Her cackle is so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear. “That poor woman has no idea who she’s dealing with.”

  I smile. I’m counting on it.

  I figured meeting Grace in public would force us to be on our best behavior. Besides, there’s no way I’m stepping foot in her office again.

  I’m not surprised at all, though, when I walk in and see her best friend Tessa sitting beside her. I met her the night of the ball at Blithewold, when Carter showed up with her as his date.

  It feels like a lifetime ago, but in reality, it’s only been a week.

  At the time, I thought Tessa could be good for my brother. She didn’t take shit from anyone, least of all Carter, and to my absolute shock, she had him eating out of the palm of her hand. That’s something I’ve never witnessed when it comes to him.

  Right now, though, she’s wearing a tight expression as she watches me approach. She’s here for Grace. God, the woman sure knows how to fool the people around her.

  “You couldn’t handle me on your own, Grace?” I quip as I reach the table.

  She shrugs. “I just don’t really like you, Cat. I figure if I have to share a meal with you, I might as well have my best friend along for the free lunch.”

  Tessa’s eyes dart from her friend to me and then back again. “Down, girls. Down.”

  I take a deep breath and sit. “Well, at least you’re not being fake. Anymore.”

  Grace laughs. “Seriously, you are the one who needs help finding a man.”

  Flames erupt in my belly at her words. “Do you really think I need help finding someone to spend time with me?”

  “Why else would Jonathan be begging me to take you on as a client?”

  “To help you. Believe me, I’m not doing this of my own free will. I’m doing this because I had to cover up your bullshit lies that almost destroyed my family and did destroy Cash. Do you know how much you hurt him? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

  Grace’s cheeks redden and she remains silent. Finally, the woman shows the smallest hint of remorse.

  But her best friend picks up where she left off. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  I roll my eyes. “I don’t expect you to back me up, Tessa. She’s your friend. I get it. But even you have to admit that what she did was pretty shitty.”

  The tension at the table eases momentarily when the server appears to take our drink orders. “I’ll have a dirty martini,” Grace says.

  I almost smile. “I’ll have the same. But make it extra dirty.”

  “As I was saying,” Tessa says after she places her order and the server leaves us, “you have it all wrong.”

  Cocking my head to the side, I sit silently, waiting for her to get her little spiel over with. She’s like a tiny dog barking at me, demanding an audience.

  Tessa breathes out a long breath. “It was me. I’m the one to blame. Vanessa was upset at the party because she found out about Grace and Cash. She thought they were playing her the whole time.”

  “Well, she was,” I say, tipping my chin toward Grace. “My brother would never do that, though.”

  Grace lets out a “ha!” in response, which only makes the fire smoldering inside me burn hotter.

  Tessa jumps in again. “You and I both know that your brother was head over heels for Grace and that Grace continued to push him away. Let’s not rewrite history.”

  Has this girl been brainwashed? Grace conned Cash. He had no idea she was married until after he fell for her. I open my mouth to speak, but Tessa holds up her hand.

  “Can you please just let me get through this?”

  I nod in acquiescence, ready to hear what other bullshit she’s come up with.

  Tessa exhales and pulls her shoulders back. “She was going on about how she was going to destroy your brother. The press would know what a player he was. Cat, she was acting crazy.” Rolling her eyes, Tessa shakes her head and brushes a few loose strands of hair from her face. “I thought I was helping. I thought she was your friend.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I mutter. I really can’t believe yet another person I let into my life has betrayed me. My track record is shit.

  “I thought if I told her why Grace stayed away from Cash for so long, she would understand. I explained that your brothers were all screwed up over your father’s actions. I told her how Grace wanted to protect him from any bad press or any attention at all because he had enough on his plate. I never thought Vanessa would use what I told her to destroy your family or Grace. You have to believe me; if I thought for even a second that she would have done what she did…” Tessa stops and studies her clasped hands on the tabletop. “If I had a clue this would be the outcome, I never would have opened my mouth.” Watching me with what looks like genuine remorse, she goes on. “I am so very sorry that your family has suffered because Carter trusted me. And I am so sorry that Grace has been the one to pay for my big mouth.”

  Cash isn’t the only one spilling secrets, I guess. Thank God my brothers don’t know my biggest one. It seems like I’m the only member of the James family who knows how to keep her mouth shut.

  When our drinks arrive, I stare at my martini, twirling the olives through the liquid as I try to figure out what to say. How to move forward. Debate with myself about whether I believe them. Whether I should trust them.

  “Listen,” Grace says, breaking my train of thought, “you and I obviously got off on the wrong foot.”

  I tilt my head and take her in. That’s the understatement of the century. Little does she know I’ve known about her for far longer than she’s known about me.

  She shifts in her chair. “I would really like to keep my word to Jonathan and help you. Or maybe we are just both helping Jonathan—I have no idea. But either way, if you can move on from the past now that you know there is no chance of your brother and me dating, we can work together. What do you say?”

  I take a deep breath. I told Jay I was going to give this a chance. And while promises rarely mean anything these days, especially his, when I give my word, I mean it. So I hold out my hand to the woman who may still be my undoing. “Hello, Grace, my name is Cat James. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Her eyes widen in surprise, and then she smiles and takes my hand. “It’s nice to meet you too. Now, if you were looking for a man, what exactly would you be looking for?”

  44

  LABYRINTH BY TAYLOR SWIFT

  Cat

  Days later, I’m still angry with Jay and unwilling to rely upon his assurances that he’ll take care of the threat against Chloe and me. I’m taking matters into my own hands. I know exactly who to call to get to the bottom of the threats. Jay wouldn’t approve, but since he’s the one who got us into this mess in the first place, I’m not giving him a say in the matter.

  My daughter should be at home with me, and the only way I’ll allow her anywhere near me is if I know with absolute certainty that she’s safe. Jay said he took care of the threats, that the men who were after him remain clueless about my connection to him, but I don’t trust a word out of his mouth.

  So I called the one man I do trust. The one person who has been by my family’s side no matter what it has cost him.

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you looking into this,” I say to Frank as his large frame settles in the chair in front of me.

  He runs his hand against his lip. “Been a while since I’ve been in this office, Princess,” he grates out.

  “We’re not going there,” I say with a nervous laugh.

  He smirks. “No shit. Your fiancé would kill me.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Tipping his head to the side, he examines me for a long moment. “Actually, I do. From what I’ve heard, the pretty boy is a lot more dangerous than either of us gave him credit for.”

  I laugh at the pretty boy comment. He so is. “He’d also kill you if you called him that.”

  Frank shrugs. “Pretty sure I could take him.”

  I laugh but tap my foot under my desk nervously. “So…what are we looking at? Is this a real threat?”

  Frank leans forward and drops his elbows to his knees. “Yes. My brother was looking for information to hold over Jay. He still wants to know who stole from the Mob. He knows it wasn’t Hanson. But I think his plan will work.”

  My breath catches. I’d always had my suspicions that Frank’s family was involved with the Mob, but I didn’t expect him to be so forthcoming about it. Nor did I understand just how involved his family was. “You’re sure?”

  He nods and leans back. “Yeah. They’ll believe that Grace introduced you and Jay if that’s what you sell to the press. Just fucking sell it. And since he owns a media company and you run the biggest magazine in the country—”

  I stop him there. “I don’t. I’m just an editor.”

  With a tip of his chin, he smirks. “You and I both know that Cynthia and Jay will make you editor in chief.”

  Anxiety swirls in my stomach at the thought. The announcement should be coming soon. What the hell are they waiting for?

  “Maybe,” I admit. “So you think I’ll be safe? That Chloe will be?”

  Frank studies me. “One day you’ll tell me that story, right?”

  I lick my lips and nod. Yes, one day soon they’ll all know the truth.

  “Yeah, I think you’re both safe. And for extra protection, I let it slip that you and I were sleeping together until recently. Doubt my brother will suspect you’ve been involved with Jay.”

  “My brother won’t take it nearly as well as yours if he ever finds out about you and me.”

  Frank coughs out a laugh. “No. He won’t. Let’s leave that as our little secret. It’s over anyway, right?”

  “Yeah, I think I’m really going to give it a shot with Jay.”

  His green eyes light up, and he claps his hand to his knee. “Fuck, that makes me happy.”

  “It does?” I ask. I can’t hold back my surprise at his excitement.

  “It really does. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s you, Cat.”

  “Not Princess?” I tease.

  “Doesn’t feel right anymore.” He shrugs. “You’re his now.”

  His.

  Despite how angry I still am at Jay, the words don’t feel wrong. I’ve always been his. I’m just not sure he’s ever been mine.

  “Yeah,” I whisper. “Maybe.”

  “Now if only your brother would get out of his own damn way, he could be happy too.”

  My chest squeezes at the thought. I tried to talk to Cash after I met with Grace. I told him I made a mistake, that I jumped to the wrong conclusions, but he won’t hear it.

  He loves her, and the guilt I harbor over the role I played in their demise eats at me a little more every day. Now that I’m removed from it, now that I know Jay was never interested in her…now that I know the truth…I can see how happy she made my brother. I realize now that she isn’t the horrible person I made her out to be.

  And unfortunately, it may just be too late.

  The next night, comforted by the information Frank provided, I sit across from my daughter. The bewildered expression as she silently works through all the information I’ve spewed at her is one I’ve seen on Jay’s face so many times. Cynthia met us at my apartment after I picked up Chloe from Sophie’s, and once dinner was over, I forced myself to open up about Jay.

  “That was my father? In your office last week?” Her brows knit together and she nibbles on her lip nervously as she puts the pieces together.

  I explained how her father came back into my life recently. That we’ve reconnected, but that’s as far as we’ve gotten.

  Gulping down my fears, I nod. “That was your father.”

  She picks at an invisible speck on the couch beside her leg and peers up at me. “That day…in your office…did he leave because of me?”

  “No, Bug, absolutely not,” I rush to assure her. “He left because of me.” I squeeze my hands into fists to fight off the way they shake.

  “Because he didn’t know about me?” Her voice cracks on the last word.

  I take another deep breath. “He didn’t know about you, no. But not because I didn’t want to tell him. I was going to tell him that night.”

  In my periphery, Cynthia shifts and folds her hands in her lap, but I keep my focus on Chloe.

  “And he was upset?” she asks in the tiniest voice.

  “He was upset that he didn’t know you. He was not upset about you being here. Only that he’s missed out on so much of your life.”

  “But I thought he didn’t want to be part of my life,” she says in a rush. She looks from me to Cynthia and then back again, wearing a frown. “Don’t take the blame for him.”

  I glance at Cynthia. “There’s no easy way to explain it. Yes, I told him about you, but he never got my messages. He had been in an accident, and when he recovered, he didn’t have access to his phone. All this time, I thought he just left me. No one is to blame, Bug. It’s just…a bad situation.”

  “And now? Does he want to know me?”

  The crack in her voice has me dropping to my knees in front of her and resting my palms on her thighs. “Yes. He wants to know you and be a parent to you. How we go about this is up to you, and we can take it at whatever speed you want. But he absolutely wants to be a part of your life.”

  She inspects me for a moment, then lifts her gaze to Cynthia for reassurance.

  “Chlo,” she says in a soothing tone, “your father is a good man. Bad things happen sometimes, and people make mistakes, but I would never let you stay with him if I had even the slightest inkling that he would hurt you. You know that.”

  My girl nods, but she tucks her chin to her chest and twists the pendant that hangs around her neck, just like she always does when she’s uncertain. We sit for a few moments in silence, and when she looks up, her blue eyes are swimming with tears. “I always wanted to meet him. I don’t know why, but I just always did. Is that wrong?”

  I have to blink the tears from my eyes and clear my throat before I can respond. “Not at all. It’s natural to be curious about him, and I’m so relieved that the two of you have the chance to meet.”

  “And you’ll be there?” Her eyes are huge. The unshed tears still shining in them make the blue of her irises glimmer more brightly. Her expression is a perfect mix of hope and fear. In this moment, she looks so young.

  “Bug, you won’t be able to get rid of me.” I laugh, swiping at the tears that spill from my eyes.

  “And you?” she asks Cynthia, who’s moved to her side.

  She squeezes Chloe’s hand. “If you want me there, then yes. But I really think you and Cat should do this together.”

  With a nod, she glances at me, then focuses on Cynthia again. “You’re still my mom, right?”

  Cynthia wraps her arms around Chloe tightly and pulls her in for a hug. Tears shine in her eyes now too.

  I drop to the floor and watch the interaction. Years ago, I made an impossible decision. One that has only grown more difficult with each passing year. But I’d make it again in a heartbeat. Because what Cynthia gave my daughter, what she continues to give her, is something so utterly beautiful in its complexity that it makes all of this worth it.

  “Always, Chlo, always.”

  Hours later, I tuck Chloe in for the night. As I shuffle to her bedroom door, she calls for me. “Can you tell me about him?”

  I take a minute to compose myself, sucking in a breath and fixing a smile to my face, then I turn back to her. “Of course. What do you wanna know?” I settle on the bed next to her and stroke her hair.

  “How did you meet?”

  Laughing, I poke her in the belly. “Well, you know how I’ve never been good at making a cup of coffee?”

  “You’re not very good at making anything in the kitchen,” she replies far too quickly.

  “Hey, that’s mean!” I tease, although she’s 100 percent right. “Anyway,” I say when her giggles die down, “your dad owned a coffee shop.”

  Chloe sits up against the headboard and burrows into my side. She has no idea how much comfort she brings me. Just her proximity allows me to settle into the memories with a fondness I haven’t felt in years.

  “Like I said, I didn’t know how to make a cup of coffee, but my friend asked me to watch over the coffee shop while she went to run an errand. While she was gone, a line a mile deep formed.”

  Chloe giggles. “A mile deep? Right.”

  I smile down at her and tug her closer. “Work with me here. So there was this big line, and this really aggravated girl who kept tapping her fingers against the counter. The guy at the front of the line was starting to get loud too. And it felt like every person in the shop was giving me attitude.”

  Chloe grins and shifts so she’s looking at me.

  “Yes, it was deserved, because I had no business being there. But still, I was freaking out.”

  “Until you saw my dad?” she chirps. Somehow, my girl is imagining my first run-in with Jay as a romance novel–worthy meet-cute.

  “Um, no, I was still freaking out when I saw him, but he had this look.” I pause, trying to put my finger on it, trying to remember precisely what I thought the moment I saw him all those years ago. Wondering if I knew even then that the moment would become such a turning point in my life.

  “He was entranced,” I say when the full memory takes shape in my mind. “Even though I was a disaster and had no idea what I was doing, he looked at me like my every move and my every word were charming.”

  “I love this story,” Chloe says with a yawn. “So then what happened?”

  “He asked for my name and number.” I chuckle. “And I told him no.”

  Chloe’s eyes go wide, and her mouth drops open. “Why?”

  “Told him he had to earn it.” I shrug. I can’t help but grin when I remember his shocked expression. It matches the look on our daughter’s face right now. God, she really does remind me of him. Those intelligent, soulful eyes light up, as if she’s just as enchanted by me as her father was.