“The way they changed everything for us?”
Chloe closed her eyes against the sting of tears that suddenly burned there. “Yes.”
She repeated what she’d overheard this morning. At the end of the line, her mother gasped.
“So why aren’t you giving that information to the reporter that you told me about?”
“Because it’s not my fight anymore, Momma. I’m handing it over to you. I can’t do it. I’m too close...” Her voice trailed off as her throat thickened, making it hard to speak.
Understanding began to filter through her distress. She’d said it wasn’t her fight anymore, but maybe it never had been. And it certainly didn’t need to be now. Especially not when she realized her feelings for Miles were genuine. She’d passed the baton to her mom, what Loretta did with it was entirely up to her. For herself, Chloe would explain everything to Miles when they got back home to Chicago and then she’d accept the consequences of her actions. She could only hope that he could see what had driven her to do this—and forgive her all the same.
“Chloe, I warned you about getting hurt. Those people are ruthless.”
“No, Momma. They’re just people. Yes, Trent Wingate let Daddy down when he most needed support. But he’s gone now.”
“You’re falling in love with that Miles Wingate, aren’t you?” There was a definite accusatory tone in her mother’s voice. “What about me? What about what they owe me?”
“I’ve given you the information you need to take your revenge, if you’re prepared to go through with it. But I’m not doing it, Momma. I can’t. It’s just not right.” Tears were flowing down Chloe’s cheeks now. She couldn’t take anymore. “I’m hanging up now. I’ll be home by the end of next week. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’ll have to be, won’t it,” her mother answered snippily.
“Don’t be angry with me, please.”
“I’m not angry—just disappointed. We’ve talked about this for so long. You’ve been just as determined as I was to take revenge if the opportunity came along.”
“I know, and that’s my cross to bear. Look, I have to go. I’ll talk when I can.”
She ended the call and threw her phone on the bed before going through to the adjoining bathroom and washing her face. Man, she looked a wreck. Every one of the emotions tumbling through her—sorrow, regret, guilt—was evident in the blue eyes staring back at her. Chloe started as Miles’s reflection appeared next to hers.
“What’s wrong?”
Chloe scrambled for a valid reason to be standing in the bathroom, crying. “Mom had some bad news.”
“Oh no. I’m so sorry. Do you need to go her? I can arrange it for you.”
He was already sliding his phone out of his pocket, but she turned and put a hand on his to stop him.
“No, it can wait until we’re back.”
“Are you sure? I can book a ticket back to Chicago for you right now. You only have to say the word.”
“Please, don’t. I’m staying with you, okay? Besides, there’s nothing she can do right now.”
Nothing except destroy the growing hope Chloe had for a future with Miles.
* * *
Miles watched from near the bar as Chloe chatted with Beth and Cam. He could barely take his eyes off her. She was wearing the same beaded black dress she’d worn to the blues evening, and it brought back some darn potent memories right now. He wondered just how long they’d have to stay here before they could slip away and create some new ones. There was a faint smile pulling at his lips as he contemplated just what those memories would entail.
“Penny for them?”
Miles straightened and held his hand out to his cousin Zeke. The son of Ava’s late brother, Robert, and his also deceased African American wife, Nina, Zeke and his brother, Luke, were both tall, ha
ndsome men who embraced their biracial heritage with pride and confidence. Zeke was the Vice President of Marketing at Wingate Enterprises, and he’d been none too pleased about the revelations in the family meeting Sebastian called late yesterday afternoon. He had his work cut out for him trying to find a way to put a positive spin on the company going forward.
Despite the fact this was a family celebration and the guests were supposed to be family friends, there’d been murmurs and finger-pointing about what had happened with the fire at the jet plant already and he could feel the divide beginning to grow. It wouldn’t be long before the asset freeze was being bandied about, too.
“I was contemplating the job you have ahead of you, spin-doctoring Winjet out of this mess,” Miles said with genuine sympathy.