He hurried out of the house to keep from revealing that he knew the truth about her. Instead, he would leave Tessa to handle her niece.

Aniyah slipped her clothes back on. She hollered out the door at him as he drove away. "We'll see about that."

Miss Half definitely has serious mental problems, Kenley thought as she watched and listened.

Aniyah came back into the house and made a call for a driver. She stood at the door until the driver appeared. "Come in here." She waved at him.

The driver removed his hat as he entered. Aniyah thought that he was gorgeous. The spice of silver mixed with black in his hair turned her on. She dropped her lingerie to the floor.

"How about it, driver, would you like to drive in my car?" She giggled.

The driver trembled; his eyes were glued to the curves of her body. His eyes popped opened when he saw the plumpness of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Over the years, his wife's b.r.e.a.s.t.s had found their way going in the same direction of the region he lived in-south.

"I can't, Miss Sanchez, I'm a married man. My wife also works for the estate," he said nervously as he dashed out of the door.

Aniyah ran outside bare bodied. "You and your d.a.m.n old wife are both fired." She slammed the door.

"Pete," Aniyah screamed, "where are you, darling? I need your services. Mama is hot!"

Kenley stayed put until she watched Pete and Aniyah go down the hall in the direction of the staircase toward the mediation room on the lower level. She knew they would be busy taking care of Aniyah's s.e.xual needs.

Kenley decided to snoop around. The photo on her father's computer of her sister and Baron had to come from Aniyah, and she intended to search for it. She thought that this had to make her father angry when he had received it, especially since he wanted to be the one to find the perfect man for his daughter.

She dashed upstairs to Aniyah's bedroom. She checked her computer for the image. She found it in her picture file and deleted it.

It did not take long before Kenley found a box in the closet with plenty of lingerie in it. She dug to the bottom of the box. There was a manila envelope. Inside the envelope was the photo Aniyah had altered. Kenley needed her email and pa.s.sword to log onto her Internet account. She scrambled through the box until she found a small, white envelope labeled PERSONAL. She looked inside the envelope and found a slip with Aniyah's email address and pa.s.sword. "Dummy," she said, running back to the computer and logged on to the Internet. She searched her email. There she found the email to her father. She deleted it.

Kenley made her way out of the room with the manila envelope in her hand.

About the time she got to the staircase that led downstairs, she heard Aniyah's voice. She ran to the west wing of the house to her room and peeked out.

Aniyah and Pete played lovebirds up the stairs all the way to the east wing. Once they vanished into the room, Kenley made her way to the wine cellar. She picked up the journal and left through the secret pa.s.sage.

Running all the way to the servants' quarters, Kenley was out of breath. Her hair became drenched as it sweated from the heat. She tapped on the window of the limo and startled the driver as he was asleep. He jumped up and saw her face leaning against the window.

"Open up," Kenley called.

The driver unlocked the door, then got out to open the door for her, but Kenley had already gotten into the limo.

He looked into his rearview mirror at her in the back seat. He asked, "Miss Houston, is everything okay?"

"Get me to the Houston Villa as fast as you can," she said as she fumbled in a cooler to wet the dryness in her mouth with an ice-cold bottle of water.

Chapter 18.

Kenley tiptoed into the villa but Milandra caught her. "Where have you been, young lady?"

"I went to the estate."

"It's appalling that you like being around that common trash."

"Actually, I hate her," Kenley said angrily.

Noelle came into the room with rollers in her hair and overheard her. "You can't go around hating people."

"You're going to hate her, too. I'm a great detective," Kenley said.

"What have you been investigating?" Milandra asked.

"See this?" She held out the journal. "This is Mother's diary. In her own words she said she loved us. That's what she says in it."

"Hand it here," Milandra, s.n.a.t.c.hing it out of her hand.

"What's in the envelope?" Noelle inquired as she helped herself to it.

Kenley tried to take it back, but Noelle had already taken the photo out of the envelope.

Noelle stared at the photo of her kissing Baron in their birthday suits.

She leaned against the wall. "Where did you get this?"

"What is it?" Milandra said, forgetting that quickly about her mother's journal. She took the photo from Noelle. Her eyes lit up. She slapped Noelle with the photo. "You defied Father by sleeping with our lawyer."

"Of course not," Noelle yelled as she took back the photo. "This is some mistake. The truth is, I do like him, but I've never been to bed with him."

"You're a liar! The picture speaks for itself," Milandra yelled, jealous because her sister had had a man before her.

Kenley broke up their argument. "Milandra, she's telling the truth. Miss Half, our sister, did this. She's guilty."

"Why would she do this to me?" Noelle wondered.

"She likes Mr. Chavis. I know that much," Kenley declared.

"How do you know all these things?" Milandra asked.

Kenley explained how she discovered all the information. She told them about Baron and Aniyah's argument. Noelle was happy to know that he had pushed Aniyah away, but she was furious that the photo was created with her face on it.

Kenley gave them her last important discovery: "I also found the picture on Father's computer."

"No, please, tell me that's not true," Noelle cried "I'm sorry, but it was on Father's computer," Kenley said.

Milandra put two and two together. "Father's heart attack. That's it! Aniyah must have given it to him."

"I'll strangle her! Father died thinking I had s.e.x with his lawyer behind his back." Noelle screamed. She began to take the rollers out of her hair. She let them fall on the floor like bouncing b.a.l.l.s. "I'm going over there and have it out with her."

"You'll do no such thing. Anyone that does something that despicable can do bodily harm to you. Just stay away from her. The important thing is that Kenley got the picture from her."

"Thanks, Kenley. I owe you," Noelle said as she gave her sister a hug.

"Just help me get around Miss Half, so I can still have my sweet sixteen pool party. I don't want to go to the yacht club. Mother is not here for the traditional one."

Noelle smiled. "You'll have the pool party there." She was ready to get even with Aniyah.

"We'll have to show the picture to Mr. Chavis," Kenley said.

"No, we're not going to show him a nude picture of him and Noelle," Milandra said.

Noelle knew this would be the time for her to go to see him. She fluffed her hair with her fingers. "I'm going over to his house tonight. I'll discuss this matter with him."

"Wait, before you go, there's something else," Kenley said.

"Oh G.o.d, please don't let it be about me." Noelle wondered what could possibly be next.

"Mother knew Father was having affairs with the help. It's all in her diary. I feel so bad for Mother. She really loved Father. She praised him. She thought it was her duty to take his c.r.a.p," Kenley said.

"Watch your words," Milandra said. "We'll read for ourselves what Mother really felt."

"I'm going to see Mr. Chavis," Noelle said.

"Call him first," Milandra insisted.

"I will not," Noelle said because she wanted to see him. She ran to her room and slipped on a leisure suit.

"Go to bed, Kenley. Stay away from the estate," Milandra scolded her.

Kenley pouted. "I need to keep going there to keep an eye on Miss Half. The wh.o.r.e changed the locks on the doors."

"I guess she changed it for her safety," Milandra said.

"She doesn't want me coming over there-talking about how she's not a babysitter. She makes me ill."

Milandra became curious and asked, "How did you get into the house?"

"Father shared one of his secret ways of getting in the house."

Milandra laughed. "It's under a patch of gra.s.s."

"He told you, too."

"Yes, and Noelle also knows where it is."

"I thought I had my own secret pa.s.sage."

"Run along. I'm going to sit and read Mother's words."

Chapter 19.

Tessa rested in the arms of Baron in his family room. They watched a romantic movie that he had purchased on the way home. She lounged in her bra and panties. His chest was bare, but he wore pajama bottoms.

Baron kissed Tessa on the neck and tickled her nose with his tongue.

"You're supposed to concentrate on the movie," she said as she tried to feed him b.u.t.tery popcorn.

Baron turned his head away. "The movie is making me hungry for you, not popcorn."

Tessa tossed the popcorn into her mouth. Baron noticed two actors in the scene were making out. He reenacted parts of the romantic scene.

He cupped his hand under her chin to turn her face toward him. He smothered her lips with his. He flicked the television off and got on top of her. Tessa grabbed the remote from him and flicked the television back on.

"Come on, let's make our own movie," he begged.

"I've been waiting to see this movie. I'll make it up to you when it's over." She smiled.

Baron saw that she was absorbed in the last part of the movie. He sat up and pouted like a kid until the movie was over. He spoke, "When will you go speak to your niece?"

"I'll go see her tomorrow."

He admitted, "I saw her earlier. She's crazy."

"What happened?"

"She threatened me, insisting that if I don't become her man, she'll continue to blackmail me."

"You didn't tell her you knew she wasn't my daughter?"

"No, I wanted to make sure you spoke to her first. I'm trying to see how I'm going to get that picture from her."

"You will," Tessa said as she made her way into his arms.

Noelle made her way out of the house. As usual, when the Houstons called for a ride, the driver was prompt. She ordered him to take her to the home of Baron Chavis.