My girlfriend shoots me a curious look.
“Why?”
I sigh.
“Because James is a professional chef who’s been trying to build an Instagram following. He told me that he wanted to use a fancy kitchen to film some clips, and so I offered to let him use ours. It was perfect timing because we were going to be in Bermuda for two weeks, so he’d have plenty of time to record dozens of shows while we were out. But obviously, that fucker got up to no good.”
Tracy stares at me while cocking her head to one side.
“So there was someone here while we were gone, using our kitchen?”
I nod.
“Yeah, but James promised to clean everything afterwards, and to leave things spic and span.”
My girlfriend sighs then.
“That’s probably why the kitchen was messy when we got back. It wasn’t super messy, but remember how I wanted to talk to your staff about being more meticulous when they cleaned? It was because I thought they’d done a sloppy job in the kitchen, but actually, it was your twin brother all along.”
“Yeah, it was probably him,” I growl. “That assfuck.”
Tracy squints then.
“But why would James tell Savannah he was you? I mean, that seems strange.”
I sigh.
“My guess is that it was just an ego thing. I mean, James isn’t exactly a celebrity chef. He lives a modest lifestyle, and he probably met Savannah out one night. One thing led to another, and it was probably easier just to tell her that he was Rick Patton, successful CEO, rather than James Cornwall, struggling chef de cuisine. Then, he likely brought her back to our mansion in order to impress her before getting her in bed. Hell, he probably claimed that this mansion was his too.”
Tracy stares at me, her jaw dropping open.
“Are you serious? You think he did that? But why?”
I nod.
“Again, it’s just an ego thing. He’d pretend to be a filthy rich CEO with a huge property at his disposal, and hook up with sexy women while he was here. Then conveniently, he’d disappear without a trace,” I growl.
Tracy nods, her brown eyes wide.
“No wonder Savannah didn’t seem to know much about you,” she marvels. “She didn’t seem to know your last name, or have your contact info, which is probably why she dropped by in person.”
I grunt, disgusted.
“Well, now James has a reckoning coming because it seems he’s knocked up the beautiful Savannah and is going to be a daddy soon.”
Tracy nods, totally astonished by this turn of events.
“Holy cow, this is so insane. So are you going to tell James? About the baby I mean?”
I nod.
“Of course, sweetheart. My brother’s such a stupid fuck, but he’s my brother, even if he’s completely irresponsible. Well, we’ll see if he’strulyirresponsible or not because I guess the pedal’s going to hit the metal when it comes to the baby. Obviously, he’s got some big life changes ahead that are going to rock his world. But the important thing is that we’ll get this cleared up, sweetheart. I swear, I have no idea who Savannah is, but I think we know now what’s going on.”
Tracy nods, astonished.
“It’s just so crazy,” she whispers. “Totally out of this world.”
I nod.