Summer's Gift

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Contents Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Epilogue About the Author Endorsements By Jennifer Ryan Copyright About the Publisher vii ix 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 Dedication For you, the reader. As Summer would say, “I wish you good times, good wine, and good love in your life.” Prologue Charles Sutherland had money, power, and the most precious gift of all: his granddaughter, Summer Sutherland Weston. And he’d lied to her, her entire life. He couldn’t take the guilt and shame of his behavior anymore. His sweet girl deserved the truth. So he was going to fix this situation, because his Ladybug deserved the world. Most of all, she deserved to be loved. In business, he could solve anything one way or another. But he didn’t know how to fix his Ladybug’s feeling that her mother never loved her. Would Summer forgive him for what he’d done at his daughter Jessica’s behest? He’d spoiled Jessica to compensate for his long work hours and leaving her alone all the time after her mother died. He knew it was wrong, and he did it anyway, making her believe that anything she wanted would be handed to her on a silver platter. He’d done better by his granddaughter, raising Summer to work hard and take the reins of Sutherland Industries one day. And that day was coming sooner rather than later. He stood in his office doorway and watched Summer and the first step of his plan play out. “You won the monthly office raffle!” Kennedy, one of the executive assistants, informed his granddaughter. Summer stared at the gift bag on her desk. “But that’s not fair. I’m a Sutherland. This should go to someone else.” Summer didn’t want any special treatment and tried to hand the package back. Kennedy held her hand up to stop her. “It’s okay. This month, your grandfather put five gifts in the raffle. They came from the company Sutherland Industries just acquired. You’re not taking the only one given out. It’s fine. Besides, every employee is eligible to win.” Summer opened the package and held up the box inside. “I have to say I was intrigued by these when we did the research on the company.” Kennedy did exactly what he knew she’d do and pushed Summer to open the DNA test kit. “Don’t you want to know if you have a long-lost relative, or if you’re descended from royalty?” Kennedy’s excitement ignited his granddaughter’s. Summer laughed that off, but Charles saw a spark of an idea light her eyes. “I’ve often wished that my uncle had a secret love child out there somewhere.” Charles frowned. He’d expected Summer to wonder about her father, not his brother, who’d passed away three years ago, leaving Summer his estate. He’d had no other immediate family besides Charles to inherit. Charles and Jessica had done too good a job of lying to Summer about her father. Now she didn’t even think about the man she never knew. Kennedy pushed again and pointed to the boxes on her desk. “The others have already done their tests. I’m going to mail them back