Page 58 of Escorting the CEO
“Very.” She nodded slowly. “Unusually so.”
Outside the windows, the lawn was bright and still. The sun shone in the sky. I focused on it for a second, grounding myself.
“I want to be transparent with you,” Miranda said, which was alarming. “I don’t have proof. Not yet. What I have is a very strong instinct, developed over many years of watching powerful men make desperate decisions.” She eyed me calmly. “And the instinct tells me that you are not who you say you are.”
The room felt small.
“I’m having you investigated,” she continued, in the same neutral tone she might use to discuss the weather. “Thoroughly. Your background, your finances, your family, your history. Whatever arrangement you’ve entered into with my stepson, I intend to find it.”
“There’s no arrangement.” The words felt brittle coming out of my mouth.
She inclined her head. “If I’m wrong, you have nothing to worry about. The investigation will simply confirm what you’ve already told everyone, and we’ll proceed.” She paused. “But if I’m right?—“
“You’re not right.”
“—If I’m right,” she continued, undeterred, “I want you to understand what that will mean. Not just for you. For Rhodes.”
She raised her chin and said, “He will finally lose everything. The company, custody of that boy, his father’s legacy. Everything my husband built will pass to me, because Rhodes violated theterms of the trust by fraudulently misrepresenting the nature of his marriage.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“And you,” she added, almost as an afterthought, “will leave with nothing. Less than nothing, I’d imagine, given whatever penalties are surely written into whatever contract you’ve signed.”
I stared at her.
She didn’t have proof—yet. But if she found it, Rhodes would lose everything I’d come here to help him protect.
Luke’s face flashed through my mind. Luke, with his goggles half full of water. Luke launching himself at Rhodes behind his desk, arms going automatically around his uncle’s neck.
“I’m telling you this,” Miranda said, “not to threaten you. Consider it a courtesy. Walk away now, before my investigator finds anything, and I won’t pursue it. I will allow Rhodes to find a legitimate solution to his situation, and I will not hold this particular episode against him.”
She met my eyes. “But if you stay, and I find what I’m looking for, I will burn it all to the ground. You get what you give in life, and Rhodes has given me plenty of pain. I won’t lose a moment of sleep over ruining him. ”
I believed her. I looked at her cool, composed face, the absolute absence of doubt in her expression, and I believed every single word.
The silence stretched out. I became aware that she was waiting for some kind of response. A crack, a confession, a tearful capitulation. That’s what she was expecting. A girl like me, in a house like this, faced with a woman like her. Of course, I would fold. Of course I’d run. Trust me, I wanted to.
But something stubborn rose up in my chest.
“I appreciate the warning,” I said. My voice was still remarkably steady. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
Something flickered in her eyes. “Is that so?”
“Rhodes and I are getting married this weekend.” I stood up, which was a risk on account of my legs, but they held. “In spite of your harsh words, I hope you’ll be there. Family means everything to us.”
Miranda rose too, unhurried, and for a moment we stood facing each other. She was taller than me in her heels. She had thirty-plus years on me, plus the expertise of knowing how to be terrifying in a silk blouse.
But she didn’t have Luke asking her to stay.
She didn’t have Rhodes looking at her like she was something real.
She didn’t have Grammy’s farm saved, or Josie and Bo’s futures secured, or a signed contract and five million reasons to stand her ground.
“Enjoy the library,” Miranda said pleasantly. She straightened an already-straight vase on the shelf beside her. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
She left, the door clicking softly closed behind her, and I sank back down into the chair. I sat there for a long moment, alone in the beautiful room, heart hammering. She was going to investigate me. She might find Elena. She might find the agency.
She might find the contract.
