“I don’t believe that, but even if they were, Ross had a vasectomy a month after Rene was born. Getting pregnant again would have been dangerous for me, so he made the hard choice to protect me,” his mother said. “You’re twenty months younger than Rene. It’s not possible.”

Rene was still absorbing the fact that Charles thought they were brothers.

“You didn’t know?” Sylvie asked him quietly.

“Of course he knew,” Charles said. “He’s always known.”

“I didn’t. I’ve never heard this rumor.” He was reeling a bit. “Charles, I didn’t know you thought that.”

“Liar.” Charles brushed past him. “This isn’t over. I won’t let you do this to me. And I’ll release everything I know about your wife.”

“Go for it,” Sylvie said. “It’ll be fun to be the center of a scandal for the five minutes it’ll take to figure out it wasn’t me.”

She put a hand on Rene’s arm to keep him from going after his cousin.

“I’m sorry you found out that way,” Roberta said with a shake of her head. “I thought it was time it got dragged into the light.”

“His mother never got over Ross.” Marietta stood. “I always knew there would be trouble. Oh, well, if I’m not getting a yacht, I can have a couple of croissants. Do we really have to go through the boring old board meeting? Just let Rene do what he does.”

“Yes, we have to.” Roberta turned Ashley’s way. “Young lady, I want to be on the road directly after the board meeting.”

Ashley’s eyes rolled. “Good luck with that.”

“I’ll pay you double, and I’ll only insult you when it’s really necessary,” Roberta promised. “You’ve got some spine in you, little girl. There might be more to you than blond hair and long legs.”

“I’m not listening to old country music,” Ashley said, but she followed Roberta and the others out of the room.

Gabriel had a hand over his heart. “I think I’m too old for this.”

“It’s adrenaline,” Louis pointed out. “Take some deep breaths and it’ll pass.”

“Are you all right?” Sylvie stayed close to Rene.

He wasn’t sure. He turned to his mother. “Did my father have an affair?”

“He did not.” Louis took the file from Cricket. “I was your father’s best friend. I was with him almost more than your mother most of the time. He didn’t have an affair. Charles’s mother hated the fact that Ross didn’t marry her. She poisoned Charles against this whole family.”

“He thought we were brothers.” How much of Charles’s life had been spent hating him?