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“It’s more than a lot. It’s everything. You know how I feel about your mother getting near my child, and you know how I feel about Mia setting foot in Vegas. No. I’m sorry, but no.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “She’s my mother, Chloe. Despite what she did to us, she is still my mother, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let her die when I know seeing Mia could save her life.”
He wouldn’t forgive her either. He didn’t say it out loud, but it was implied. Her mother had been a good Christian woman and would tell her to let his mother meet her only grandchild.
But no one knew what Estelle Andropolis had put her through.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Chloe told Nik. “Your mother was lovely when you were nearby, but the second you left us alone she changed. It was all icy politeness and barely veiled insults. She repeatedly insinuated I was just after your money.”
He sighed. “She would think that about anybody I was seeing. It wasn’t personal.”
“Felt personal to me. She thought I was white trash and made sure I knew it. If I hadn’t been so sure about your love, I would have run straight to the bus station. I would have caved to her manipulations. Did you know she tried to convince me you were seeing an ex-girlfriend behind my back?”
He covered his face with both hands and groaned. “No. I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
Obviously exhausted and afraid he was about to lose his mother, Nik looked terrible. The lines on his face appeared more pronounced than usual. His skin was pale, and there were dark purple half-moons below his hooded eyes. Her heart went out to him. She wanted to stop giving him a hard time, let him have his way, and ease his mind.
But she was fighting for her daughter.
“I’m afraid she’ll hurt Mia. She could say something nasty about me, or maybe she’ll outright reject Mia because she’s mine. No, Nik. I’m sorry. I don’t want our little girl anywhere near your mother.”
“What if you come with us? We’ll keep Mia between us, and we’ll hold her hands. If my mother says one slightly negative word, we’ll be out of there, and I’ll never ask you to let her see Mia again.”
In truth, the thing Chloe was most afraid of was that the manipulative shrew would change Nik’s mind on the subject of their daughter. Estelle Andropolis could convince Nik to hire an entire law firm to take Mia away. They were a formidable pair, even without lawyers.
“I swear to you, I won’t let my mother or anyone else do anything or say anything that will hurt Mia. I love her, too. Please, trust me.”
What choice did she have? If she wanted a relationship with him, she needed to learn to trust him. That was their problem the first time around. No trust on either side.
She slowly nodded. “We can go, two days tops, and we never leave Mia alone with Estelle, no matter what that woman says. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
They embraced, and her heart began to race. She wondered if she would feel butterflies in her stomach every time he touched her, if they were still together forty years from now.
Ugly reality returned. Their marriage wasn’t real, and Nik loved being CEO of the Andropolis empire too much to give it up. She was surprised he had lasted this long in her world.
Mia raced into the room like a tiny tornado. She paused when she saw Nik, and she stared at him as if uncertain how to react. Nik took care of it with his usual charm.
He grinned. “Hey, princess. How would you like to take a plane ride with us?”
“Can I bring my toys?”
He winked at Chloe. “You can bring whatever you want.”
Chloe groaned. “Don’t tell her that. We’ll be packing her entire room, and it won’t all fit on your plane.”
Mia’s eyes widened. “You have a plane, Daddy?”
In an instant, Nik changed. The sadness and exhaustion evaporated. He lifted Mia off the ground and flew her around the house, moving from room to room as she giggled. “You’re my plane,” he said.
Chloe laughed her way back to the kitchen. Her little girl had one of the richest men in the world wrapped around her tiny finger so tightly that he didn’t even notice.
Chloe’s laughter died at the thought of his mother. Estelle Andropolis. It was time for a plan. That woman was not going to get the chance to hurt Mia. Chloe promised herself a chance to put Estelle in her place if the woman wasn’t as sick as she let Nik believe. She had grown as a person and wouldn’t let anyone tell her she wasn’t good enough for Nik.
While baking biscuits, Chloe prepared a speech. All the things she wished she had said to Estelle’s face came roaring to the front of her mind. She just needed to put them in some sort of logical order and then memorize everything.
Of course, she wouldn’t say those awful things if the woman was on her deathbed. She’d hold her tongue. But if Estelle was faking...
