Reunited in Love by Nadia Lee

would be pissed.
    Still, what was done was done. Hopefully Ethan would be cool about the situation. She’d apologize, of course, even though she hated to. Apologies sort of undermined the whole “establish control” thing, but there weren’t a lot of other options. Pretending that she hadn’t done anything wrong or that it didn’t matter would be worse.
    She should man up, so to speak, and just get it over with.
    Her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. One of her far-flung family—actually, the only one who could be calling: her second cousin.
    She stuck her Bluetooth headset into her ear. “Hey, Justin.”
    “Hey, Kerri!” The voice was familiar and warm. “How come you didn’t call when you checked in?”
    “Sorry. Kind of a hectic day.” An understatement.
    “Congratulations on ditching the PIs.”
    “Thank you for not hiring the best.”
    “You’re welcome. But you know, I can only keep your secret for so long.”
    “You promised.” Justin was the only member of the family who had known Kerri’s whereabouts. They’d run into each other in Hong Kong a year after she started working for Goldreich. At her behest he’d kept her secret, but on one condition: she had to stay in touch and let him know she was okay. The situation had put him at odds with the rest of the family, but he really hadn’t had a choice. Kerri would simply have disappeared again if he’d told anyone.
    “It’s not that. Eventually, Barron’s going to get tired of waiting and decide to do it himself. Once he gets involved, that’s it. He’s going to fire the PIs I got and hire his own.”
    Kerri’s mouth tightened. When Barron had decided he wanted his granddaughter back in his life and demanded to know where she was, no one in the family could help him. Only Justin had known, and he’d never broken his promise. So Barron had ordered Justin to locate Kerri. Sympathizing with Kerri but unable to directly defy the family patriarch, Justin’s solution had been to hire mediocre PIs and kept her informed of what they were up to. That was the only reason she’d been able to leave Hong Kong before Barron had descended upon Goldreich with his entourage.
    She really hadn’t needed her grandfather marching into her office and causing a scene. Even if she hadn’t actually been there, and no matter what he might have intended. Everywhere he went, people fell to their knees to please him. He was
the
Barron Sterling, and there were people in her office who would have handed her over to him hogtied if they thought they could score some points.
    She still didn’t know why she should have to see him. What good could come of it? Their reunion would only open old wounds, and it was better if they each pretended the other didn’t exist.
    Still, none of this was Justin’s fault. “Hmm. Might have to start hanging out with some shady characters. Maybe get a fake identity.” It was only half a joke.
    “You’ve been watching too much TV. I thought your job kept you busy.”
    “It did, till I was more or less forced to quit.” She shook her head. “Barron doesn’t get to decide when and where we can be a family. He had his chance.”
    “Give him another. He’s getting old, and losing his daughter really affected him. Don’t do anything you’ll regret later.”
    “Losing Mom affected a lot of people.” Kerri tapped the cap on her facial lotion. “Justin, really, I’ve given it a lot of thought. I’m not sure if I care.” Barron only wanted her back so he could fill the void left by his daughter Renée’s death. It had nothing to do with how he felt about Kerri. If Renée hadn’t passed away, Barron might have never noticed his only grandchild was missing. Why would he? He was the one eager to send her off to boarding school in Europe as soon as she’d turned three.
    Brisk knocking dragged her out of her morose thoughts. Maybe her mood would perk up after a nice,
healthy
, doctor-approved breakfast. Dinner last night had