8. REELING
CHLOE
“Chloe!” Noah hugged me hard, then told me how great it was to be back.
The drone was amazing, the dog treats were gourmet, Boss could already follow commands, and Chef had made him about five million frappes over the weekend.
I smiled in all the right places, nodding my head where appropriate.
I was genuinely happy to be reunited with my brother, but I couldn’t focus on his words.
I was reeling. Tate was an escort ? She’d said she was from the South End of Boston.
Did that mean she was from Accommodating?
Elena hadn’t said anything about sending another girl up here.
But how else could Tate know about me? My mind whirled as we played with the dog, my brother’s happy laughter filling the air.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Bryce and tell him what had happened.
He needed to know if there was another escort here as soon as possible.
I didn’t understand it. Why and how was she here?
Elena was an intelligent business owner.
It didn’t seem likely that she’d sabotage my position by sending another girl to work for the Windsor family, doubling our risk of exposure.
The drone landed, and Dale declared it in need of a charge—I took that as my opportunity to escape. I hugged my brother again, ruffling his hair until he squirmed away. Then I headed for the house, anxious to update Bryce.
“Chloe, wait, I’ll come with you!” Tate gave me another dazzling, yet didn’t-reach-her-eyes, smile.
She made a kissy face at Colby. “I’ll see you at the house. Okay, babe?”
“Yeah, babe. Sounds good.” He grinned, his lone dimple flashing. Colby seemed positively charmed by her. There was a lot of ‘babe’ being thrown around for two people who had just started dating.
Tate waited until we were away from the others to speak to me. A scowl crept over her features, a deep crease forming between her perfectly groomed brows. “I need you to keep what I told you a secret. You can’t say anything to anybody.”
“Um…” Confused, I shook my head. “I’m assuming Colby knows, right? Isn’t he the one who hired you?”
“No! He doesn’t know I’m an escort. I bumped into him at the pool club and started talking to him. He bought me a drink—the rest is history.” She shrugged.
“What?” I stopped walking. “So who hired you?”
“Can’t say.” Tate shrugged again, and it was maddening. She was my age but seemed younger, a teenager with a bad freaking attitude. “But that’s the point—Colby’s into me, and I’d like to keep it that way. I need this job. I need the money.”
“So who is paying you?”
She turned to face me, flipping her hair in the process. As pretty as I’d thought her earlier, her face was transformed by the sneer. “Someone who doesn’t like you.”
“What?”
Tate puffed her admirable chest out. “If you tell anybody about me, you’re going to pay. I’ll go public with the truth about where you came from. So keep your mouth shut.” She was sounding less like a prep-school cheerleader and more like a toughie from my old neighborhood by the second.
“If you didn’t want anybody to know, why did you tell me?”
She laughed. “Because my client wants you to know. They want you to know that you’re being watched and that they know the truth about you.”
My stomach sank. “Did Gene Windsor hire you?”
“I wish.” Tate snorted. “I’d like some of that money. But my client’s rich, too. I’m getting paid a small fortune to blow Colby, keep him happy, and more importantly, torture your lying ass. Everyone thinks you’re actually Bryce’s wife, right?”
“I am actually his wife.”
“Ha!” Tate leaned closer, the minty smell of her breath wafting over me. “You know what I mean. Girls like us don’t marry guys like these.”
I bristled. “I already married him.”
She snorted again, nostrils flaring. The real Tate was not a pretty sight. “I might be the best thing that’s happened to you—you need a reality check. My client might want me to sleep with your husband—to remind you that you’re just like me. Replaceable.”
“My husband wouldn’t be interested,” I said stiffly.
“We’ll see.” She stuck her chest out again.
I shook my head. “What do you want from me?”
“For now, I want you to keep your mouth shut. After that? I’ll let you know.” With a final hair toss, Tate hiked up her shorts so her ass cheeks were prominently hanging out. She sauntered inside the house as if she owned the place.
I didn’t follow her inside. I sank down onto the steps, head swimming.
Fuuuck. Gene Windsor might be gone from the island, but now I had to deal with Tate the Adolescent Escort.
Someone had hired her to get close to Colby—and more importantly, to get close to me .
Tate was nasty, but she’d seemed honest when she’d said it wasn’t Gene that had hired her.
So who could it be? What other enemies did I have?
My step monster Lydia, for sure. But she and my father didn’t have the money to pay for a high-end escort.
That left Felicia Jones, Bryce’s heinous ex. She wouldn’t!
But…would she? Did she hate me enough to plant someone on the island just to torture my ass?
With shaking hands, I texted Elena. There’s a new girl here—she says she’s an escort from the South End. Does she work for you?
The madam immediately texted back.
What? That’s crazy.
I haven’t sent anyone up there. I wouldn’t do that.
I stared at my phone, not knowing what to do or what to think.
“Oh my God! I thought you were never coming back!” Daphne hurtled up the stairs toward me.
Gene’s estranged wife wore a crop top that showed off the barest hint of a baby bump and black yoga pants.
Her long dark hair was up in a bun, her makeup minimal and perfect, and she smelled luxurious and rich, like a trust-fund scented shower gel.
“Hey!” I was surprisingly relieved to see her. Daphne had scared the crap out of me when we’d first met, but like a fungus, she’d grown on me. And at the moment, she was a welcome distraction from the sting of Tate’s words.
She hugged me, then pulled away, scowling. “I forgot I wasn’t speaking to you!” She crossed her toned arms against her chest. “You ran off in the middle of the night and didn’t return any of my texts. Rude . Where the hell have you been?”
She suspiciously eyed me up and down. “Your skin’s glowing. So let me rephrase that—where the hell have you been besides in the Bahamas getting banged by Bryce? I’ve been dying up here! Gene got arrested, everything’s a mess, his assets might be frozen if they set bail—ugh! And I’m getting fat!”
“You look great. You’re not getting fat; you’re pregnant . It’s about time you looked like you were having a baby. How far along are you now?”
“A couple of months.” She grinned. “Stupid Michael Jones still won’t speak to me, so I had my lawyers send him an offer.”
Daphne was married to Gene Windsor, but she’d had a brief affair with Micheal Jones, Felicia’s father.
Michael Jones was also married. The whole thing was a mess.
Daphne had planned to leave Gene for Michael, but he’d ghosted her and decided to stay with his wife.
In the end, Gene had agreed to remain married to Daphne—at least for the moment.
Growing up, I thought rich people didn’t have any problems. That their lives were perfect. It turned out they were just as messed up, if not more so, than the rest of us!
“If he waives all parental rights,” she continued, “I’ll accept ten million dollars in a lump-sum child support payment.
Gene thinks I’m lowballing him, but whatever.
I just want to be done with it. He’s never going to leave his wife, you know?
These old bastards say one thing when they want something from you, but it’s another story once the wife finds out. ”
I laughed. “You haven’t changed much since we last talked.” Daphne’s morals were downright questionable, but at least she was honest about who she was. “How are you holding up with Gene being arrested?”
“Not great.” She sighed and sat down next to me. “You know what’s weird?”
I shook my head.
“I’m worried about him.” Daphne wrinkled her nose. “He’s been so miserable these last few days, I felt sorry for him. He almost seemed human.”
“Huh.” That had certainly not been my experience with Gene. I longed to ask for her help with him, but I was too afraid to speak out.
“Have you seen Colby’s new girlfriend?” Daphne asked.
“I just met her.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’ve personally seen all of her. They were having sex in one of the private cabanas at the pool club the first day they met! We would’ve gotten thrown out if we didn’t own the place!”
“What do you know about her?” I asked.
She grimaced. “Not much. She works fast, though. She hasn’t even been around for a whole week, and she’s already got her claws into Colby.
He can’t keep his hands off her. Olivia Jensen’s having a fit, but Colby said he didn’t care.
He won’t break up with her. He told me he was serious about her.
Since when has he been serious about anything? ”
“I don’t know.” I had an uneasy feeling about the relationship, which just added to my big, fat pile of things to worry about at the moment.
“Anyway, I have to get going. See you tonight?” She hopped up, fit and sprightly as ever.
“Are we having dinner?”
Daphne tilted her head at me. “We’re going to the Nguyen’s for an end-of-the-summer soiree. Didn’t Bryce tell you? Everyone’s going to be there—including the Joneses. I better go pick out something to wear. Mimi Jones is going to be up my ass. See you!”
“Yes, see you,” I said weakly. I hadn’t been back on the island for an hour, and I was already overwhelmed.
Dinner at Kelli and Kenji Nguyen’s? With the Jones family, not to mention the rest of Mount Desert Island society?
I’d only run out on my husband a week ago after brawling with Felicia Jones at that wedding…
Ugh! Maybe Bryce wouldn’t make me go. But Daphne sounded pretty sure of herself.
I quietly entered the house and crept along the corridor, eager to be alone in my room.
Bryce was probably in his office on a call.
The halls were blessedly silent, and I made it to the primary suite undetected.
Inside, I closed the door and sank down onto the bed, inhaling the scent of Bryce’s sheets.
No matter what—no matter the price I’d eventually have to pay—it was good to be back.
My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.
Mr. Windsor has an urgent message for you. Click the below link.
I stared at the screen. Had I just said it was good to be back?
Obviously, I’d spoken too soon.