Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Dad, go ahead and take care of your business."

She really just called him Dad?

Vince Zimmerman let out a cold snort in his mind. Sheila Howard had been adopted by Abell and Sandra practically from the moment she was born. What a sweet deal for that so-called father-never raised a daughter, but the moment she found him, she recognized him anyway.

Sheila's biological father handed Timothy Lawson a business card. "Here's my card. If you need anything, don't hesitate to contact me."

Timothy barely glanced at the card and made no move to take it.

An awkward silence hung between them. Sheila nudged her father, urging him, "You should go."

With no other choice, he left for now.

Earlier, Vince had helped Jessica Greene run a check on that car, which was how he learned Sheila's father went by Mayfield.

She remembered, back when she was a kid, her grandma used to call him Dr. Field. Clearly, he'd been using a fake name for his cons.

Now he drove a Bentley, everything he wore screamed expensive, from the watch on his wrist to the signet ring on his thumb-a fortune on display. Apparently, he'd climbed the social ladder by now.

"Timothy," Sheila called, wanting to explain.

But Timothy had already turned away, heading back to his table.

Sheila followed after him.

"Let's get out of

home, Jessica. I'm going to stick around and see what

she said

a benefactor to my grandfather and to the whole Zimmerman

door, helping Jessica in, then turned and strode back into Gin Lane Epilogues. He walked straight to Timothy's table, dropped into the seat beside Yates Bryant, and announced, "Timothy, I overheard everything. Now that Sheila's found her real father, she's not technically your aunt anymore. That means your marriage is pretty much over. If you two want to pick up where you left off,

quickly grabbed his arm. "Vince, don't

Jessica and challenge Timothy, even though he knew Timothy

If she jumped in now, she'd only make things worse- especially if she ever wanted to

was tight with

the Howards had always been close; to him, Sheila was just the daughter of a family friend. He never had any special feelings for her,

and Sheila-well, she was just someone from Timothy's past. He didn't have much to say about

real father was a conman left him feeling

I? Then why doesn't he deny it?" Vince muttered, irritation

looked up. "You

Sheila,

just third wheels here, anyway," Vince said, getting

them to leave; Yates knew better

sister from Timothy, but

arched an eyebrow. "Pressure

told him that if he didn't talk, our parents would go straight to the Lawsons and start asking questions, put

that easy to scare? Forget it. He's so determined to shield Sheila and won't let go of the marriage—I

to set them up, but now he'd lost all hope