Entangled (The Accidental Billionaires #2) - J. S. Scott Page 0,18

Skye. My guess was that we were one of a small handful of failures.

My eldest sibling had been there for all of our questions growing up. It was strange that he’d seemed so grown up when he was only a few years older than I was.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Noah grumbled.

My family was still gaping at me from their seats in my family room. “I dated Skye Weston for a while, right after she graduated from high school. She was pregnant with my child when she moved to San Diego and married Marco Marino. I never knew. We had a miscommunication and she thought I blew her off.”

“Maya is your child?” Jade asked incredulously.

I nodded.

“Oh, my God,” she said. “Somebody wrote to me from the DNA site. They matched me as the child’s aunt. But I never knew it was somebody so close, or so young. I know she’s gifted, but her message sounded like somebody older, and children usually can’t send in their DNA to be analyzed.”

I grinned. “She must take after me. She’s pretty damn smart. And she obviously knows how to break the rules. Why didn’t you say something about a match on the site?”

It was always strange when we didn’t know everything about our sisters. Noah, Seth, and I certainly knew how to get into their business. We’d made it our personal mission to screen every man they dated.

Jade frowned. “I never heard from her again after one communication, and I had no idea who she was. Eli was trying to do some investigating to figure out which one of you fathered a child. I didn’t want to spill the beans without any information. I knew it would bother all of you until we figured it out. I was going to tell you before the wedding. But I guess the mystery is solved. I wonder why Skye never told me.”

I knew it probably pained Jade that her best friend had never shared her secret. “Probably because she assumed that I knew and just didn’t give a damn.”

“Can I meet her?” Brooke, Jade’s twin, asked excitedly.

“After I do,” I said drily. “I still can’t believe I have a daughter who I don’t know.”

I’d only had a matter of hours to get used to the fact that I was a father. I was pretty sure it was going to take a hell of a lot longer to be comfortable with it.

“You’ll love her,” Jade said warmly. “Maya is special. Gifted, so she can be a challenge. She’ll ask a million questions. But she has an enormous heart.”

Jade was gifted, too. So I knew my sister could relate to my daughter. Jade had gotten her doctorate degree in record time, and she was a genius in her field of wildlife genetics.

“I’m just a blue-collar guy,” I said in a hesitant tone that I didn’t even recognize.

I wondered how Maya would feel if I couldn’t so much as help her with her homework someday.

I’d always loved to read, and I preferred it to television. But I hadn’t ever had enough time to read everything I wanted until recently.

Keeping the Sinclair family afloat had been an all-consuming task when we’d had limited funds. Noah, Seth, and I had spent almost every waking hour working.

Jade smiled. “That isn’t going to matter to her.”

“I think I can give her a hell of a lot better life than she had with the mob family,” I said huskily.

At least I would never treat her like she didn’t exist.

“You can give her an amazing life,” Brooke said. “Aiden, you were always there for us. It isn’t like you don’t know how to raise a kid and give them a ton of love. She’s not going to care about your education level.”

I leaned back in my recliner. “I hope you’re right, because someday she’ll be way smarter than I am. I’d like to give her all the education she wants. But at least I have a lot of money now. I can give her everything she needs.”

“Are you going to share custody with Skye?” Noah questioned, his expression still puzzled.

“They’ll both be living here as of tomorrow morning,” I announced. “I want to get to know my daughter. I’ve already missed so much of her life. I don’t want her part time, and I think she deserves better than being shifted back and forth.”

Brooke clapped. “So you’re getting back together with Skye?”

“No,” I said flatly. “Not exactly. But since she doesn’t want to be