like ice water. She'd stumbled onto something Justin had buried very, very carefully.

She hadn't said a word to anyone. She'd just quietly memorized the address.

Later, after Eve had forced her out of Noah's life, Lorelei had made a detour to that group home and watched the child from a distance.

The resemblance to Justin was impossible to miss. She'd pulled a small sample of Justin's hair while he was still unconscious that night, then later managed to obtain a sample from the child as well.

She'd commissioned a private paternity test without anyone knowing.

The moment the call ended, Lorelei sent the results directly to Wynette's phone.

Every piece of evidence she'd kept had always been about survival, a way to ensure she didn't simply disappear.

But she also understood clearly that holding this many of the Shepherds' secrets meant nothing without someone reliable standing in her corner.

They could make her vanish without leaving a ripple, and she knew it.

The loathing Lorelei had for them had been building steadily from the moment she'd understood that Eve had never once intended to let her walk away clean.

Going back into Noah's orbit had been deliberate, a calculated step toward making them pay.

And now Wynette was willing to work with her, which made her the best option Lorelei had.

Wynette stared at the paternity test result on her screen, her eyes going wide with pure, unfiltered shock.

Justin and Eve were held up as a model couple in every circle that mattered, and this was...

This was going to obliterate that image entirely.

She held the phone out to Adriel.

He read it, then looked at her. "You made a deal with Lorelei?"

He'd kept his own counsel during the call, but the car cabin was small, and he'd caught enough fragments of the conversation to piece together the broad shape of it.

Something had clearly been negotiated between them.

Wynette blinked and gave him her most guileless expression. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She'd lowered her voice during that call. How'd he catch any of it?

Then she saw the look in his eyes and decided honesty was the better option. "It's not a partnership exactly," she said. "It's more like a mutual exchange. I needed her inside the Shepherds' circle causing chaos. I gave her some cover to work with. She needed leverage I could actually use, so she brought me something valuable in return.

"I'm not going to help someone for nothing," she added. "You wouldn't either. It's a fair trade, nothing more."

Wynette kept her explanation level and clear, laying it all out for him plainly.

Lorelei was boxed in by Eve from every direction right now, her movements constantly monitored.

Wynette didn't know the full shape of Lorelei's plan, but as long as she delivered on shaking the Shepherd household to its foundations, that was all Wynette needed.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify