Read Worth Everything for Free Online Page A

sound so full of wistful longing it sent a pang straight to her vulnerable heart. “I want to belong. To someone, somewhere. I need to.”
    Now it was his turn to study her, not saying a word, though she saw the surprise in his gaze. He believed her some sort of she-devil out to take the Worths for everything they had when that wasn’t her intention. Money didn’t matter. A person could have all the wealth in the world, but it still didn’t make them happy.
    She’d been happy, once upon a time. Successful at her job, excited to start working on her own jewelry line, and part of a family that had been in the fashion accessory industry for generations. With three brothers who loved her, a father who doted on her and a mother who thought she was completely spoiled.
    That had been wiped from her life with her father’s shocking will.
    “I think we need to go farther back.” He cleared his throat, his gaze, his face so utterly serious, she leaned toward him, eager to hear what he had to say next. “I think we need to find your mother and talk to her.”
    Stasia reared back, emphatically shaking her head. “No. That’s impossible.”
    “Why? Why won’t she talk to you? Have you tried?”
    “Of course I’ve tried. She refuses to talk to anyone. She’s staying in Italy as if she were exiled.”
    “We’ll go see her, then.” He cocked his head to the side. “Don’t you want to learn the truth? The details as to how you…came to be?”
    Her chest tightened. What if those revelations, those stories, were too painful for her to endure? Then what? She’d have to live with them the rest of her life. She didn’t know if she was ready for that yet.
    Would she settle for the unknown, though? Perhaps it was better, knowing exactly how her mother could betray her “father” so completely.
    “Are you afraid, Stasia?” His voice lowered a notch, so husky-deep it seemed to reach inside her and touch her quivery heart. “Is that it? Are you too scared to face the truth?”
    “No.” She blew out a harsh breath, hating how her voice trembled. “I refuse to be afraid. Then I’ll turn into my mother, all alone and refusing to talk to anyone.”
    “Exactly. You need to be stronger than that. And I know you have it in you.” Gavin then did something so shocking she thought she might jump out of her skin. Reaching across the table, he rested his hand atop hers in what seemed to be a comforting gesture.
    He had no idea his touch seemed to reach something dark and forbidden deep within her. Desire swirled, gathered low in her belly when she felt the gentle sweep of his thumb across her sensitive skin.
    “Let’s go to Italy and talk to her,” he murmured. “Find out everything she knows before we go to the Worths. It might be smart, strategically. We could fill them in with the details as well. Don’t you believe they’re just as curious?”
    Were they? She hadn’t a clue, since they refused to look at her, let alone speak to her. Besides that one moment with Rhett, which felt like a lifetime ago. “What if my mother tells us nothing?”
    The smile that curved his generous mouth was a real one this time, and absolutely devastating in its power. It sent a spark of heat whispering over her skin, along her nerve endings. “If we go all that way to question her, I believe you’ll get her to talk.” He removed his hand from hers, leaving her a little lost without his touch.
    The relationship she’d shared with her mother prior to her father’s death had always been a little troublesome. She’d always felt as if her mother were the teeniest bit jealous of the closeness Stasia had with her father.
    Maybe now she knew why. Did her mother secretly laugh at them, knowing they weren’t bound by blood? Did she think it amusing, nursing such a powerful secret all these years? Had she hoped to get away with it forever?
    Stasia didn’t know. But she did know Gavin was right. She needed to find out. Everything.
    Taking a