“Why didn’t you let her?” Michael asked. “You hated me and you know that would have been the end of me, the end of everything.”
“I’m not sure why I confronted her at the ball. I wasn’t really thinking about saving you. I was thinking about saving myself. I didn’t know she would crack so easily.”
It was that scene—the one of his wife and mistress fighting at the Museum Ball, the Los Angeles social event of the year—flashed on gossip columns and Web sites all over that made Steven decide to kill the deal against Michael’s protests.
“Why are you telling me this?” Michael asked.
“I made a promise,” she answered. “To God. I’m getting rid of all my anger and coming clean so he’ll save Evan.”
“But you weren’t trying to get revenge. My uncle was.” Michael was trying to keep up with his mind, which was racing a million miles a minute. “Can he really hate my father that much? To go through such an elaborate plan that we couldn’t even see?”
“He blames Steven for everything in his life that is wrong,” Kimberly said. “He thinks Chase Beauty, even Janet, should have been his. He hates Steven for cutting him off almost thirty years ago. It seems like in that time, he had tried to reach out to Steven for money or something else, and Steven turned him away like he didn’t even know him.”
“My father can be brutal when he thinks someone is his enemy,” Michael said. “He is unforgiving to a fault and…”
Michael stopped in his tracks as he realized with astonishment what Kimberly was saying to him. “How do you know this? Did Elisha tell you?”
Kimberly took a deep breath. “Keenan told me. That’s why I need to tell you, because I was helping him.”
“What?” Michael slid away from her on the bench. “How?”
Kimberly told him about how she approached Keenan and offered to help him bring down Chase Beauty, because she wanted revenge against Janet and Steven for trying to buy her children from her for $20 million. She was supposed to try and find out anything she could that Keenan could use against Chase Beauty and Steven.
“How could you?” Michael asked. “What have you given him?”
Kimberly watched with desperation as Michael stood up, every muscle in his body tensing. “Wait, Michael, you have to understand how angry I was. It was all those years of being disrespected and mistreated.”
He leaned over her, looking down with a violent anger. “What have you given him?”
“Nothing! I told him that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I never really did. I was just so angry at the time….”
“It’s been six months,” Michael said. “You’ve told him nothing?”
“What could I tell him?” she asked. “I have no access to anyone in your family anymore. All I care about is Evan and Daniel. I’m telling you because I need the truth to come out. I’m trying to be honest.”
“How could you?” he asked again, feeling the knot in his stomach getting tighter and tighter with every second. “You got your freedom and you still wanted to hurt me. And you tell me this now, when my son is in a coma?”
“Your son?” Kimberly asked. “It’s that kind of talk that turned me against you. You used our children to control me and to threaten me.”
“That’s the past,” he said. “This is now and at the worst time you say this.”
“I have to say it now,” she said. “I have to clear my conscience so that Evan can get better.”
“You sound like a crazy person,” Michael said. “The only reason you didn’t give him anything is because you didn’t have it. Otherwise you would have, right?”
Kimberly lowered her head, unable to answer.
Michael shook his head. “You better hope to God that he doesn’t have anything, because if he hurts Chase Beauty, you’ll pay for it.”
She wanted to call after him as he turned and walked away but noticed she was already getting too much attention from the other people who had come into the chapel. This wasn’t the place for it.
Kimberly was scared now. She had wanted to believe she had done the right thing by letting Michael know and letting go of everything, but now she wasn’t so sure. She had her freedom and her children, but she was no fool. If the Chase family wanted to go after her, they could destroy her. They could destroy her and take her babies from her. They had the power, the money, the influence, and the cruelty at heart to do it.
She was risking what she had for her son, but she had to convince herself to believe in the power of God over her fear in the power of Chase. It would be enough. It had to be.
Carter was miserable as he sat at his desk in the corner office of Chase Law. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but Avery and what he had done. It was over, and while his head told him it was the right choice, his heart was filled with regret. He couldn’t stop seeing the pain on her face. He loved Avery and wanted her badly, even more now, if that was possible. He was stuck with the reality of it being over, really over, and it only made him realize how much the last six months had been a joke. He had thought that if he could hurt Avery, he would feel better, but he never did. The second she was back in his arms, he had no choice but to face his real feelings. And, as usual, it brought him pain because he knew he couldn’t have her.
No, this wasn’t going to work anymore. The only way he was going to get over Avery was to get her out of his life, and with Connor in the picture, there was only one way to do that.
“Carter!” Haley jaunted into his office, shutting the door behind her. “You are unguarded. Anyone could get in here.”
“And it appears anyone has,” he responded, grateful for the distraction. His baby sis always delivered much-needed entertainment. “You even got past the metal detectors.”
“I’m full of all kinds of tricks.” Haley sauntered over to the side of his desk and leaned against it. “So how are you? Sulking and angry as usual?”
“You here because you need a lawyer?” he asked. “Or maybe your gay husband needs a lawyer.”
“Why do you keep calling him that?” Haley offered a stern-faced expression. “He’s not gay.”
“Yes, he is,” Carter answered. “I’m good at seeing this stuff.”
“We have sex all the time.” That wasn’t true, but even though Haley knew her brother was only teasing her, this persistent theme was getting on her nerves.
“Too much information,” Carter said. “And don’t…” He gave up as Haley hopped onto the desk.
“I need a legal favor,” she said, leaning forward.
“I charge five hundred an hour.”
“I’m here to make a deal,” she said. “It’s a very good deal.”
Carter leaned back in his chair, entwining his hands in front of him. “Anything to avoid spending money.”
“My husband—”
“Your gay husband?”
“Stop!” Haley slammed her hand on the desk and pushed away some papers to add a little flair to her tantrum. “Just listen, you jerk. Peter is getting restless and I need some assurances.”
“He’ll pay you the money,” Carter said. “He doesn’t want the Chase family coming after him.”
“Well, how could you?” she asked. “I love to throw our last name around to shake some boots, too, but his family is richer than ours, and if he goes back to Sydney, it will be his turf. I have nothing on paper to guarantee that thirty million dollars.”
“You have your knowledge of the scam,” Carter said. “Which you could reveal and hurt his chances of getting anything.”
“I need more,” she added. “Preferably on paper.”
“That he won’t sign.”
“That’s you’re job,” she said. “That’s why they pay you obscene amounts of money. You make people agree to things they don’t want to.”
“You make me sound like a thug,” Carter said.
“Lawyer, thug, take your pick,” Haley said.
“That can be very complicated,” he said. “And I am not interested in
playing a role in your scam. I have a law license to protect. Ever heard of the word ethics?”
“No,” Haley answered flatly. “And if you can find your way around that, I can tell you a secret that Andy wouldn’t want you, Avery, or anyone else knowing; you could use it to your advantage.”
Carter’s brows centered in a frown. “Who the fuck is Andy?”
Haley gasped. “Duh…Avery’s husband.”
“His name is Anthony.”
“No.” Haley shook her head. “It’s Andy.”
“I think I know what his name is,” Carter said. “It’s…”
“I’m pretty sure it’s Andy.”
Carter paused for a second, realizing this futility. “Okay.”
“Do we have a deal?” Haley held her hand out.
“I will make sure you get your money,” Carter said. “What’s the secret about Andy?”
Haley leaned back, folding her arms in front of her chest with a haughty, very satisfied grin. “He can walk.”
Carter sighed impatiently. “Get out of my office.”
Haley was shocked. “What? I thought you’d want to know that. Don’t you hate him?”
“Stop playing around.” Carter wasn’t angry at her but more at himself for getting excited about an opportunity to do more damage to a man who was pretty much dead inside already.
“You can blackmail him or something,” Haley said. “You can make him leave Avery, and you can have her.”
“I don’t want Avery.”
“Please,” she interrupted. “Save that for someone without two eyes.”
Carter tried to nudge her off the desk. “Anthony can’t walk, Haley. I’ve had his medical records checked.”
“Lately?”
Carter hadn’t checked in the last few months, telling himself there was no point to it. “So you’re saying, what, you saw him walking?”
Haley nodded enthusiastically. “I was in Long Beach with Peter. Don’t ask why I was in that hellhole. Anyway, I saw him in a garage across from the hotel.”
Haley described how she’d seen him wheel himself to the car, and after looking around a little, he slowly stood up. He picked up the chair and placed it in its position in the driver’s seat before sitting back in it and driving off.
“I’m not saying he was looking very steady,” she added. “But he was standing and walking.”
“That wasn’t him,” Carter said.
“So you’re saying there is another crippled guy who looks like Andy and drives that silver piece of crap car that is all hooked up with the driving wheel for people who can’t walk?”
“It was a silver Camry?” He couldn’t believe he was contemplating this, but the man and the car had to be too much of a coincidence. Wasn’t it?
What would Anthony be doing in Long Beach? Going someplace where no one knew him. “Was he alone?”
She nodded. “You believe me?”
Carter stood up, coming face-to-face with his sister, his face only inches from hers. With his most serious tone, he said, “Haley, do not fuck with me on this.”
She didn’t even blink. “Get me that signed contract and I’ll get you proof.”
“You have proof?” Carter knew Haley’s foolishness too well to believe her, but this was just too much. “Show me!”
“I took a picture with my phone, but…”
“Give me your phone!”
“I’ve already downloaded it,” she cried. “I’m not stupid. I want the contract.”
Haley let out a little yelp as he grabbed her arm.
“Get me that picture!”
Leigh knew she probably shouldn’t have agreed to come to Max’s room, but the day had been so incredible that she didn’t want it to end. As soon as she was inside, she ran to the window overlooking the preserve. It was amazing.
Leigh had never heard of Giraffe Manor, so she was very anxious to see Max’s surprise. But before she could, they had to lose security, both of them. Leigh was very impressed that Max had a plan to distract Bem. He’d been thinking about it all last night. He had ditched his own security just before coming to see her.
Once away, they took a cab to a private air strip and jetted off to Langata, Kenya, home of Giraffe Manor. Leigh was absolutely amazed.
Built in the 1930s, Giraffe Manor was an elegant, exclusive hotel that looked like a very large English cottage, complete with old vines growing along the brown brick. The manor was surrounded by 140 acres of indigenous forest and hosted all types of animals, but the stars of the show were the giraffes, a herd that was generations from the original two brought to the manor eighty years ago.
Once there, they were taken on a private tour of the grounds and the highland forest. Leigh was amazed at the endless species of beautiful birds and even herds of bucks they saw. They passed dozens of giraffes who would lean down to be touched or just to look. They went by a large pool and ponds full of beautiful flowers. It was like a paradise, and it made Leigh forget about all her worries. She wasn’t a Chase and Max wasn’t a senator. They were just two people immersed in the romanticism of this breathtaking country.
After a seemingly perfect day, they went to dinner, prepared just for the few guests allowed to stay at the manor. During their dinner, which was at a level fit for royalty in an elegant dining room, a giraffe stuck its head through the window, something they do all the time. While Max passed, Leigh didn’t hesitate to feed the giraffe and rub his face. She was breathless at the closeness, those large eyes looking right at her.
They both passed on drinks with the rest of the guests and went to Max’s room. There were only six bedrooms in the manor, designed as they would have been in the 1930s, at a price Leigh was sure was too high to ask.
Bem had reached her on her cell, and she told him where she was. Believing that Max had forced her away, he threatened to come get her, but she hung up on him. It was then that Steven called her and forced a compromise.
Max had called for a driver to collect Leigh and take her back to the airport for the short jet back to Nairobi, as she promised Bem she would be back that evening. Max, on the other hand, had rented a room and was going to stay overnight. He offered her a drink in his room before she left, and Leigh didn’t want the day to end.
The window from his second-floor bedroom had a perfect view of the peaks of the far-off Ngong Hills. Leaning against the wall covered by bright white curtains, she could hear Max walking on the hardwood floor toward her, and she felt warm inside.
“It’s such a shame,” Leigh said as he reached her.
“What?” Max offered her a glass of port.
“This beauty,” she said. “The beauty of Africa is so immense it’s almost overwhelming. It’s such a shame that people hardly ever get to see this.”
“Well, you certainly took enough pictures for everyone in the entire United States.”
Leigh laughed. She had gone a little overboard with the pictures on their driven tour through the preserves, where they stood only a few feet from the youngest giraffe, a one-year-old female Leigh immediately fell in love with.
“Too bad it all ends tomorrow.” She turned to him and was surprised to find he had been looking at her the whole time. She had thought he was looking out the window like her. “For you and me at least. Those refugees don’t have anywhere to go.”
“If you want me to promise my report to the president will be what you want,” he said, “I can’t do that.”
“The people need you,” she urged. “I’ve seen you during the time we’ve been here, and you have a bigger heart than you like to show.”
“If that was all this was about,” he said, “that would be enough.”
Leigh was hurt when he suddenly walked away. She wasn’t willing to let this disagreement ruin their day. It had been too perfect, and she hadn’t had a perfect day in as long as she could remember.
“Do you think one of them will stick its head through your window like downstairs?” she asked. “They said the
y do it all the time.”
“Why don’t you stick around to find out?”
Leigh turned around to find Max sitting on the flowery cushioned settee at the end of the large canopied bed surrounded by white curtains.
“Is that your line?” she asked, walking toward him.
“That depends,” he answered. “Did it work?”
“No.” She sat next to him. “The giraffes are keeping me here, not you.”
He offered a charming smile. “Leigh, I know you’re a cautious woman, and you don’t take lightly to relationships.”
“Do I sense a ‘poor little Leigh’ comment coming?” she asked. “Because I’d rather just leave now.”
“God, no,” he answered. “I look at what you’ve done with your clinics, and I’ve watched you here in Africa. You’re a very strong woman. If I were to even suggest pitying you, I think you’d punch me in the face.”
She tilted her head. “You have to learn somehow.”
He exchanged a flirtatious smile with her, then shook his head.
“I would probably be smarter to walk you down to that car waiting for you, but I don’t want to. I want to—”
Leigh leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, pressing against him gently. His eager response warmed her inside and made her want more.
Max leaned away and with a wicked smile said, “Bem is going to be very angry at you.”
“No,” she answered as she brought her hands to his face. “He’ll be angry at you.”
This time, he initiated the kiss and Leigh felt a tingling sensation throughout her body. Her heart began to race as his strong, hard lips coaxed her mouth open, and his hands came to her waist, where he caressed her persuasively, making her body move closer and closer to his.
By the time he eased her down on the bed, Leigh was burning like fire. She was hungry and his lips were tantalizing. He kissed her on her cheeks, her neck, and her chest. As she removed her shirt, he caressed her breasts, his fingers circling her sensitive, hard nipples as his lips seared her soft skin with intimate, slow kisses.
Leigh was tense at first, but her body relaxed very quickly and became eager in response to his touch. He removed her clothes and then removed his own. She could see he was hard but appreciated that he was slow and patient with her. He would kiss her on the lips and then move to another part of her body. As he made a path from her stomach to her breasts and back to her neck, Leigh could feel herself melting. With gratifying touches, sweet kisses, and masterful moves, he was awakening an aching need within her that she had tried to hide. His tongue teased her ear as he told her how sexy and beautiful she was, intensifying the thrill of her arousal. His warm, soft flesh against hers made her body squirm, pleasure radiating everywhere.
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