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“Your son thinks I’m good enough.” He was getting my hackles up. “Just because I wasn’t born into a rich family doesn’t make me ‘bad.’”
“No, it doesn’t. But being born into a family of low-class, lazy people who’d rather run a blackmail scheme than work a day in their life makes you a liability, that’s for sure.” He whipped out his phone, put on his reading glasses, and started tapping away. “See what I mean?”
He handed me his phone. There was a picture from that morning, taken behind theNortheast Nightsmotel. Lydia was gesturing at me with an angry look on her face. My father was inspecting his sneakers.
“My son can’t be exposed to these people. He can’t be vulnerable to them,” Gene said quietly. “Whatever would the board say?”
“Where did you get this?” I asked.
“I hired my own private photographer to follow you. I’ve paid her very handsomely to report directly to me. Today she finally delivered something worthwhile.” Gene smiled. “I haven’t talked to these fine folks yet, but a picture tells a thousand words, doesn’t it? I’m rich enough to have been blackmailed many times in my life. I can see it on their faces—they want your money, Chloe. They wantmymoney. And I bet they’re threatening you in order to collect. But what’s the threat? Hmm, now what could an average girl like you care about? Let me see…”
He sat back, tapping his fingers together. “You might want to keep your past a secret. Itishorrible, that crappy little apartment you all were living in. Or it could be something else about your past… Maybe how you met my son?”
He watched me carefully. As though my life depended on it, I didn’t react. I didn’t even breathe.
“There’s something to that, I feel certain. But I’ll get to it at some point. Once I start, I’m not going to stop.”
I shivered. I didn’t want my ruin to be on Gene Windsor’s “to-do” list.Fuck!
“I’m thinking maybe there’s something else you care about, too. Maybe your brother?”
I held very still.
“Maybe it’s your sad, pathetic little brother, huh? The one that no one loves? The one that your father abandoned? If you’re all he’s got in the world, he’strulyfucked. Don’t you think so, Chloe?”
I refused to look at him. I held my breath.
“It’s not like he’s ever getting his mother back.” Gene chuckled. “No, young Noah’s quite on his own, isn’t he?”
I clenched my hands into fists. But I still wouldn’t look at him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“I’m thinking the lady with the tiger tattoo is your stepmother—Lydia Burke,” Gene continued. “I haven’t had my investigator look into her yet, but I will. And that unshaven, ill-looking man must be your father. By the looks of things, they’re in rough shape. I wouldn’t want to give them custody, either.”
Sweat broke out on the back of my neck.
“The thing is? If you don’t do what I ask, I’m going directly to them. I will find out what they want, and I will give it to them.”
“No! You can’t do that.” Despite myself, I finally found my voice.
“But that’s not true,” Gene said slyly. “Because I can do whatever I want. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”
I tried to sound calm as I carefully chose my next words. “Enough with the threats, Mr. Windsor. I’m going to tell Bryce everything. If you threaten me, you threaten him. I might not be able to stop you, but he can.”
“You don’t want to do that, Chloe.” Now Mr. Windsor’s smile reached all the way to his eyes. “I’ve been thinking, you see. Now that it seems inevitable I’m going to prison, I am going to lose control of the day-to-day operations of Windsor Enterprises. Bryce has always been next in line. He almost lost his position, but then he fulfilled his trust terms by getting married. He vested when he married you—you know that.”
He paused for a beat. “I told you before that you were not the intended beneficiary of that trust clause. I thought he would come to his senses and marry Felicia Jones, or at least someone like her. Someone from our class. But he didn’t, and it seemed as though there was nothing I could do about it. Until now.”
Gene had a sip of water, his eyes sparkling. “Once you have nothing left to lose, things become a lot clearer. Now that I’m going to prison, I can see that I need to take action. Bryce will be the face of my company—but not you. It was never supposed to be you. And I know all about the test markets, but I haven’t worked my entire life to build my company just to hand it over to someone common. You’re from nothing, Chloe, from no one. In fact, if these pictures are indicative of the type of people your family is, it’s even worse than that.”
A heavy silence settled over the room, and I knew he was about to go in for the kill.
“You love my son, I know you do. So do the right thing and let him go. If you don’t, I’m going to change the corporate structure of Windsor Enterprises before I go to prison—I’ll fire Bryce from leadership and give the reins to Colby or Jake. Probably Colby, because he at least calls me sometimes. And no one will be able to stop me, not even the board, because I can claim an ‘executive exigency.’ My lawyers just told me about it this morning, isn’t that neat? It’s a little-known privilege that allows leaders to makeunilateralemergencychanges to their company. So I don’t need anyone’s permission. If I claim that it’s a necessary emergency measure in the best interests of the company, I can do as I like.”
“You wouldn’t do that.” I licked my lips. “You’ve been doing everything you can to save your company, to make sure it stays alive even if you go to jail. Why would you blow it up like that? Even I’m notthatbad.”
“I don’t agree with you,” Gene said coolly. “The way I see it, I’m still saving my company. I have a new perspective on things. Like I said, desperation makes things very clear. I know what I want now. I want my company to go on the way it was intended. I want Bryce to run things the way he’s supposed to. He needs to be focused and supported. And it has to be therightkind of support, Chloe. We’re running an empire. We’re very important people. He needs a partner who will understand him and protect him. Not expose him to trash like this.” He held up another picture of Lydia. She’d just exhaled a cloud of smoke and was absentmindedly scratching her lion tattoo.
“You have a lot to lose. When I say that, I’m not just thinking of your marriage. I’m thinking of your brother.” Gene didn’t blink as he stared me down.
