26. COMING CLEAN
brYCE
I’d said I was usually right about everything, which was true. But one thing I’d done wrong? I’d let my little brothers get away with too few responsibilities. I’d shielded them from my father, bearing the brunt of his moods and accusations while letting Jake and Colby play.
But now their houses of sticks and straw were about to be blown down by none other than moi.
Jake showed up first. “What’s up? I was just on the phone with Dubai.”
“We need to talk.”
He eyed Chloe. “Hi Chloe. Are you joining us?”
“You’re joining us ,” I corrected him. “We’re waiting for Colby. And Tate.”
Jake raised his eyebrows at the mention of Colby’s girlfriend but said nothing. Colby and Tate hustled in a minute later, both in their sweats. “We were working out,” Colby said. “What’s so urgent?”
“I’ll tell you in there.” Bryce motioned to the conference room. “Heads up, Dale’s in there with the security team. We’re having a meeting with them.”
“Why?” Colby asked. He turned to Tate and Chloe. “Why don’t you guys go wait in the kitchen?”
“They’re coming in with us. Tate, I’m going to need you to sign something.” Bryce got on his phone. “Jim? It’s me. I’m going to need you to send over a non-disclosure agreement immediately. She can fill out the personal details, and you can make it all pretty and official. Thanks.”
“Why is Tate signing an NDA?” Colby looked wary.
“Because of what we’re about to discuss.” His phone pinged, and he handed it to Tate. “Please fill out your name and legal address, and sign it where the tab is.”
“Permanent address?” Tate looked concerned. “I don’t really have one.”
“You can use mine, babe.” Colby recited his address.
That seemed to perk her up. “Thanks, babe.”
Jake and Bryce looked at each other, then looked away.
After she’d signed, Bryce knocked on the conference door, and we headed in. The meeting seemed tense. Dale stood at the front of the room while Ted, the lead security guard, paced the back.
Ted’s cheeks were flushed. “Mr. Windsor, finally! My men have been in here for hours! We haven’t been on patrol, their phones have been confiscated—”
“Have a seat, Ted. We need to have a frank discussion, and I’m the one who’ll be doing the talking.”
“Yes, Sir.” Ted sat down immediately.
“I need you all to know that as of tonight, my father is no longer the one in charge. I’m taking over as head of Windsor Enterprises. The board voted on it earlier this evening. My appointment’s effective immediately.”
“What?” Colby’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Does Dad know?” Jake looked stunned.
“Congratulations,” Dale said. “I expect a raise!” He laughed until Bryce glared at him, and then it turned into a cough.
Bryce faced the rest of the group. “I understand that Mrs. Windsor—the other Mrs. Windsor—was in touch with some of you tonight, looking for information about Noah. I need you to understand that Noah is part of our family, and you have to protect him. He’s a Windsor, now.”
Bryce looked at each man in turn. “I need your absolute loyalty moving forward. I understand that my father has made several offers in order to secure information and possibly, other actions.”
Bryce let that sink in for a moment. “I’m aware of this, and I’d like to say I understand.
My father can be persuasive. But any of those preexisting relationships?
They end now. I’m canceling your previous contracts and offering new ones.
I’m doubling your salaries, and I’m offering generous signing bonuses—more than whatever my father was offering any of you. Does anyone have any objections?”
There were no objections, only smiles, and relief. I wasn’t the only one who hated being Gene Windsor’s bitch!
“My legal team will prepare the documents—so for now, you can get back to work. I need everyone to be on high alert, though. My father is being frozen out, and he’s going to react.
As of right now, he’s unaware of the changes taking place.
But I don’t know how long that will last. So everyone, please be safe, and keep my family safe. That will be all.”
The team filed out, and Bryce turned to the rest of us. “Now it’s time for real family talk. Who’s excited?”
Jake scratched behind his ear. Colby bounced on the balls of his feet.
Tate raised her hand. “Why am I here, exactly?” Her gaze flicked to Chloe.
Bryce put his arm around me. “Because we’re having a family meeting, and you are currently dating a Windsor. If Colby wants you here on the island, you need to be in this meeting. Colby?”
“I’d like you to stay, Tate.” Colby smiled at her. “I mean, we’re basically living together.”
“Okay, babe.” But Tate sounded nervous.
“Bonus points if you stop saying ‘babe,’” Jake huffed.
Colby nudged him good-naturedly. “Whatever you say, babe.”
“Enough, guys.” Bryce turned to me. “Chloe and I have something to tell you. Several somethings. Chloe?”
“Oh… Okay. Wow, we’re doing this?” Chloe held onto me for dear life.
“Go ahead, honey. I’m right here.”
She took a deep breath. “I didn’t meet Bryce at Dunkin’ Donuts. We didn’t tell you the truth about how we got together. The story was much more complicated than that.”
“Oh.” Now it was my turn to hang onto her . “This is what we’re telling them?”
“This is the first thing,” she said bravely.
She faced my brothers and Tate. “The thing is, I worked for an agency. An escort agency. And Bryce found me through them—that’s how we met.
Y-Your father knows the truth about me, and he isn’t happy.
I mean, he wasn’t happy anyway. Hey.” She turned back to me.
“Shouldn’t Daphne be here? She needs to hear this, and I don’t want to have to say it all again. ”
I called Daphne and asked her to join us immediately. Then I poured myself a bourbon and one for my brothers.
“Are you old enough to drink?” I asked Tate.
“I’m pretty sure I need one, regardless.” She knocked it back in one shot, and I felt a little sorry for her.
Daphne bustled in, eyes bright. She glanced at Chloe. “Having a family meeting without me? I thought we had a deal!”
“We do,” Chloe assured her. “As soon as I realized we were doing this, I had Bryce call you. I told you that you can trust me, and I meant it.”
Jake and Colby watched this exchange with interest. “You two have a side deal?” Jake asked.
Chloe nodded. “I’ll explain everything in a minute.”
Tate poured herself another bourbon.
“Daphne, I was just telling everyone about my background. But first, Bryce let them know that he was voted in as full-term CEO of Windsor Enterprises earlier tonight.”
Daphne sat down and fanned herself. “Thank God I decided to accept your offer. Otherwise I’d be out pawning Gene’s original art on the internet as we speak.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” Chloe smiled at her, but then it faltered. “I have to bring you up to speed though, Daphne. I was just telling everyone about how Bryce and I met. It wasn’t the way that I told you.”
She hesitated before she continued. “I met Bryce through a…dating…agency. An escort agency, actually. And Gene knows about it, and so does Mimi Jones.”
Daphne’s mouth formed an ‘O.’ “Wow, I had no idea.”
My wife arched an eyebrow. “It’s not exactly the sort of thing you’d guess.”
“It’s like Pretty Woman .” Daphne shook her head as if to clear it. “I feel so much better about thinking you were trash at first!”
“Gee Daphne, tell me how you really feel,” Chloe groaned.
Daphne’s eyes sparkled. “I like you now.”
“I like you, too—God help me.” Chloe shook her head.
“The thing is, Gene’s been blackmailing me.
He never wanted me to stay married to Bryce.
He’s the reason I did that stupid morning talk show interview, got into that fight with Felicia Jones, and left in the middle of the night.
He threatened me, he threatened my brother, and he’s threatened Bryce. ”
“He did the same thing to me, Chloe.” Daphne nodded.
“He said he’d blow up my deal with Michael Jones, void our pre-nuptial agreement so I got nothing, and divorce my ass.
He said he would sabotage my company if I didn’t do what he wanted.
And the last thing he asked me to do was find out what guards were on duty while you were gone.
I bet that was because he was going to try to take Noah. ”
Chloe shuddered. “He had a deal with my father and stepmother—he might’ve been trying to give Noah back to them. At least, I hope that’s all he was trying to do.”
Both Colby and Jake looked uneasy.
“Did Dad approach you, too?” I asked my brothers.
Jake blew out a deep breath. “He promised me a bigger share of the company if I worked against you, Bryce. I said I would do it just to keep him happy, but I didn’t mean it. I would never do anything to hurt you, I hope you know that.”
Colby shrugged. “All he offered me was an additional three million and the golf courses he owns. I said yes, of course.”
When Jake and I started protesting, he held up his hands. “I didn’t tell him anything! I wouldn’t do that. But I did want those golf courses.”
“You can keep them.” I laughed. “The legal team thinks Dad’s definitely going to jail. If that’s the case, the emergency provisions of the trust kick in. And guess who’s the trust administrator?”
I pointed to myself. “This guy. Golf courses for everyone!”
The mood lifted in the room until Chloe cleared her throat. “There’s more—good news and other news. What do you want first?”
“The good news,” Colby said immediately.
Chloe moved closer to me, and hot pride bloomed in my chest. “Bryce and I are having a baby.”
“Shut up!” Daphne sprung out of her chair and pulled Chloe in for a hug. “Our babies are going to grow up together! We can buy them matching Chanel onesies! Oh my God, this is the best news ever!”
“Gene doesn’t know yet. He won’t be thrilled, but we are.”
My brothers hugged me, and Tate raised her glass to us in a toast. Still, I could tell she was nervous. She knew that the gig was up; she was obviously the ‘other news.’
“The last thing we need to tell you pertains to Tate.” I nodded at her. “Would you like to speak for yourself?”
“Not really.” She drained her glass. “But here goes nothing. Colby, I’m an escort, too. Mimi Jones hired me to get involved with you and…infiltrate the family.” Her cheeks heated. “Chloe’s known about it for a while because I threatened her—that’s what Mimi was paying me to do.”
Tate’s face was turning red; Colby’s face was turning white. “What? I don’t understand.”
“I lied to you,” she said, her voice low. “The stuff I told you about my background, it was all made up. Mimi found me on a dating app, and she hired me to come up here. I wanted to tell you the truth so many times, but I couldn’t do it…”
“This whole thing has been a job ?” My little brother looked sick.
“It started that way.” Tate shrugged. “But then I fell for you, and I, like, don’t even hate Chloe enough to do mean things to her. She’s been nice to me, even when I was a total bitch. She offered to pay me instead of Mimi so I’d stop working for her.”
“You’ve known about this for a while?” Colby turned to my wife.
She nodded.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m so sorry.” Chloe’s shoulders slumped. “But I didn’t say anything because I was worried about myself, my brother—and Bryce . Tate threatened to go public about my background. I couldn’t have that blowing up in my face when your father was already out to get me. I hope you can forgive me.”
Colby scrubbed a hand over his face while Tate frowned. “I guess it’s too much for me to ask you for forgiveness, huh?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now.” Colby looked up at me. “Except that I’m glad you’re in charge. Dad did a lot of bad stuff. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s done a lot of bad things. It’s time for a change.”
Jake nodded. “All of this has been hard, but that’s how this stuff goes, right? Everything’s falling into place. It’s been rough, but we’re still here. That means something, I guess.”
I poured another round of bourbons. Tate joined in, too, although Colby definitely gave her some space. Chloe and Daphne raised their glasses of water.
“To still being here.”
That was something. That was everything.