The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,20

anyway? Now Pa was gone, we were just a bunch of disparate women who had been thrown together as kids, but were now going our separate ways. I took some breaths and tried to do as all my therapists had told me to, which was to analyse why I’d gotten so angry. And for a change, I thought I knew the reason: Ally had told me that all my sisters were happy – they had found lives with people who loved them. Even CeCe, who I’d always thought was as unlovable as me, had somehow managed to get over her weird obsession with Star and move on. More to the point, she had found her passion in art, something she had always loved.

And here was I, as usual the odd one out. Since Pa had died, I’d managed to find nothing except a new and more reliable dealer. Even though I was by far the most financially successful sister – from what my accountant said, I could stop work today and never worry about money again – what was the point when I hadn’t a clue what else I wanted to do?

There was a knock on my door.

‘Electra? Are you in there?’

It was Ally. ‘Yeah, come in.’

She did, with Bear in the crook of her arm.

‘I’m so sorry if I said something to upset you, Electra,’ she said, hovering in the doorway.

‘Listen, don’t worry about it. It’s not you, it’s me.’

‘Well, whatever, I am sorry. It’s so good to see you and I’m really glad you came. Do you mind if I sit down? He weighs a ton.’

‘Sure,’ I said with a sigh. The last thing I needed was to be trapped in my bedroom being interviewed by Ally.

‘I just wanted to share something with you, Electra. Something that Tiggy told me we should investigate.’

‘Oh yeah, what?’

‘Apparently, when she was here last month, she found a cellar with a secret lift that accessed it.’

‘Er . . . right. So?’

‘She said it was used to store wine, but she noticed there was a door hidden behind one of the racks. Maybe we should find out where it leads to.’

‘Okay. Why don’t we just ask Ma?’

‘We can, yes, but Tiggy got the feeling that she didn’t want to talk about it.’

‘Jeez, Ally! This is our house and Ma works for us! We can ask what we want and do as we please here, surely?’

‘Yes, we can, but, well,’ Ally breathed, ‘maybe we just have to tread gently out of respect. Ma’s been here a long time – she’s run the house with Claudia and looked after us, and I don’t want her to feel we’re stepping on her toes now things are . . . different.’

‘So, what you’re saying is that you want us to sneak down in this elevator in the middle of the night and find out where this door leads to?’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘But I still don’t get why we have to do this cloak and dagger shit when we could just ask her?’

‘Come on, Electra, stop being so brittle. This secret lift and cellar are there, and Pa put them there for a reason. Whatever you think or feel about him, he was a practical man. Anyway, I’m always awake during the night because of Bear so I’m going to investigate. I just wondered if you fancied coming with me? Tiggy said it would take a couple of us to move the rack in front of the hidden door. She also told me where the key was. Now, would you mind holding Bear for a few minutes while I use the bathroom?’ Ally got up and dumped Bear on my lap. To stop him falling backwards, I had to grab him with both hands. He gave a large burp in retaliation.

‘Brilliant!’ said Ally as she stood in the doorway. ‘I’ve been trying to get that out of him for the past hour!’

The door closed behind her and Bear and I were left alone.

I looked down at him and he looked up at me.

‘Hi,’ I said, praying he wouldn’t pee on me or something. It was the first time I’d ever held a baby.

He gave me a hiccup, and continued to stare at me.

‘What are you thinking, little guy? Are you wondering why, even though I’m your auntie, I’m, like, a totally different colour to your mom? You never met him, but you had a seriously weird grandfather,’ I continued, because he seemed to be enjoying the