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While she valued Jordan’s input, he didn’t know the truth of her earlier years.
“Marta knows I can’t sue her over any of the factual parts, because they are all true. Foster didn’t sign me to his label after watching my YouTube video—he heard me busking on the street. I was singing outside the hotel he was staying at in Kansas City. I was twenty and I’d been homeless for four years.”
Chloe got to her feet. She couldn’t sit still while she told Jordan about the most painful day of her life. Of that bitter winter morning. “I was sixteen when I woke up alone in a motel in southern Nebraska. It was my birthday. My parents gift was to finally abandon me for the last time.”
Until Marta’s interview, few people outside her former team had known this painful truth. Now the whole world did. They knew that the Chloe Fisher origin fairytale was in fact an invention.
Chloe moved toward the window. She drew back the curtains and the late afternoon sun bathed the room in a muted light. “My parents are—since I’m assuming they’re not dead—grifters. Con artists of the lowest kind. They are the sort of people who would see a man down on his luck and try to figure out what else they could steal from him. They abandoned me because I didn’t want to live that life.”
The irony of her ending up under the control of people like Foster and Marta wasn’t lost on Chloe. But having a roof over her head and food in her belly had counted for a good deal over the past nine years.
Jordan rose slowly from the couch but kept his distance. “You were an incredibly brave young woman to have survived for all those years on your own. Chloe, you still are incredible.”
She wasn’t feeling incredible, Marta had done some real damage. She’d hit Chloe where she knew it would hurt her the most. “My fans think I’m a liar.”
He held out a hand to her, but she refused to take it. “The only good thing Foster did when he signed me was to pay my parents off. They have an iron clad NDA, so won’t be making any more money out my misery.”
“The grifters were out-grifted.”
“Hmm. I’m going to talk to Nancy and see what she thinks of me doing a full sit down interview with one of the major network shows. And maybe even aVanity Fairpiece. I want to set the record straight for my fans.” The only way she would be able to rest was if she knew the Chloe’s Garden heard the warts and all truth from her.
“And what about today, are you going to release a press statement?”
“No. Nancy and I talked this morning. We are going to wait. If I start responding to Marta’s story, it will only give it more oxygen.”
Jordan’s phone rang, he glanced at the screen. “It’s Bryce. I had better take this, he’s been worried about you.”
He answered the call and set the phone to speaker. “Hi, Bryce. I’ve just got back to Vegas, and I’m at the desert house with Chloe. You’re on speaker.”
“Chloe? Are you alright?”
“Yes, I am. Thanks, Bryce. Sorry for the radio silence, but it made sense for me to lie low. And I promise I will do everything I can to make sure this doesn’t impact ticket sales for the concert series.”
A rough laugh drifted down the line. “Impact sales? Chloe, there are no tickets left for the entire six months of your residency. Our booking website melted down within an hour of Marta’s interview. Whatever damage she thought she might do, has had the opposite effect.”
Jordan punched the air. “That’s fantastic! The fans are with you, Chloe.”
She’d thought she had run out of tears, but her wet cheeks told her otherwise. Chloe hugged her arms about herself, the fans hadn’t believed Marta’s story about having been treated poorly by her former boss. Chloe’s Garden had seen through the lies and shown their support in huge numbers.
“I will leave the two of you in peace for the rest of today. I’m just glad you are alright, and that Jordan is with you. Let’s talk later in the week when things have settled down. We might need to have a conversation about extending your residency.”
Jordan grinned at his phone. “Just be ready for some hard negotiations from her management team.” Bryce’s laugh was still echoing down the line when Jordan ended the call and tucked his cell back into his jacket pocket.
* * *
Today was going to be a day for truths. After today, Chloe would know it all. Jordan was worried, but the thought of finally bringing all his secrets into the light was also liberating.
If she can be brave, then so can I.
“I love you, Chloe. I will support you no matter what you decide. And that includes what you want to do about us.”
Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean about us? I thought we were kinda sorted on that. Or at least on our way.”
Jordan drew in a deep breath. “I was in a really bad place after Marta told me you didn’t want to hear from me again. And yes, I now know that was a lie, but at the time I didn’t. After I saw you and Zapp, I couldn’t cope. I ended up booking myself back into rehab.”
Chloe made a move toward him, but Jordan mirrored her earlier action and kept his distance. “I eventually went back to Laguna Beach and tried to keep going. I thought I could push through. Tough it out. Get the job done. Live up to my family’s expectations. But I couldn’t.”
“What happened?”
