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"Yeah." Cole grinned at that. "It was never enough, was it? I had all the money one could ever dream of and yet my character and integrity took a beating. I had to ask
Morgan for help. It was embarrassing as hell, but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made."
"She defied her mother for you."
Cole nodded with a smile. "She stood up for me and that was before she was in love with me. I have the utmost respect and admiration for her."
"You got a winner there. Some would have balked at the idea of being an outcast in society."
The bitterness in his voice had Cole looking at him curiously. "You sound as if you’re talking from experience."
"Something like that."
"Ah. hence the sadness."
"You’re imagining things."
"Am I?" Cole picked up another sandwich and popped it into his mouth. "You almost slayed Frank in the boxing ring and the sword fight with Billy made me grateful it wasn’t me. Then I got a taste of your, shall we say your enthusiasm, when we were on the basketball court. There’s something going on here."
"Or I am just an avid sportsman."
"Like hell. What's going on?"
Maxwell shrugged. "I did a stupid thing and got involved with someone I should have avoided. Now it's kicking me in the ass." He reached for a bottle of water and uncapped it.
"She’s out of my league and we both knew it. So, I did the only sensible option and ended things with her. We didn’t belong together and I was fooling myself it would work."
"That's bullshit. No one person is better than the other."
Maxwell gave him an amused look. "You more than anyone else should know better than that. You had a fight on your hands that led you to your darling wife. It is what it is." He spread a hand to encompass the immaculate surroundings.
"We might be members of this fine establishment and they might accept our hard-earned money, but at the bottom of it, the people who started the place built it with their types in mind. I’m sure the ancestors or founders are rolling in hell at the riff-raff they’ve allowed through the gates."
"Yet, here we are."
"Yeah. Here we fricking are." He took a long swallow of his water. "She wasn’t brave enough or motivated enough to tell her old man about us.
I agreed to the secrecy because, hell, I would have agreed to meet her in Timbuktu, if it meant being with her. I should never have agreed to it, and it turned out that I was right." He felt the bitterness corroding him. "Apparently I didn’t mean enough to her to fight."
Chapter 12
He hated that he’d agreed to the interview, but it was necessary, or so his PR team had persuasively told him. "We need to get in front of the negativity."
"We can get in front of it by giving a statement."
"It's not enough."
So here he was, being prepped and powdered or whatever the hell it was they were putting on his face.
"Enough!" The chill in his deep voice made the makeup artist pause. "I feel like I’m being smothered."
"Elise, go and do something else, will you?" Nadine waved a hand at the thin, almost emaciated, girl that had her scurrying away. "She’s very enthusiastic and good at her job."
"Undoubtedly." Maxwell tugged at his shirt and reached for a bottle of water. "Come to check on me?"
"I’m here to prep you. Give you some pointers." She took the chair next to him and crossed her legs. "I needed to make sure you didn’t turn around and disappear on me. This is going to be advantageous for both of us."
"More you than me." He muttered.
