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“Good job, you dumb bitch!” Claudia screams behind me. “Whatever it is he’s pissed about, you keep your goddamn mouth shut about it, okay? Sam is someone you don’t want to cross. He’ll ruin our lives and take Trey from us. Do you want that to happen?”
I shake my head, blinded by tears. “No … no, of course not.”
“Then, what you saw, you take to the grave. Understood?”
“But … but—”
“There are nobuts. Now, go to your room and read or whatever the fuck you do.” She pauses. “Hold that thought. Watch Trey for a while. I need to blow off some steam after the problems you caused today.”
20
Chloe
Anxiousness crawls through me when I lock my front door and take small steps over to Kyle’s.
It’s four in the morning, and I can’t sleep. All I can think about is where his head is, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep even when I find out.
I want to kick Claudia’s ass for telling Roger about Michael being Trey’s father. Roger’s outburst cost everyone so much. When Michael finds out people know about his secret child, he’ll cut Claudia off. She no longer holds any leverage over him. No longer will theI’ll call your wife and expose youthreats work. Michael has supported Trey since his birth, supported our family, and all that will be gone.
Eventually, I came to learn that Sam wasn’t Sam’s real name. It was Michael.Mayor Michael Lane, to be exact. I was shocked at first, but it taught me a valuable lesson—not to trust anyone.
Michael’s attorney signed and sent out all payments, so there’d be no trace of Michael being involved. His money put food on the table, gave Trey what he needed, and paid our bills. He promised this in exchange for our silence. When I turned sixteen, those checks were no longer made out to Claudia. My name was on them, and I cashed them with guilt.
After I graduated from college and started making decent money, I stopped accepting his money. Claudia’s threats never stopped, so the checks went back to her.
I can grasp Kyle’s anger. I was searching for the right time to tell him. With every call, hang-out, and touch, the desire to unmask the truth was like a knife to my throat. It wasn’t my life I would be hurting if I opened my mouth, so it was too risky. Kyle would’ve confronted his father.
He sees me as a liar and someone who blackmailed his father for financial gain.
“I know it’s late, but we need to talk,” I say as soon as he answers the door.
I smell the liquor on his breath when he steps to the side to allow me entrance. His glossy eyes confirm that not only can’t he sleep, too, but he’s also wasted—something I’ve never seen from him.
There’s a glass in his hand, and he takes a drink before replying. “There’s nothing to say, Chloe.”
I stop, knowing I need to be careful with my words. “If you’ll let me explain …” I should’ve thought this through before coming over.
“Let you explain?” he shouts, his voice cold and callous. “Let you explain how I spent an hour on the phone with my heartbroken mother, how she’s embarrassed the entire town knows, how you chose to keep it from me,orhow you’ve been blackmailing my father forfourteen fucking years?” He scoffs. “Unless it’s to explain any of that, I don’t want to hear shit from you.” He downs his drink and sets it down. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
I bite into the edge of my lip. “I … I think so.”
“You think so?” he repeats slowly. “When? A year? Two? Never?”
Tears glisten in my eyes. “I can’t answer that because I don’t know.”
“You’ve been lying this entire time.”
I shake my head. “When you asked who Trey and Gloria’s father was, I never said I didn’t know. I never lied.”
His upper lip curls. “Wow, really? I didn’t find it necessary to specifymy father, but I did ask who his dad was.”
He did, and I was careful with my wording for this reason.
“I told you he was a deadbeat asshole. That’s the truth in my opinion—no offense.”
My answer isn’t met with approval.
“You also said you didn’t know where he was.”
