Allison nced at Ken through the rearview mirror, her thoughts spiraling like smoke rising into the air.


    His kissing skills had surprised her, though she hadn’t analyzed the moment beyond its natural intensity.


    The kiss had simply seemed… fitting, an impulsive reaction to the charged atmosphere between them.


    The DNA test had already confirmed they weren’t blood rted, but the strange attraction she felt toward him, this deep connection that stirred her soul, was undeniable.


    She wasn’t naive or inexperienced in matters of the heart.


    Far from it.


    She knew Ken felt something too—it was in her eyes, in the warmth of her touch.


    What it was, however, remained elusive, like trying to catch fog between your hands.


    But getting close to him would certainly give her easier ess to her grandmother.


    “He’s got moves, I’ll give him that.


    But why is he wasting away in that wheelchair?” Allison murmured as she drove.


    Ken presented a cool, indifferent mask to the world, but that kiss—so full of passion, so skillfully delivered—exposed an undercurrent of fire he’d kept hidden.


    Remembering that fleeting kiss, full of raw, almost destructive energy, she realized they had nearly burned together.


    Beneath their calm exteriorsy a mutual madness that was about to explode.


    It was what made Ken so irresistibly captivating: cool and collected on the outside, but dangerously unhinged on the inside.


    “How could someone like that love ceramics?” The thought amused her, the idea of ??someone as intense as Ken devoting himself to such a meticulous, quiet art form seemed almostical.


    When she got home, Reba greeted her at the door with a ss of ice water and a face lit up with curiosity.


    “Allison, darling, how was ss today? Any little monsters misbehaving?”


    Before Allison could respond, Reba''s sharp eyes fell on something unusual: Allison''s lips, slightly swollen and glistening with a faint sheen.


    With Allison''s striking red lips, the added blush only made her more seductive.


    Reba raised an eyebrow.


    “Let it go.


    Your lips don’t look like that for show.


    Who kissed you?”


    Grabbing Allison’s arm, Reba continued, her smile growing wider.


    “Come on, what are you hiding?”


    “Uh… mosquito bite,” Allison said, quickly touching her lips in instinctive defense.


    But Reba clearly wasn’t buying it, so Allison took a quick sip of the ice water, smoothly shifting gears.


    “I taught a talented girl today.


    She only needed one demonstration and she nailed my technique perfectly.


    Her hands are steady like a surgeon’s, but she’s so wrapped up in her own little world it’s a shame.


    You know, art takes more than skill, it takes inspiration from life.


    If you’ve never really felt nature, no matter how well you recreate andscape, it’s still just an imitation.


    Her workcks soul, but I have a soft spot for her.


    She’s autistic, and that’s a difficult path to navigate.


    But we’ll take it slow.”


    Reba, uninterested in the intricacies of pottery, raised an eyebrow and asked, “So you went to the Lloyds’ today.


    Any progress?”


    “You mean clues? Nothing that obvious.


    No one’s leaving breadcrumbs for me to follow.” Allison’s tone was casual, but then she dropped the real bombshell.


    “But did you know Ken wears a ne?”


    Reba blinked.


    “A ne? No, I’ve never noticed.” I wasn’t really surprised.


    Ken always wore his cor buttoned all the way up, looking like something out of a business magazine.


    Who would think to look for a ne in all that formality?


    “The design matches the snake bracelet my mother left me,” Allison continued.


    “The craftsmanship is identical.


    She says it was her mother’s.” Reba’s eyes widened, genuine shock on her face.


    She knew how long Allison had been following leads on that bracelet.


    Finding this connection at the Lloyd mansion waspletely unexpected.


    “You’re kidding.


    You two aren’t secretly brothers, right?”


    Allison shook her head.


    “No.


    The DNA results came back clean.


    There’s no blood rtion.


    Ken is his mother’s biological son.


    Although his mother, Gianna Lloyd, died years ago, so she’s not my connection.


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    That just leaves his grandmother, Kinslee.


    I have to meet her, no matter what it takes.”


    Reba nodded slowly, understanding the gravity of Allison’s discovery.


    “You know I’m inside if you need help.” As the conversation turned back to more serious matters, Reba seemed to realize that Allison had deftly dodged the original topic.


    Her smile returned, yful and sly.


    “Allison, I think Mr.


    Lloyd has a soft spot for you.


    I’ve never seen him act like this with anyone else.


    And knowing you…” Reba leaned closer, her voice mocking.


    “Come on, be honest.


    Are you using him?”