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She lifted her gaze and looked at him. “Alright. Talk to me, Jordan.”
He gave her a soft, hopeful smile. “Things were tough for me in your world right from the outset. Your people made it very clear that I was considered a trespasser. An intruder. And unwelcome.”
“I didn’t do that. I never saw you as an outsider.”
“No you didn’t, but if I’m being honest, you did far worse. You refused to see how hard things were for me. You might have been dealing with your album, but I never once felt that you understood how big the resort project was, or how much I was struggling with it all.” Jordan’s hands balled into fists. “And on top of all that, was the constant feeling that you didn’t want to fight for any of it. Not for us, and not for your freedom.”
Chloe gasped. Words of denial were ready on her lips, but Jordan shook his head. He was going to make her listen, no matter how much she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“You asked. Now I am telling,” he said. “I saw how your entourage treat you. The horrible way Marta spoke to you on the phone that morning in Paris made me feel sick to my stomach. They control your life. Tell you what to do, what to say. Hell, even what to put in your mouth.”
Chloe could just imagine Marta and Gabriela having a pink fit in the convenience store. Their voices had been protesting loudly in her head as she picked up the packet of candy. For the first time in her life, she had steadfastly ignored them.
“And when I tried to share anything with you other than what had been officially approved by your people, I was slapped down. I fought to break through to you, Chloe, but you let them make the decisions. From where I stood—and do stand—you’ve been manipulated and, dare I say, abused.”
He was telling the truth about her former employees, that for all intents and purposes she had been the victim of her own mean girls. She’d even paid them for the privilege of letting them bully her.
“As I recall, Jordan, you were simply just the other side of the same coin. On the one hand I had Marta and her team trying to enforce their opinions on me, while on the other I had you telling me to live my life while also constantly letting me down,” she bit back.
Her heart was racing. She was dumping all this on him, and they hadn’t even got the concert shows officially announced. Heck, she hadn’t even made it to Vegas.
“You are right. I did let you down. But our breakup wasn’t all one-sided.” He moved away, now he was the one who looked like they were intending to walk into the desert.
Chloe threw up her hands in frustration. “Where are you going?!”
Jordan hurried back, and when he got to where Chloe stood in increasing confusion, he got right in her face. “Nowhere. I’m going nowhere until you hear the rest of it. I had to leave the album launch because of my work commitments. And I realize now that not bringing my father to meet you was a serious mistake on my part. It wasn’t anything to do with you personally, it was about the resort launch. I was torn and angry with myself for getting on the plane and going back to New York, but I had no choice. Dad had called in a lot of favors to get me that gig, and I was worried that if he thought I was distracted by being with you, he might not think I was up to the task. He’s never believed in me the way he believes in my brothers. And after we broke up, and I totally burned myself out at the resort, I proved to him that all his long-held reservations about me were right.”
Jordan had failed. Now things made sense.
“Foster called me your deadbeat boyfriend, and a risk. And you agreed with him. I did my best to prove to you that that wasn’t the case, but you let Foster and your nest of vipers poison everything between us.”
Marta had crowed about Jordan’s departure for days. Banged on and on about how ungrateful he was. And how blind Chloe had been. But in his world, she wasn’t the victim, she was villain of the piece.
“I get things were tense between us, and yes it was stupid of me to refuse your calls after the album launch, but I was angry and hurt, Jordan. The fake dating thing with Zapp was designed to make you stop sending me messages and flowers, and instead get your ass on a plane. All it got me was silence. I still can’t believe you stopped calling.”
Chloe held her hands together and brought them to her lips. The hot sun was beating down on her head, and this back and forth of unkind accusations was utterly exhausting. After their breakup, they’d each stayed in their respective hurt, neither daring to risk more pain by reaching out for the other.
Jordan shook his head. “I did call. On the night of the awards. I spoke to Marta, and she made it clear that I was out. That you didn’t want to hear from me ever again. I saw you and Zapp kissing on the red carpet, and figured you were doing it to make sure I got the message that we were over and done.”
He’d tried to call.
“Jordan, I didn’t tell her to say that because none of it was true. And I swear I didn’t know anything about your call. Marta must have deleted it from my phone.” Chloe’s shoulders sagged. It was just another in a long line of deceitful things she’d discovered about her former assistant. “Turns out Marta did a lot of things like that before I fired her.”
Jordan’s eyes grew wide. “You fired Marta? I gathered Foster was gone— but Marta, wow.”
“Yep. She, Gabriela, all my employees are gone. And I have a whole new management team in place.”
“So who are your new assistants, I expect I will be liaising with them?”
Chloe stepped away. If they kept up with this line of conversation, the subject of her money troubles would soon find a way to come to the surface. She wasn’t ready for that conversation.
“I’m between support teams at present. Until I find new people, it’s just you and me. And speaking of which, we had better get going.” She couldn’t do any more sharing today. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as Chloe headed back toward the SUV.
A silent Jordan followed.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
When they got back in the SUV, Chloe put a podcast on. Jordan vaguely listened to it as he drove, but he suspected he took in as little of it as Chloe likely did. Today’s revelations had left them both reeling. Misunderstandings. Lies. And both had been left in a world of pain.
