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“I know this probably isn’t the right time to say this,” he said, “but I need to get it off my chest. The music and the champagne are making me brave.”
Jade stiffened in his arms. “What is it?”
“I should’ve fought for you,” he said. “Back then. I’m sorry I didn’t. I know you always feel like you aren’t good enough, and I understand what it’s like because I’ve never felt like I was good enough for you, either. That’s why I didn’t fight. I wanted to. I wanted to drive to Clemson, knock on your dormitory door and kiss you until you couldn’t even remember Lance’s name. But I thought you’d be better off without me.”
She didn’t know what to say. What would she have done if he’d followed his heart? How would their lives be now?
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen tonight. Or next week. I’m not sure about a lot of things. But I know I don’t want to make the same mistake with you twice. Jade, I...”
The song that was playing ended. That’s when the band leader called the Steele family to the stage and they started to make their way to the front of the ballroom.
This was the moment Jade had been waiting for, and yet she wished she could put the whole party on pause to hear what he wanted to tell her. He looked reluctantly at the gathering and gave her a sad smile. “To be continued,” he said.
Jade squeezed her eyes shut in frustration for a moment, then tried to focus on what was going on with the group gathering onstage. They were easily some of the most beautiful people she had ever seen in person. It was as though they’d all walked off the cover of a magazine. She easily recognized Trevor and Patricia from their photo. They were standing together, sharing a quiet moment of conversation. Trevor was tall and lean with graying, ho
ney-gold hair and dark eyes. Patricia had Jade’s same white-blond hair and high cheekbones. She was very slender, like Jade, and carried herself with unmistakable poise.
Their children were gathered near them. Three sons, all handsome, all spitting images of their father. It looked as though two of them might even be identical twins, although Jade couldn’t be sure. Perhaps it was just their flawless tuxedos and bright smiles that made them appear so alike. Then she turned her gaze toward the woman one of the sons was speaking to, and that’s when Jade realized it was none other than Morgan Steele.
Jade froze in place, taking in every feature of the dark beauty. Morgan was a marked contrast to the rest of her family, with her thick, almost black hair and green eyes. In that moment, she looked so much like Jade’s mother that Jade felt a punch of jealousy to her stomach. She had always wanted to fit in, to look like the rest of her family. Morgan fit in perfectly and she didn’t even know it.
And yet she fit in with the Steele family, as well. She had a different look to her, but she also had their regal carriage, their elegance and their confidence. Morgan wore her emerald gown and sparking jewelry as if they were made just for her. She would fit in anywhere she chose to and people would flock to her.
Then there was Jade. She’d felt so pretty in her dress tonight. And in an instant she might as well have worn a T-shirt and jeans to the party.
She’d come here tonight in the hopes of finding out where she belonged. In her mind, she’d thought that somehow seeing her biological family would make the pieces click together and suddenly her life would make sense. But it didn’t. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to sit around the worn kitchen table at her parents’ house and play a board game with them and her brother. They had never made her feel like she was an outsider in the family. Jade was the only one who seemed to notice the differences.
They’d never said it, but it had to have hurt them to have Jade pursue her real family so doggedly. It wasn’t as though they hadn’t been the best parents a girl could ask for. They had been. She wouldn’t trade them for the world, and she hoped they knew that.
She wanted to go and tell them that right now. To walk away from all this before she couldn’t turn back.
The longer she stood watching the family mingle, the more she realized this wasn’t what she wanted. This was a mistake. Someone didn’t want the truth to come out, and now she wasn’t so certain that she wanted the truth to come out, either. Maybe it was better to leave well enough alone.
“I’d like to welcome everyone,” Trevor Steele said as he stepped forward with the microphone in his hand. “My name is Trevor Steele and I’m the current CEO of Steele Tools. This is my beautiful family.” He gestured toward the others on the stage, beaming with pride as the crowd applauded. “We are all so thrilled to have you here with us tonight to make a difference for those in need. I’d like to invite my incredibly talented daughter, Morgan, the head of our community outreach program, to step up to the microphone to tell you all a little about why we’ve gathered here tonight and what you can do to help.”
Morgan moved gracefully across the stage, accepting a kiss on the cheek from her doting father as she took the microphone. “Write a big check,” she said with a grin, and the crowd laughed.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time tonight. They got to dress up, mingle with their peers and feel like they were giving back and doing something good. The room was charged with positive energy. And Jade had never wanted to get out of a place more in her life.
* * *
“Harley, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go home.”
He stiffened, turning to her with a stunned expression on his face. “You what?” he whispered, trying not to draw attention to them while Morgan spoke onstage.
“I want to go home. I think this whole thing was a mistake. I—I don’t know if this is the right thing to do.”
Damn it. He knew bringing Jade was a potentially bad idea, but he couldn’t say no to her. She was his weakness and now she would potentially ruin his chance to get to the Steele family. He’d barely laid eyes on them, and had come nowhere close to actually speaking to any of the Steeles. “You’re just nervous,” he soothed. Harley reached for her elbow and led her off the dance floor.
Once they were clear of most of the crowd listening to the speeches, he stopped and turned to her. “It’s totally understandable to be anxious about something like this. This is a big deal. I won’t even pretend to know how big it is for you. But running away isn’t going to change the truth, Jade.”
She pulled away from his hold and hugged her own waist apprehensively. “It may not change the truth, but I’m starting to think it’s better this way. Things worked out the way they should’ve. The family seems so happy. I don’t want to mess that up for them. Or hurt my own parents more than I already have. I’ll call the hospital myself and tell them I’m dropping my claim against them.”
“It’s too late for that. Come on, Jade, think about the people who broke into your home. They were trying to stop you from finding out the truth. If you give up now, they win.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s been thirty years. This isn’t my life and it never will be. I’d rather let it lie.”
Harley squeezed his eyes shut. He wanted to shake some sense into her, although he wouldn’t dare. He had to find a way to reason with her. There was no way to stop the train once it left the station. Whether she wanted it to, whether he dropped the investigation... The hospital administrators knew there was an issue now and they would get to the bottom of it.
