No More Good

by Angela Winters

  “Sir.” Dr. Channing motioned her head toward the door.

  “Fine.” Carter took steps away, but turned back to look at Avery just as she looked up. In her eyes, he could swear she wanted him to be there.

  Avery couldn’t help but stare into his earnest eyes. He seemed so sincere and she was lying to him in a way that was unforgivable. This wasn’t just about whether or not it would work. It was about right and wrong.

  Besides, she didn’t want him to go. And that fact forced her to turn away.

  Outside the room, Carter caught the attention of a young, blond nurse passing by. As she smiled with him flirtatiously, he checked her name tag. “Natalie?”

  “Yes?” She flipped her hair back and showed her perfect white teeth. “Can I help you?”

  “I hope so,” Carter said with a charming smile. It was just so easy. “Can you take me to the family-only waiting room?”

  Anthony wasn’t going to be here any time soon. Carter’s luck couldn’t get any better.

  Michael had never seen this look on his father’s face. Steven almost fell back against the front of his desk as Michael laid it all out for him. Nothing astounded Steven Chase and he was clearly speechless. This was not encouraging.

  It had taken everything Michael had to come over to his father’s office with Kimberly. His entire life he had wanted to please this man, relishing his position in Steven’s heart and Chase Beauty. He intended on having everything, taking over the company and becoming even more powerful than his father was one day. But after the incident, Michael felt a distance from his father, furthered by his moving out of the house. He had done all he could to get back in Steven’s graces, but he hadn’t been willing to give up Kimberly. She was his wife, and although he wasn’t a perfect husband, he loved her. And it seemed that Steven was letting him inside again. But now, after all this, Michael could only pray his father would even speak o him.

  Michael looked over at Kimberly, sitting in the chair next to him. She hadn’t looked up from her hands, set on her lap, since he began talking. And as his father stared at them both in silence, Michael couldn’t hide his fear.

  “I . . .” Steven hesitated, measuring for a moment what exactly he had heard. “I . . . How could you keep this from me?”

  “I did what I thought was best,” Michael answered in a shaky voice.

  Steven let out an anguished moan. “My God, Michael.”

  “He was trying to protect me,” Kimberly offered without looking up. She was shaking all over. Just hearing Michael tell their secret to Steven dropped her even deeper into despair than she already was.

  “I don’t want to hear one word out of you,” Steven responded. “Is there no end to the problems you’ve caused this family?”

  “Dad.” Michael sat forward. “It was my choice to hide the truth about Kimberly’s past from you. It was my choice to frame David Harris and send him to Mexico. Kimberly didn’t even know about it.”

  “Trust me.” Steven’s tone was ruthlessly hardened. “I’m angrier at you, Michael. But at least you didn’t kill anyone.”

  “It was an accident,” Michael said.

  “That’s what she told you.” Steven sent Kimberly a hostile stare.

  “She wouldn’t lie to me about that,” Michael said.

  Kimberly let out a weak whimper as she died a little more inside. Michael was defending her because he loved her, but she was lying to him. She was lying to everyone.

  “Do you know what position you have put this family in?” Steven slammed his fist on the desk behind him. “This could ruin everything we have built!”

  “Nothing can ruin you,” Michael said. “That’s why I came to you. That’s why I’m telling you. As soon they run those prints, it will lead to Kimberly, and it’s only a matter of time before they trace her to—”

  “The prints will lead them to a sixteen-year-old prostitute from Detroit.” Steven’s jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth. “That’s ten miles from a member of the Chase family.”

  “The cops aren’t going to bend over backward to solve the murder of a pimp from Detroit,” Michael added. “That will give us . . . you time to do something.”

  Steven wanted to smack that look of expectation off Michael’s face. He had spoiled these kids too much; let them know they could have anything, everything they wanted and not suffer consequences. He had been the one to teach Michael that a few million and some ingenuity could get you out of even the worst situations.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Steven was shaking his head, still in disbelief of the situation. “Neither of you deserves this, so understand that I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for your mother and for the other members of this family that shouldn’t have to suffer for your selfishness.”

  Kimberly finally looked up. “You don’t have to—”

  “Don’t.” Steven sneered at her. “Don’t you dare make a request of me. I will tell my wife and you’ll deal with the consequences.”

  Kimberly turned to Michael, her eyes screaming desperation.

  “Why does she have to know?” Michael asked. “You’ve done . . . we’ve done plenty of stuff without letting Mom know.”

  “I’m actually going to need her help for this,” Steven said. “I’ll need to use some of her contacts.”

  “She won’t give them to you,” Kimberly proclaimed. “Janet won’t do anything to help me.”

  “No,” Steven answered. “She won’t do it for you, but she’ll do it for this family. To protect her children, her grandchildren, and our family’s name from what you two have done.”

  Kimberly turned away from his icy stare.

  “Is there anything else?” Steven asked. “As if there could be.”

  “No.” Michael turned to Kimberly. “Right?”

  Steven watched as a shaky Kimberly clutched the armrests of her chair tighter and tighter, and a sense of dread swept over him. “What is it?”

  Kimberly’s head shot up as she looked into his fierce gaze. She turned to Michael, who looked confused at both of them.

  “What is it?” Steven repeated. “Tell me now or I will feed your worthless ass to the wolves.”

  “Hey!” Michael yelled.

  “There’s a tape.” Kimberly covered her mouth as if the words had escaped against her will. Her chest felt tighter and tighter.

  “What?” Michael’s expression was clouded in anger. “What tape?”

  “He was . . . going to . . .” Kimberly couldn’t breathe. She tried to slow down, but it only got worse. “Send it . . . to the news and . . . put it on the . . . Internet.”

  “Fuck!” Steven pushed against the desk, looking at Michael. “She wouldn’t lie to you, right?”

  Michael was halted by his own confusion. “Kimberly?”

  She wiped the tears from her cheeks, feeling nauseated. “It was a tape of me and him and he was going to do it. He didn’t want money and . . . he wanted to get back at Michael.”

  “Oh my God.” Michael fell back in the chair, his hands covering his face. This was his worst nightmare.

  Steven took a second to compose himself. “Where is the tape?”

  “Someone took it,” Kimberly said. “She was hiding in the closet when we fought and when I . . . I was in the bathroom and she—”

  “You saw her?” Steven asked. “She saw you?”

  “No, no, no,” Michael repeated to himself.

  Kimberly nodded. “I didn’t know she was there.”

  Steven threw his hands in the air in defeat. There was a witness to this. He couldn’t fix a witness to murder. “She saw you kill him.”

  Kimberly shook her head. “She saw me fight him and he fell. He was going to kill me.”

  “We have to find her,” Michael said. “I’ll find her. We’ll pay her whatever . . . we’ll fuckin’ kill her if we have to.”

  “There’s been enough of that.” Steven’s resolve was bothered by his belief that Michael meant everything he’d just said. “No
one needs to die. She’s probably one of his whores. She’ll take money.”

  “The tape,” Michael said.

  “It’s too hot right now,” Steven said. “David is a murder victim. It isn’t in her interest to send that tape to anyone but us. Besides, the news stations won’t give her money for it.”

  “Do you think she’s smart enough to figure that out?” Michael asked. “I’m not taking that chance.”

  “We won’t,” Steven assured. “We’ll find her first. If she left anything in that hotel room, we’ll find her. Kimberly, are you sure of this tape? Did you see it?”

  Kimberly shook her head. “I didn’t have to. He wasn’t lying.”

  “He would have been exposing himself as a statutory rapist,” Steven said.

  Kimberly gasped as she realized what Steven thought and realized that Michael thought the same.

  “He doesn’t care,” Michael argued. “The statute of limitations is way over.”

  “Michael.” Kimberly reached her hand out to him and he took it. “It’s not from when I was a kid. It’s from yesterday. I slept—”

  Kimberly screamed as Michael whipped her hand away and shot up from the chair. His eyes darkened and his face transformed into a fury she had never seen before. The man that had been defending her just minutes ago was gone.

  Steven jumped in between them just in time. “Michael, no.”

  “You whore!” Michael’s mind was gone now. It had left the second he realized what she was saying. “You slept with that asshole?”

  “He said I had to.” Kimberly clumsily stood up, holding on to the chair to stay upright. His face was a glowering mask of rage and she knew he would kill her if Steven hadn’t been there. “He promised it would be over if I did it. I needed it to be over. It didn’t mean anything.”

  “I’m gonna kill you!” Michael was pushing against his father, whose grip only got tighter. “Get off me.”

  “No!” Steven had to use his entire body against Michael and he was barely containing him. “Michael, stop it.”

  “You’re a fucking liar!” Michael yelled, pointing his finger at Kimberly. He felt unable to comprehend his own insanity. Him? How could she do this and with him? “Did you think you could keep this from me? After everything you’ve done and what I’ve done for you, you still lie to me. You sleep with that . . .”

  Sheer, black fright swept over Kimberly. Michael was completely unhinged. “I did it for you and our boys, Michael. I did it—”

  “My boys!” Michael raised a fist at her. “They are not our boys! They’re mine.”

  All sense having left her, Kimberly walked toward Michael. “Don’t say that. You can’t take my—”

  “I will take everything!” Michael pushed against his father and got enough room to move to just within a few inches of her.

  “Son!” With both hands, Steven gripped Michael’s face and turned it to his. Looking into his eyes, he called on all the power he had over this boy. “You’ll only make this worse. Think of the boys.”

  “It can’t be worse.” Michael’s eyes gave away his torture.

  “It can,” Steven asserted. “Come with me and calm down.”

  “Michael!” Kimberly reached out to him, but pulled her arm back when she saw the hateful look on Steven’s face as he turned to her.

  “Shut up!” he roared. “You dig your grave further every time you open your mouth.”

  Exhausted from his own emotion, Michael didn’t fight his father as he pushed him toward the door.

  Once outside his office, Steven was grateful neither his assistant nor her assistant was at their desk. The area was secluded from the hallway, so there was no one to witness or overhear this disaster.

  “Michael, I know how you feel.”

  “How can you say that?” Michael asked.

  “Fine,” Steven said. “I don’t know how you feel, but this is a disaster, the worst our family has had to face. I need you to be strong. No matter what you think, I can’t fix this without you.”

  Michael took a deep breath and stood up straight. “Nothing can fix what she’s done.”

  “That’s between you and her. Everything else, we have to solve as a family. You want to break down? Fine, but do it later. Do it after we’ve gotten this under control.”

  Vivian, Steven’s executive assistant, appeared from around the corner and immediately sensed there was a problem.

  “Not now, Vivian.” Steven approached her to usher her away. “This is not a good time to—”

  Steven swung around when he heard the door to his office slam shut. Just as he reached it, he heard Michael turn the lock. Steven grabbed the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge.

  “He’s going to kill her.” Steven turned to Vivian. “Get your key, now! Open this door!”

  Kimberly’s eyes had been set on the door, so the second she saw Michael reenter, she knew she was in trouble. She screamed, rushing for the only place she could go—Steven’s private bathroom.

  “Michael, I’m sorry,” she pleaded as she locked the door.

  Thump!

  Kimberly jumped back at the sound of the kick. A stark and vivid fear ripped through at the second kick. Where was Steven?

  “Michael!” she shrieked. “Please!”

  When the door burst open, Kimberly backed against the wall, bracing herself for his wrath. There was nothing else she could do. “Our children, Michael.”

  Michael grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed her against the wall. The hate in his heart was spurred on by the fear in her eyes. “They’re my children. And just like them, everything you have I gave you.”

  “Michael!” Steven rushed into the bathroom expecting to see the worst.

  “And just like them.” Michael leaned in until his face was only an inch from hers. “I’m going to take it all away from you.”

  Michael let her go and leaned back with a wicked smile on his face. After everything he had done for her, after all he had forgiven, she would pay for making him the weak link in this family.

  Steven pushed Michael aside and looked at his daughter-in-law. “Leave.”

  Kimberly was too petrified to even move. “You can’t take my babies.”

  “Leave!” Steven roared.

  Once she was gone, Steven turned to his son and was very worried by the look on his face. He was almost smiling. “Pull yourself together, boy. We have a lot of work to do.”

  13

  Ladera Heights was a mostly black, middle-class western suburb of Los Angeles near View Park and Baldwin Hills. Although there were plenty of beautiful homes, the town had a great deal of landscape issues because of its plant problem: too many weeds and snails. It was the perfect place for the first Chase Botanical Conservatory, Janet’s latest Chase Foundation environmental effort. The building of the lavish domed glass and metal structure was in process and the solarium, which would house the French restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop, was almost complete.

  Today, the workers were concentrating on the Show House, which would display plants indigenous to the Ladera Heights area. So the café was empty, the perfect place for a secretive meeting.

  Lyndon didn’t hide the disappointment on his face when he entered the café and saw Janet sitting at the only table in the room.

  “Sit down, Lyndon.” Janet gestured toward the chair across the table. “Leigh isn’t coming. I was the one who sent the text message from her phone.”

  Lyndon cautiously sat down. “I thought Leigh said you knew better than to get involved in her love life.”

  Janet’s pasted-on smile faded. “You need to remember who you’re talking to before you open your mouth. I’m not one of your little groupies.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Lyndon said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

  “I know what happened.” Janet’s impatience was obvious. “I know why you were at the house this morning and I can’t believe you think flowers can fix this.”

  Lyndon looked around the
café and this made Janet very nervous. Of course she didn’t know what had happened but intended to call his bluff. The anxious expression on his face made Janet feel as if she needed to brace herself.

  “Look, Mrs. Chase.” Lyndon took a deep breath. “I wasn’t bringing flowers to fix it. I was bringing flowers so she would give me a chance to tell her how I fixed it.”

  “Why should she?”

  Lyndon’s brow furrowed as he seemed to contemplate his response. “I really think this is between me and Leigh. I know you’re concerned, but I have taken care of everything.”

  “If you ever want to see my daughter again,” Janet warned, “I’m you’re only chance. You’re right. For me to meddle in Leigh’s affairs would have gotten me in trouble before. But she came to me this time. So I think you know this is different.”

  Lyndon nodded. “It was horrible, but if you could just tell Leigh that I sent Nick to Marigolds, that rehab that she told me about. I didn’t ask him. I made him go. I drove him there and checked him in. He agreed to it. He felt awful.”

  Janet slid her hands under the table so Lyndon couldn’t see her grip the straps of the purse on her lap. “And you think rehab is all he needs?”

  “I couldn’t involve the police,” Lyndon said. “I’m sorry I wouldn’t let her call the cops, but everything has worked out. It would have only—”

  “Made things worse.” Janet swallowed hard. “That’s one thing you and I can agree on, Lyndon. The last thing high-profile people need is the press that inevitably comes when police get involved.”

  Lyndon nodded, seeming grateful that she understood. “Besides, he would never have done it, really. I mean, he’s not like that.”

  “People do a lot of things under the influence of drugs.” Janet wasn’t sure how long she could hold her composure. With every word, she moved closer to panic, but she couldn’t give herself up.

  “No matter what he might have done, I would never have let him rape her. And I stopped it anyway, so—”

  Lyndon stopped as Janet gasped and jumped to her feet. “Rape!”

  Lyndon looked around nervously. “Keep your voice down, Mrs. Chase. These paps follow me every—”