A Price to Pay

by Angela Winters

  But all he had to remember was the look on Avery’s face when she found out that Julia had moved in and it was all worth it. It was just for a brief second, but her eyes widened and her lips parted a bit. She was jealous.

  “Hey, sweetie.” She smiled softly as she entered the room, tossing her Burberry leather tote on the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned up for a kiss.

  Carter enjoyed kissing her. Her lips were full and soft and she always smelled incredibly good. She was a very appealing woman in many ways and sometimes he really wanted her. This was not one of those times.

  “What are you doing home?” he asked.

  “Those bitches at work.” She walked over to the TV, took a second to see the stock-market data flashing across the screen before reaching for the remote.

  “Hey, I’m watching that.” He hated Julia’s television choices. She only wanted to watch celebrities.

  Ignoring what he’d said, Julia turned back to him with a sigh that told Carter he was about to hear an hour’s worth of complaining that would be followed by a need for reassurance about something.

  “Those bitches hate me.” She fell onto the bed, sitting next to his bag.

  Carter wanted to turn and run, but he was getting used to this. She would follow him into the damn bathroom if she had to.

  “They’re all jealous because they know we’re together. Like somehow I’m the bitch because I have a Chase.” She flipped her hair back, talking in that superior tone that Carter was sure was the real reason they hated her. “Lisa Black, that damn project manager. A project manager, Carter! How can she be allowed to try and show me up? I’m a senior financial analyst.”

  “Julia, I have to . . .”

  “She comes in the office this morning, walks over to me and starts going on about how she feels so sorry for me and hopes that you and I can work it out.”

  “Work what out?”

  Julia spread her arms out. “Exactly. She wasn’t going to give up until I asked that question. Despite the fact that she’s right across from me, she’s screeching about how she heard you were seen with some blonde at Nishimura the other night.”

  Dammit, Carter said to himself. Those nosy little bitches.

  “She’s totally lying and she knows it.” Julia looked him directly in the eye, wanting reassurance. “Right?”

  “Of course,” he said as quickly and smoothly as he would have if it were the truth. In his own defense, he hadn’t slept with the girl. Just sushi and drinks. “She’s just trying to make you jealous so she’ll feel better. You know all these bitter women. If they can make it seem like you’re not happy, then it doesn’t hurt so much that you have the life they’ll never have.”

  Julia smiled, seeming to accept the reassurance, but only for a second. “But shouldn’t we do something?”

  “Just ignore them.” After zipping up the bag, he reached for the handle, but she blocked him by placing her hand over it. He looked at her and saw that need again. It was exhausting.

  “I thought that . . .” She frowned for a second as if contemplating what to say next. “Well, I actually told them that you and I were going to Dallas to visit my parents.”

  Carter tried to manage a kind smile. “I’m not going to Dallas, Julia. And I’ve already met your parents. They came up here three months ago.”

  “I’m sorry, Carter, but lunch at Dolce on Melrose doesn’t constitute a meeting. You need a formal meeting. You need to be photographed playing golf with my father or something.”

  Carter could see Julia morphing into his mother right before his eyes. “You’re looking for a photo op? No.”

  Her expression softened as she tilted her head to the side and smiled. “It would help me out a lot.”

  Carter shook his head. “This is the second time in the last month you’ve tried to manufacture a publicity event out of our relationship. I don’t like it.”

  “You didn’t seem to mind when the paps were taking pictures of you and Avery all the time.”

  Carter’s eyes darkened quickly. Julia knew that Avery was a forbidden topic for her. “King Chase is waiting.”

  She grabbed his arm in a desperate move before he could walk away. “I’m sorry, Carter. It’s just that . . .”

  “Avery was my fiancée.” He didn’t like hurting her, but she had to learn that it wasn’t worth it to bring Avery up. “You’re not.”

  “I should be,” she advocated.

  Carter stood still and she pressed against him, her hands taking hold of his face to focus his eyes on hers. Hers were intent and fierce. “You and I would make a great pair, Carter. You know it. Everything about our families, our backgrounds, our best assets just work so well.”

  “I have to go, Julia.”

  She pressed her lips against his with a directness that he wasn’t used to. He didn’t move as her hands came behind his head, pulling him closer. He found this desperate seduction of hers somewhat arousing. He knew when she felt this way, she would do anything he wanted. Things, under a normal situation, she wouldn’t even consider.

  He reached out and placed his hand firmly on the small of her back, allowing his mouth to explore hers. Carter wouldn’t allow himself to think of Avery in these moments, because he knew she was sleeping with her husband.

  Julia let out a gasp as Carter grabbed her by the waist and lifted her body. He threw her back onto the bed, onto her back. There was a wicked smile on her face as her arms reached up to receive him.

  He was unzipping his pants as Julia began hiking her skirt up and reaching for her panties. He wanted her now, but not enough to ignore the reporter on the television mentioning the word “murder.”

  “What?” Julia asked in a breathless voice.

  “Watch.” He slid away from her, focusing on what the reporter was saying.

  “Cool, Bitton & Klein is one of the largest independent law firms in L.A. and has a reputation for dealing with not-so-reputable clients. The victim, identified as Justin Ursh, was reportedly shot point blank in the head, in the middle of his Beverly Hills living room. Ursh had been a partner at the firm for three years.”

  “Did you know him?” Julia asked.

  Carter shook his head, his first thought going to Haley. As crazy as she was, he loved her and he was her big brother. It had been bothering him ever since she brought Garrett Collins to the house as her boyfriend. He worked at Cool, Bitton & Klein and that was never a good thing. Although Haley could handle herself with the best of them, it was better to be safe than sorry. He needed to do something.

  “Julia, I’ve got to go.”

  Chase Beauty’s executive offices held five floors in the 777 Tower building in downtown Los Angeles. It was here that Steven summoned his boys before sending them to New York. Sitting back in his leather chair, placed in the middle of his large corner office, he looked at both of his sons, each sitting in a chair on the other side of his new, oversized mahogany desk that Janet had purchased for sixteen thousand dollars at a Sotheby’s auction, for his birthday.

  “Just to repeat, I don’t care what the situation is. We aren’t going one penny over a hundred and fifty million for this company. Do you both understand that?”

  Both men nodded, but they all knew he was really just talking to Michael.

  They were on their way to New York to make the final decision on a deal to purchase Luxury Life Publishing Corporation, a formerly black-owned company that published five different magazines. Their biggest seller, Luxury Life, had the second-highest circulation of black business magazines; and they also published the best-selling ethnic women’s upscale fashion magazine, Sepia.

  “Seeing as how every takeover we try to execute, one of you two screws up,” Steven continued, “I’m kind of skeptical about this.”

  “Don’t be,” Michael said. “This is a good investment. All of their products are popular despite practically zero marketing. We add the Chase name and market the hell out of them, especially the web sites, we’ll
be able to form partnerships with all the tech companies and dominate in no time.”

  Steven nodded. “I’m in this for the web sites and the possible partnership with Robb Report and Forbes. The other magazines, I don’t know.”

  Carter chimed in. “The business magazine is catching up to Black Enterprise, and Sepia is unquestionably the leader. I think you might be able to hold on to that teen entrepreneur magazine too.”

  “What about the college mag?” Steven asked.

  “There are an endless amount of possibilities there,” Michael said. “Right now, they’re focused on HBCUs. We can expand it into a basic college magazine for minority students in general, and create special quarterly issues for MBAs, law students, med school and tech students. Whatever. The options are endless with using the web site as a portal and social networking tool.”

  Steven had to hand it to Michael. He’d done his research and it sounded good. But he still had his reservations.

  “I’m not crazy about this broker,” Steven said. “She rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve had her background dug up. She’s got some gaps in her history.”

  Michael sat up in his seat. “I told you I did a background on her before I brought her to you.”

  “And I did another one.” Steven stared him down, letting him know that he wasn’t going to explain second-guessing him.

  Carter knew it was a good time to step in before things got ugly. Ever since the last fiasco with Kimberly, Michael and Steven’s relationship had been tearing at everyone in the family. For Carter, it was the first time in his entire life when someone was more at odds with their father than he was. He enjoyed the respite, but didn’t like seeing this.

  “It doesn’t matter.” He stood up. “She’s just brokering the deal. The publisher sold the business to her firm, but they’re just holding it, not running it. All we need to know are the financials on the company and we have them.”

  “Yes,” Steven agreed, “but we can’t ignore the role she has played in making this happen.”

  Steven saw everything, so although his boys thought their quick exchange of glances had passed by him, it hadn’t. These boys and their secrets were going to be the death of him. He appreciated their closeness, but he sensed there could be more Kimberly-like secrets between them that could hurt the family, the legacy. Steven had always assumed his power, money, and influence could take care of everything, but covering up the murder Kimberly had committed had been the limit.

  “Is there something you want to say to me?” Steven asked.

  Carter eyed him and Steven respected that. As crazy as the boy made him, even when he was wrong, Carter stood tall. He wasn’t going to tell him anything. Michael was another story. He’d seen what keeping secrets from his family had cost him. Michael was further away from sitting in Steven’s chair one day than ever before. He knew it was Michael’s dream to take over Chase Beauty and it had been Steven’s as well. He dreamed of Carter coming to the company and the two brothers running it together. But that was before.

  Michael could feel his father’s eyes boring into him, but he tried to hold out. “What?”

  Steven reached into the folder on his desk and took out two large, glossy, black-and-white photos. He separated them and slid them across the desk, one facing Carter and the other facing Michael. Both boys leaned forward to look as Steven leaned back and waited.

  Michael felt a little sick when he saw the picture of him and Elisha kissing outside The Plaza Hotel in New York. Without saying anything, Carter slid the other photo toward his brother. This was of Michael leaning against Elisha, in front of a restaurant, his hand on her ass, kissing her neck.

  “I’ll ask you again.” Steven’s tone held a wicked sarcasm. “Is there something you want to say to me?”

  “What is there to say?” Carter asked once he realized that Michael wasn’t going to say anything. “You obviously know that he’s sleeping with her.”

  Steven looked down as his smartphone vibrated. “That’s Chris. The jet is fueled and ready to go.”

  “You having me followed?” Michael asked.

  “I was having her followed, you idiot.” Steven grabbed the photos and stuffed them back in the folder. “Is this another woman who whispered to you in bed? Wasn’t it Kimberly who urged you to convince me that we needed a fashion line so she could bring Janet’s ex-lover back into our lives?”

  “I didn’t make you do anything,” Michael said. He was never going to let this go. “Can we just not do this? I’m not stupid enough to bring you another bad deal.”

  “Yes, you are.” Steven said. He saw Carter open his mouth. “Shut up. This isn’t about you. This is about Michael and his reckless behavior.”

  “It’s a good deal!” Michael shot up from the seat and turned to leave.

  “I’m not done talking to you, boy!” Steven yelled after him.

  Michael stopped and turned around. “What’s the point? A good deal, a bad one. What difference does it make? You’ll still hate me. You’ll still blame me for everything!”

  If there was anything Steven couldn’t stand, it was to see his sons feel sorry for themselves. He had taught them better. They were Chases. “I haven’t blamed you for anything more than the part of all this that was your fault. And I don’t hate you. I’m just sick of my business getting hurt by both of you, and your women issues.”

  “What did I do?” Carter asked, even though he knew what his father was talking about. From the moment Carter tried to buy Avery’s two hair salons for Chase Beauty, it was a disaster. “Hold a grudge, why don’t you?”

  “Do I need to remind you two that I called in almost every favor I had out there to cover up a murder for you two!” He turned to Carter. “And yes, you too. You knew from the beginning all of the lies, and for almost eight years.”

  “Stop!” Michael couldn’t stand to hear it anymore. “You covered that up for you. To save Chase Beauty, and for Mom, to save the family’s image. You didn’t do it for me and Carter had nothing to do with it.”

  “Let’s go.” Carter waved Michael toward the door.

  “Wait.” Steven called after them.

  Carter turned back to him, holding his hand up. “The knife is deep enough for one day, Dad. We’re leaving.”

  After they were gone, Steven felt regretful for how hard he came down on Michael, but he felt that he was doing what was best for both boys. They were already the target of envy and jealousy in the business world. They would inherit a billion-dollar empire, covering everything from cosmetics to real estate investments. Steven had spent countless hours, expending sweat and tears, to build something unprecedented by a black man in America, and he wasn’t going to have it all go down over his sons’ bad choices in women.

  “Garrett Collins?” Claire stopped in her tracks and turned to Taylor. “Of course I know who he is.”

  They were walking toward the student garage after classes when Taylor decided to bring up the name. She’d been thinking about Garrett since she’d seen him a couple of days ago and was trying to come up with an excuse to call him.

  Taylor smiled from cheek to cheek. “Well now I know him.”

  “He used to go out with Marian what’s-her-name. You know, the ditz that was in political science. She graduated last year. She’d been in school for like six years.”

  Taylor did remember Marian and she wondered if Garrett was only interested in white girls. “What happened? Are they still together?”

  Claire shrugged. “I don’t remember why they broke up, but I think her dad hated her dating a black guy and he had just started law school. She said she never saw him anyway.”

  “Do you know who he’s dating now?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  Taylor just shook her head nonchalantly. “I don’t know. I just . . . He’s gorgeous. And I’ll bet he’s connected.”

  “His family is rich or something. I don’t know. I think he’s seeing . . .”

  “Rich?” Taylor smiled.
“I knew it. He had money written all over him. Not the kind that is gonna get money, but the kind that already has it.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” Claire said, “because you’re totally hot. Your legs are like two miles long and all, but he seems like the rich girl type.”

  Taylor was getting angry. Claire had touched her weak spot, her economic status. “Well maybe his type has changed.”

  “Whatever.” Claire rolled her eyes.

  Taylor wanted to strangle her for making her feel like the help. She’d show her. “We’ve already hung out.”

  “When?”

  “The other night.” Taylor tried desperately to remember the alibi. She’d forgotten it almost as soon as Garrett walked away. “We kind of . . .”

  “Taylor? Taylor Jackson?”

  Taylor and Claire stopped as two men in gray suits approached them. She had no idea who they were, and something on their faces told her it wasn’t good news. Immediately she thought of her father and panicked.

  “What is it?” she asked. “What do you want?”

  “I’m Detective Graves.” This one was taller, looked younger and nicer. He was white with a sun-kissed tone to his skin and had bright green eyes. “This is my partner, Detective Falger.”

  “Is this about my dad?” Taylor asked. “Is something wrong?”

  A year ago, Charlie Jackson, former Chief of Police of View Park, had been shot while trying to arrest a couple of car thieves. He’d almost died, but made it through. He had to quit his job due to stress.

  “Your dad?” Detective Falger asked. “Who’s your dad?”

  “Former Chief of Police Charlie Jackson,” she answered, then remembered she was in L.A. “Of View Park.”

  “That’s your dad?” Detective Graves looked genuinely impressed. “Wow. Didn’t know that, but no, ma’am. I’m sure Chief Jackson is fine. I’ve never met him, but I heard he partnered with L.A. cops all the time and he was well respected.”

  “This is on an unrelated matter.” Detective Falger had a deep, gravelly voice and muddled features. He was clearly the tough guy. He glanced for a moment at Claire before turning back to Taylor. “Can we talk to you alone?”