by Lisa Cardiff
Her smile.
Her laugh.
The arc of her neck.
The subtle curve of her waist.
Her kindness.
I felt like I was missing part of myself.
“Fine, then let’s go through your options. Have you called Langley’s mom?”
I scowled at him, and my jaw muscles automatically tightened. “You know that’s not an option. I’m not sure she knows where Langley is either. From what little Langley told me of her, she wasn’t much of a parent.” For the most part, Langley’s mom had maintained a low profile since Senator Wharton was arrested. I had no idea what Langley’s mom knew about my connection to her husband. So far, none of the details had leaked to the media, and I hoped it remained that way. I never wanted to acknowledge my connection to him publicly. Thank God his name wasn’t on my birth certificate.
“What about her friends? Have you contacted any of them?”
“I’ve only met one. Winnie. My background information on her didn’t extend beyond her name, Winifred Watters. I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to get to know her, and her home address isn’t readily obtainable.”
Knox rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. You were too focused on Langley to make conversation with her friend.”
“Something like that,” I mumbled, remembering the night I found her at The Nine Bar. She’d looked so beautiful; I hardly glanced at Winnie.
“Here,” he said. Knox reached into his pocket, pulled out a scrap of paper, and tossed it into my lap.
“What this?” I said, scanning the address, handwritten in block letters.
“Winnie’s address. Langley’s been living there for the past two weeks. During the week, Winnie leaves for work at eight thirty, and she doesn’t come home until after six, except on Fridays. She goes to happy hour with her coworkers or friends. Langley hasn’t joined her since the Senator Wharton scandal. Winnie’s weekend schedule varies.”
“What about Langley? What has she been doing?”
“She doesn’t leave Winnie’s house often.”
A spasm of pain ripped through my chest. “How did you get all of that information?”
Knox smirked. “I have connections.”
I stuffed the handwritten address into my pocket. “Why didn’t you give this to me earlier?”
“Because I thought you’d be over her by now, but instead of snapping out of this, you’re getting more and more pathetic with every passing day,” he said with amusement.
I shoved him in the shoulder. “It’s not funny. This whole thing isn’t funny.”
Knox chuckled. “That’s where you’re wrong. This whole scenario is insanely funny. You’ve only cared about making money for as long as I can remember. Now, you’ve spent the last two weeks moping over a woman.”
I grabbed my keys and wallet off the coffee table. “Can you lock up when you leave?”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find Langley and make her talk to me.”
“Like that?” he said, eyeing my wrinkled clothes.
I opened my front door. “I don’t want to waste any more time.” And I didn’t. I refused to believe I’d lost my chance to be with Langley.
“At least drink some coffee before you go.”
“I’ll stop on my way.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Langley
“Thanks for meeting me. I think it’s time we talk about how we’re going to handle this incident. We need to make a plan to move forward,” my mom said as I walked into the intimate dining room.
For the first time in two weeks, she called me last night and asked me to join her for lunch. Initially, I was surprised she had picked such a popular restaurant, but she quickly explained that she arranged for us to meet in a private room.
“I agree,” I said as I slipped into the chair across from my mom. She looked as immaculately groomed as ever. She wore an emerald green pantsuit with gold buttons. Her hair was coiffed into an elegant bun and her makeup was expertly applied.
“Did you come in through the back door?” she asked.
“Yes.” I tucked my hair behind my ears. “The calls from the press have died down the last few days.”
“That’s good. It’s been a couple of weeks, and we’ve both refused to comment on what happened, so that’s expected.”
“Right. I think they have most of the relevant details from the police and FBI.” My mom’s lips pressed into a narrow line and she jerked her head to the side. I grabbed her hand from her lap and squeezed it. It was cold to the touch. “How are you holding up? Are you okay?”
She slipped her hand from mine and picked up the white linen napkin on her plate and placed it in her lap. “I’m fine, Langley. Better than I have been over the last two weeks.”
Guilt speared through my chest. Too caught up in my turmoil, I’d been avoiding her, but in my defense, this was the first time she asked to see me since I was discharged from the hospital. Even in the hospital she only peeked her head into my room for a few minutes before she excused herself.
“That’s good,” I muttered.
She took a sip of her ice water, but her eyes never left mine. “I met with Senator Wharton’s legal team today. We decided how to shape his defense.”
The edges of my vision blurred and my blood froze in my veins. “You’re helping his attorneys?”
She tilted her head to the side. “Of course I am. You didn’t leave me with much of a choice.”
“He tried to kill me,” I hissed as I clutched the folds of my dress, twisting the material between my fingers.
“What do you expect me to do?”
“Stand by me. Support me. Your daughter. Not him.”
Her lips twisted into something resembling a sneer. “Why should I do that? You ruined my life. You have never given a second thought about how your actions affect me. Not once.”
“My actions?” Baffled, I shook my head. “What did I do to you?”
“You stole your dad from me. Now you’ve successfully ruined my marriage with Senator Wharton. So here I am, alone again.”
There were so many things wrong with that statement. I could hardly form a response. “I didn’t steal dad. He died of a drug overdose.”
She snorted. “You’re wrong. He abandoned me long before he died. From the moment you took your first breath, you were the only thing he cared about. He loved you so much he didn’t have anything left for me. He didn’t care what I wanted or needed. His whole life revolved around you. I went from being his everything to an afterthought in the blink of an eye.”
My eyes flared. Her words were senseless…unhinged. A normal person wouldn’t interpret a father-daughter relationship that way. “Mom, he loved you,” I said, because words escaped me.
“No. You’re wrong. He wanted a divorce. He planned to leave me. He didn’t want me anymore. He only wanted you, and now you’ve managed to ruin my second marriage too. I shouldn’t have taken you with me after your father died. I should’ve left you with your father’s sister. She wanted you. She loved you.”
My vision spun like I had vertigo, and I thought I’d be sick. There was always an invisible wall between my mom and me. Now I knew why. She hated me. She viewed me as her competition, not her child. “Thomas would’ve killed me. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? He held a gun to my head. I closed my eyes, believing my life was over. If it weren’t for Archer and his brother—”
“Archer Black?” The name rolled off her lips like poison. “I warned you to stay away from him, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“You warned me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “No. You never said anything about him.”
“Who do you think left those notes on your car?”
I shuddered as the confession left her lips. “I assumed they were from Thomas. I never dreamed you would do something like that,” I said, but the words were barely audible.
“Well, I did. I put them on your car. I couldn’t have you
around that man. Thomas said he’d take care of it. He wanted me to stay out of it, but I couldn’t.” She shook her head from side to side. “I knew why he wanted you.”
“What do you mean?” I said, sliding my phone out of my pocket and dialing Winnie’s home number while keeping the phone concealed in my lap. She was meeting her sister for lunch, so the call would go to voicemail, which was perfect. I’d have a recording of the entire conversation.
“He was bitter because Thomas didn’t want anything to do with him.”
My stomach dropped. “You know Archer is his son?” I whispered.
She rearranged the silverware next to her plate, avoiding my eyes. “Of course I did. Thomas and I don’t have secrets. We’re a team.”
The blood rushed out of my face as the implications of her words knifed through my heart. “You know about those women and you don’t care?”
She shrugged. “Grow up, Langley. Men have needs. They have affairs. It doesn’t mean anything. Even your saintly dad had affairs. Those women knew the score.”
“Those women?” I questioned. “What’s wrong with those women? They didn’t do anything to you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Those women were escorts. They were well paid for their services. They made a deal. They can’t change their mind after the fact and blackmail their clients for more money later.”
“They weren’t even eighteen years old. Did you know that?”
“Who cares? They’re trash,” she snapped.
“He had three of them killed.” I couldn’t mask the revulsion in my voice.
“He did what he had to do. I support his decisions. We have the same end goal.”
“And what’s that?”
“He’s going to be the next president, and I’m going to be the next first lady.” She smiled serenely like she actually believed it could still happen.
“I think it’s a little late for that. Don’t you?”
She rested her elbows on the edge of the table and leaned forward. “No, because you’re going to help us clear up this little misunderstanding.”
“There wasn’t a misunderstanding. Thomas intended to kill me. He held a gun to my head. He threatened to throw me down the stairs and then break my neck.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. He was just trying to scare you. He wouldn’t have killed you.”
“You weren’t there. You don’t know what happened.” I folded the napkin in my lap and set it on top of my plate. “I don’t think we have anything more to talk about.” My heart was battered, bruised, and bloody. I didn’t know the woman sitting across from me. I was obviously in denial when I thought she cared about me.
She grabbed my wrist, and her nails dug into my flesh. “No. I’m not done talking to you. You’re going to sit down and sign a sworn affidavit claiming Senator Wharton was at your home per your request. Archer and his brother mistakenly believed he was an intruder and shot him.”
“No,” I yelled, shaking my head back and forth. “I won’t lie to save Thomas. He’s a murderer and a liar. Besides, I already talked to the police and the FBI. I can’t change my testimony now. They won’t believe me.”
“You can and you will.”
“No.”
“I can make your life uncomfortable if you don’t agree.”
Laughing at the irony of her words, I twisted my arm out her grasp. “You don’t have any power. Nobody wants anything to do with Thomas, and you’re tainted by association. Your friends won’t talk to you. The members of his party can’t distance themselves from the Wharton name fast enough,” I snarled through clenched teeth, venom dripping from every syllable of every word. “It’s over. You don’t even control my trust fund anymore.”
She lurched forward, struggling to grab my arm again. “You can’t leave.”
“Don’t touch me,” I said, carefully articulating each word as I slid out of my chair. “I have nothing to say to you. You’re dead to me.” My voice cracked on the last word, because it was the absolute truth. I never wanted to see her again. I lost my dad over ten years ago. Now, I didn’t have a mother either. Maybe I never did.
The realization lay heavy on my heart. I had to get out of there before I shattered into a million unrecognizable pieces. Rushing across the room, I pushed open the heavy wooden doors separating us from the rest of the customers in the restaurant.
“Langley, wait. I didn’t excuse you.”
I ignored her, moving as fast as possible without breaking into a full run. I had entered the restaurant through the back door as my mom instructed. She wanted us to avoid any prying eyes. Unfortunately, I didn’t go unnoticed as I raced to the front door.
Even through the tears blurring my vision, I saw dozens of eyes following me as I wove through the tables. I recognized a few faces. Thankfully, they were all too stunned to comment on my behavior. When I reached the door, I wiped the tears from my face and opened the door with as much dignity as I could muster under the circumstances.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Archer
Nobody answered the door. At first, I thought Langley was avoiding me. I peeked into the front windows before I realized no one was inside. I refused to go home until I talked to her, so I sat down on the front step of Winnie’s townhome.
Less than five minutes later, I spotted Langley running down the street, her golden hair streaming out behind her. She didn’t see me yet. She focused her gaze on the sidewalk. When she reached the front step of Winnie’s townhome, she halted mid-stride, and her eyes locked on me. Her blood drained from her face, and she swayed on her feet. For a split second, I thought she’d faint.
“Archer?” she said, her voice shaky and a little raspy.
I jumped to my feet and ran down the steps to meet her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and mascara streaked her cheeks. Seeing her upset knocked the wind out of me. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “Langley, what’s going on? Are you okay?”
New tears welled in her eyes and her hands curled into fists. “Dammit, Archer. Why can’t you leave me alone? I can’t do this today.”
“No.” I took one step closer. Close enough that I could smell her, breathe her in, and feel the heat radiating from her body. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to stop myself from pulling her into my arms. She wasn’t ready. “I’m not leaving. I need to talk to you.”
She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. “Not today. I just can’t.”
“Langley…” I said, and then took a shuddering breath. Her eyes landed on mine, and for the first time in my life, I was scared.
Scared I lost her forever.
Scared she’d never forgive me.
Scared she’d never look at me with love in her eyes again.
I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “For the past two weeks, I’ve replayed every moment of our time together, wishing I had made different decisions. Wishing I never knew my biological father’s name. Wishing we’d met under different circumstances, but I keep coming back to the same thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I wouldn’t change a single thing because it brought you into my life. I love you, Langley, and I’m dying inside thinking you’ll never give me another chance. I need you—”
Before I could finish, she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into me. “My mom knew about everything. She didn’t care what my stepdad tried to do to me. She wrote those notes. She doesn’t care about me. She hates me.”
“Shh,” I murmured, snaking my arms around her waist and rocking her back and forth. “It’ll be okay. I’m here.” Questions rushed to the tip of my tongue. I wanted answers, but more than answers, I wanted to be close to her. Hold her. Support her. Love her. Be anything she wanted me to be.
“I feel so alone,” she mumbled between sobs. “She never wanted me. She blamed me for everything.”
“You’re not alone. You have me.”
Her body turned into stone in my ar
ms before she relaxed again. “Do I?” she said softly, as though the thought wasn’t meant for my ears. I could hear the disbelief warring with optimism in her voice.
She lifted her head cautiously and gazed at me. I framed her face with my hands, drinking in her sea-green eyes, letting her see me. The real me, not the mask I presented to the world…just the man who loved her. “I know you’re angry and you don’t think you can trust me. I get it. But I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
I kissed the still damp trail of tears tracking down her face, leisurely making my way to her lips. I kissed her slowly, lovingly at first, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds for it to evolve into a sensuous kiss. I poured every emotion and ounce of love into that kiss, hoping she’d forgive me. Hoping she’d give me a second chance. Hoping she’d let me be part of her life…forever.
And then she started to cry.
I lifted my head. “What’s wrong?”
“You really love me, don’t you?” she whispered between sobs.
“I do. I really do.”
“I love you too.”
“Even though Senator Wharton is my father—”
She ran her finger over my lips, silencing me. “I don’t care about that. He doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”
Just like that, the anxiety that had become my constant companion over the last two weeks vanished. Her simple declaration mended everything I never realized was broken inside of me. I lifted her up, wrapping her legs around my waist, breathing in her light floral scent, giving thanks for everything that brought her into my life…even the man I refused to acknowledge for most of my life. With Langley at my side, I could do anything, be anyone. I didn’t need hate or revenge to fuel me or shape my future. Love was so much more powerful.
“Where are we going?”
“My place. Our place. Together.”
