Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Coleen spun around, her eyes drilling into Vivian with an intensity that could cut through steel. It was like staring down a lie detector on full blast. Vivian knew one slip-up would be her undoing.

"I swear, Aunt Maggie, I'm telling the truth. She told me herself that she's got her sights set on Chade Inc. She even said that if you don't hand it over, she'll use the Cedillos' influence to take it and sell it off." Coleen's face remained stony, the undisputed matriarch of the Byrne family. Her word was final when it came to family matters.

Turning to her son, she asked, "Have you finished looking at the photos?"

What unsettled Coleen the most was her lingering doubts about Molly's feelings for Chad. She had always thought her daughter was too innocent, too oblivious to matters of the heart. But tonight's photos told a different story, especially that kiss-it was undeniable. Kendrick had been at a dinner party when his wife's urgent call pulled him away. Seeing the photos, he too began to question their authenticity.

Grandma Aubree and Grandpa Elmer were the first to see the photos, and their silence spoke volumes.

Chad, after seeing the photos, began to see Molly in a new light. How could she turn a tired study session in a hotel room into a soap opera?

He handed his phone to Vivian, his demeanor devoid of the "nervousness" or "anxiety" the family expected. "Can you send me those photos? I want to keep them," he said coolly.

The room was stunned!

Vivian was floored; Chad hadn't denied anything.

"Chad, are you two... an item now?" she asked.

Chad ignored her question and turned to his parents, "Is there anything else, or are we done here?"

Coleen stared at her son, her face white with shock.

"Chad! How far have things gone with you and Molly?" Kendrick's voice thundered with rage.

Chad stood silently in the living room, his thoughts a mystery to everyone.

the

win Molly over. It felt like walking a dangerous tightrope, but maybe, just maybe, it was an opportunity. After

Vivian, stared in

over to his son and slapped him hard across the face. "You... you... are

children before. Now, as Molly's father, he was striking

his father's fury; the slap turned his face aside, and

up, his deep

anger, while Grandma Aubree and Grandpa Elmer regretted their naivety, slapping their knees. "Damn it, Chad, you've always been such a good

in disbelief, kept shouting, "It's a lie,

calm, his mind replaying the accidental encounter with Molly tonight. There was also the birthmark only she and her mother knew about. "Molly's birthmark is under her right breast, hidden, about the size of a thumb."

his wife, waiting for

she was a child and sometimes even scrubbed her back as

else knew about it,

Molly's called you 'brother' for sixteen years."

that moment, the room

his mother, and said, "Mom, take care of

upstairs, entering his sister's bedroom, which he had locked himself. He gathered a few of her clothes and a nightgown from the

stairs, "Mom, Dad, Grandma,

left, Coleen clutched her chest,

trembled with rage at her side. How could this happen so

a matter

had to be

the day Molly came to me, she and Chad were still..." Vivian's

and warned, "If I hear