Exposed

by Naomi Chase

  Dre’s expression hardened.“If you don’t tell him, I will.”

  Stricken, she gasped.“You wouldn’t!”

  “Give me one damn reason why I shouldn’t.”

  Heart pounding, Tamia stared at him. “W-what are you suggesting? Are you saying you might not tell him if …?” She trailed off, struck by an awful suspicion. Oh no. Not again.

  “What do you want from me, Dre?” she whispered. “Are you gonna blackmail me for sex—”

  Dre’s mouth twisted contemptuously. “Don’t flatter your-self. You may be fine as hell, but Brandon’s been my best friend since we were eleven. I’d never betray his trust by fucking his woman. I don’t get down like that, and you damn sure ain’t worth losing his friendship over.”

  Tamia flinched, stung by the harsh rebuke. “I just wanted to make sure—”

  Dre interrupted with an impatient sigh. “Look, ma, this ain’t personal. I like you. I really do. But Brandon’s my boy, and we’ve always had each other’s backs. If he found out that Leah was keeping this kind of secret from me, there’s no way in hell he’d let that shit continue. So you need to come correct—or I’ll do it for you.”

  “Please don’t, Dre,”Tamia begged, grabbing his arm in her desperation to appeal to him.“If Brandon finds out the truth, then it’s over between us. You know that. He’s gonna break up with me, and that will kill me! I’m serious!”

  Exhaling a deep, frustrated breath, Dre looked her square in the eye. “Let me school you on something, all right? That nigga’s absolutely crazy about you. At first I thought he was just pussy-whipped, but over time I came to realize that he really loves you, Tamia. You might even be the one, know what I’m saying? And if you are, he won’t care whether or not his parents approve of you, ’cause he’s always been his own man. How’re you gonna feel if he pops the question to you one day and you’ve got this devastating secret hanging over your head?” His voice gentled, his eyes probing hers.“Brandon deserves to know the truth. And he deserves to hear it from you—not me or anyone else.”

  Tamia stubbornly shook her head, tears streaming down her face.“Please don’t make me do this, Dre. Please.”

  Clenching his jaw, Dre detached himself from her tight grip and pointed a finger at her.“You’ve got one week to tell Brandon the truth. One week, and then I’m taking matters into my own hands.”

  Threat issued and received, he turned and stalked out of the room without a backward glance.

  Tamia was uncharacteristically silent on the way home.

  Silent and tense.

  Hands folded tightly in her lap, lips compressed into a straight line, she was more tense now than she’d been before she and Brandon arrived at the dinner party.

  As a result, he found himself watching her stony profile more than the road.“So … how do you think it went?”

  Tamia snapped her head around and stared at him as if he’d lost his damn mind.“Are you serious? How do I think it went? It went horribly, Brandon! Your mother hates my fucking guts!”

  Brandon grimaced.“That’s not what she told me. She said you seemed like a lovely young lady.”

  Tamia barked out a harsh, cynical laugh. “Which is snob-speak for ‘Don’t ever bring that low-class bitch to my house again.’”

  Brandon frowned. “There’s nothing low-class about you, Tamia,” he said quietly.

  “Tell that to your mother!” she snapped.

  “I will.”

  But Tamia didn’t hear him. “Where the hell does she get off looking down her nose at me?” she ranted bitterly, arms folded across her heaving chest.“It’s not my damn fault I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth! Just because I don’t come from a long, distinguished line of politicians and judges doesn’t make me worthless. I’m a good per—” Her voice broke and she averted her face to the window, angrily dashing a tear from the corner of her eye.

  Brandon sighed heavily, ravaged with guilt and frustration. “I’m really sorry you were made to feel inferior in any way, Tamia. Honestly, this is why I’ve been so reluctant to introduce you to my parents. I didn’t want to put you through this bullshit. I know how they can be.”

  She sniffed.“Your father was charming as hell, but the way he introduced me to people made it sound like you and I are just fuck buddies. Like I’m just another bimbo you’re sowing your wild oats with until a real wife candidate comes along. It was so degrading.”

  Brandon clenched his jaw, temper simmering. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll speak to my parents first thing tomorrow.”

  “What’s the point? Nothing you say will change their opinion of me. They don’t think I’m good enough for you, and that’s all there is to it.” She shook her head, staring morosely out the window. “Maybe I was crazy to get involved with someone like you, crazy to think this relationship could ever work.”

  Brandon was silent for a minute, reflecting on her words. He wished he could reassure her that everything would be okay, that their future together was solid as a rock. But he knew better.

  “If it’s any consolation,” he said quietly, “my brother and sister really liked you.”

  Tamia looked at him.“They did?”

  Brandon nodded. “Beau, of course, thinks you’re hot. Sorry, baby, but you are,” he added when she twisted her lips with displeasure. “I know you hate to be thought of as a sex object, but the reality is that most men are shallow, and we’re attracted to a woman’s looks first and foremost. I stepped to you that day at the gas station because I liked what I saw. Period. Finding out how smart, classy, and talented you are was icing on the cake. But as I was saying, my brother thinks you’re fine as all get-out, but he also enjoyed talking to you and discovering that you have a brain inside that beautiful head. As for Brooke, she thinks you’re really cool and she’d love to hang out with you sometime.” He smiled, reaching over to caress Tamia’s cheek.“So there you have it. You were a big hit with half the members of the Chambers family. Doesn’t that count for something?”

  “I guess,” she grudgingly conceded, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.“For what it’s worth, I really liked Beau and Brooke, too. They’re as down to earth as you are. Honestly, it’s a miracle the three of you turned out nothing like your snobby parents.”

  Brandon smiled ruefully as he exited off the parkway. “We’ve always kept one another grounded. Growing up, whenever one of us got a crazy bug up our ass and tried to act spoiled, the others would quickly put that person in check. And it helps that we’ve always kept our family’s wealth in per-spective. We did nothing to earn the money, so why should we feel entitled because we have it?”

  “Wow,” Tamia marveled, eyeing him with newfound respect and admiration.“What a wonderfully refreshing attitude. The three of you should give seminars to educate other rich, privileged kids. I’m serious. They could learn a lot from you.”

  Brandon chuckled dryly. “I’ll see if I can work it into my schedule.”

  Tamia smiled, and for the first time since they’d left his parents’ house, she seemed to relax. So he relaxed.

  But it didn’t last very long.

  “Baby?”Tamia murmured.

  “Yeah?”

  “Where were you tonight?”

  His hand tightened reflexively on the steering wheel.“What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” she said slowly,“you disappeared at the party. For a while, too. I was looking for you, but you were nowhere to be found.”

  “Oh.” Brandon scratched his ear, grinning sheepishly. “I snuck upstairs to my old room to check out the score of the game. Ended up watching more than I probably should have.”

  “Why didn’t you let me know where you were going?”

  He glanced at her. “You were with my mom—I didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, she gets pissed whenever I sneak off during their social gatherings, so I wanted to make a clean get-away. Taking you with me would have been too conspicuous.” He offered another rueful grin.

  Tamia d
idn’t look amused—or convinced. “What about Cynthia?”

  “What about her?”

  “Was she with you?”

  He frowned.“No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He met her suspicious stare.“What are you asking me? Are you asking me if we snuck off to my bedroom to make out? To fuck? In the middle of my father’s campaign launch party, with a houseful of guests downstairs, including my girlfriend and her date? Is that what you’re asking me?”

  Tamia didn’t blink.“That’s exactly what I’m asking you.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “As a heart attack. Cynthia disappeared from the party around the same time you did, and was gone for just as long. Her date was present and accounted for, but she was nowhere to be found—just like you.” She stared him down defiantly. “You tell me what I should think.”

  Brandon chuckled wryly, shaking his head. “What I think is that you should get your facts straight before you go around making accusations. Cynthia got an urgent phone call from one of her clients. So she was in the library handling the situation while I was upstairs watching the Celtics get their asses kicked by the Heat.”

  Tamia faltered for a moment.“Oh.”

  “Yeah,” he mocked. “Oh.”

  She gnawed her lower lip, looking both relieved and shamefaced.“Why didn’t you just say that at first?”

  “I wanted to let you play yourself.” Brandon smiled narrowly. “Believe me, sweetheart, if I ever decide to fuck Cynthia, I won’t have to sneak her up to my old bedroom like some horny teenager. I won’t have to settle for some cheap quickie because there’s a houseful of important people and we’re afraid to get caught. If I ever decide to fuck her, I have plenty of other opportunities—and places—to do so. I believe it was you who once coined the term ‘easy-access pussy.’ No truer words were ever spoken.”

  He let that sink into her conscience, let her ponder the implications of his veiled threat.

  When she audibly gulped, he smiled with satisfaction.

  She stared at him, her eyes searching his face in the shadowy darkness of the car. “So nothing happened between you and Cynthia during your business trip?”

  “Nope,” Brandon said without missing a beat.“Not a goddamn thing.”

  Chapter 36

  The mystery car was back.

  It was Monday evening, and Tamia was driving home after work to pack more clothes to take back to Brandon’s condo. It had been weeks since she’d last seen the mysterious sedan, and Brandon was no longer behaving suspiciously toward her, so she’d decided it was safe to venture out to her house that night.

  She didn’t notice the car at first.

  She was preoccupied with thoughts of Dre’s ultimatum and the deadline that loomed over her head like a death sentence. One week. She had just one week to decide whether to tell Brandon the truth about her past. One week to watch her dreams, her carefully laid plans, go up in flames.

  One week.

  Unless she could figure out a way to change Dre’s mind.

  She was so absorbed in these tortured thoughts that she didn’t realize she was being followed until she’d turned onto her street. A beam of headlights flashed behind her, drawing her gaze to the rearview mirror. When she saw the familiar dark sedan pacing her, she broke out in a cold sweat.

  She thought of the story Fiona had told her about the house servant who’d been killed for having an affair with Dominic. Shot three times in the face.

  I will kill you dead!

  Had Isabel sent someone to kill her tonight? Tamia wondered with mounting anxiety. Would she be gunned down in the neighborhood she’d grown up in—in front of her own house?

  Another glance in the rearview mirror showed the other car right behind her, practically hugging her bumper. Her heart pounded erratically as visions of violence and bloodshed stormed through her mind.

  Reacting on instinct, she floored the accelerator and sped past her house.

  The other driver sprang into full pursuit.

  Shit!

  The street was dark and silent, uncharacteristically empty. None of her neighbors were outside tonight, congregating on their front porches or loitering around curbs.

  No one would witness what happened to her.

  Tamia licked her dry lips and swallowed hard, fighting panic.“Keep it together,” she whispered to herself.“This is your home turf. Use it to your advantage.”

  At the next corner she hung a sharp right, taking the turn so fast her tires screeched in protest.

  The other vehicle kept coming, its headlights on high beam, blinding her as the faceless driver bore down on her.

  Her heart was pounding with fear, and her lungs felt as if they were being squeezed between steel clamps.

  Spying another turn up ahead, she jerked her wheel left, swerving onto another street flanked by more shotgun houses. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she raced down the dark road; not a soul was in sight.

  Where is everyone? she wondered frantically. What was keeping people indoors tonight?

  She checked the rearview mirror, expecting to see the glare of headlights behind her.

  But the other car had slowed at the entrance to the street.

  She tapped her brakes, reducing her speed as she waited to see whether the other driver would follow her.

  After several excruciating seconds that felt more like hours, the vehicle moved on.

  Shaking violently with relief, Tamia pulled over to the curb, killed the engine, and sagged weakly against her seat.

  When her cell phone rang, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  With trembling fingers she fumbled the phone out of her purse and checked caller ID. When she saw Dominic’s number, she stabbed the talk button and exploded in his ear, “This shit is getting ridiculous!”

  There was a startled pause on the other end. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Call off that psycho bitch of yours or I’m calling the fucking police!”

  “Whoa! Hold up a minute. Calm yourself down and tell me what happened.”

  “Your wife is trying to kill me, that’s what the fuck happened!”

  Dominic paused for a long moment. “Are you being followed again?”

  “Yes!” Tamia shouted. “When I came home tonight, that same dark car was right behind me. I didn’t stop at my house. I just drove right past it and kept going. When I turned down another street, the car disappeared.”

  “Did you get a license plate number?” Dominic asked calmly.

  “What? Of course I didn’t get a damn license plate number! Everything happened so fast—my only concern was getting away in one piece!” She shuddered, dragging a trembling hand through her short hair and sucking in a shaky breath. “This has to stop, Dominic. Tell your wife to back off, or I’ll have no choice but to call the police!”

  “And tell them what?” Dominic challenged. “You can’t prove that Isabel’s having you followed. What makes you so damn sure she’s behind all this?”

  “Because I know what she’s capa—” Tamia broke off abruptly, remembering Fiona’s warning to her. I wouldn’t say shit to him if I were you. Who knows what that nigga might tell his crazy wife?

  “She threatened me, Dominic,” Tamia said through clenched teeth. “You were there. You heard her repeatedly threaten to kill me.”

  Dominic scoffed.“That was just emotion talking. She’d just caught us having sex. She was upset—of course she wanted to kill you. Hell, she wanted to kill both of us.”

  “Yet I’m the only one she threatened.”

  Silence.

  “Let me tell you something, Dominic. If anything happens to me because you refused to intervene, my blood will be on your hands.”

  “Nothing’s gonna happen to you,” he muttered.

  “How the hell do you know?”Tamia was infuriated by his cavalier dismissal of the danger she was in.“Did you hear what I just told you? Whoever was driving that car tonight wa
sn’t interested in taking pictures of me—he chased me down, practically ran me off the road. God only knows what he planned to do to me!”

  “How do you know Brandon wasn’t behind the wheel of that car?” Dominic countered.

  The question sent a jolt through Tamia. “What? Nigga, have you lost your fucking mind? Brandon isn’t stalking me!”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he wouldn’t do that! He’s not crazy!”

  Dominic sucked his teeth.“Didn’t I tell you to stop underestimating him? If the man suspects you’re cheating on him, there’s no telling what he’s capable of doing.”

  “For the last time,”Tamia ground out tersely, “Brandon is not stalking me. He spends sixteen hours a day at the office—he hardly sees daylight! And before you even ask, I know for a fact that he’s at the office late at night ’cause I’ve dropped by unexpectedly, and he’s where he’s supposed to be. So stop trying to plant some crazy, bullshit idea in my mind to deflect from the fact that your wife is the fucking psycho here!”

  Dominic was silent for a full minute, digesting her words.

  Tamia waited, heart hammering, eyes scanning the dark street for any unseen threat. As soon as she got off the phone with Dominic, she was heading straight to Brandon’s condo. She’d come back for her clothes another time—and only during the day.

  Finally Dominic broke his silence.“Brandon might not be personally stalking you, but you can’t rule out the possibility that he hired a private investigator to spy on you. He has the money, means, and motive to have you followed. Which brings me to the reason for my call. He struck again.”

  Tamia’s eyes narrowed.“What are you talking about?”

  “Your boyfriend is fucking with my business again,” Dominic snarled. “First he blocked my bid to buy that property for my production plant. As if that weren’t bad enough, I just learned today that my company lost a multimillion-dollar contract with a major Japanese distributor—a deal that I’ve been personally negotiating for over a damn month. Once again, I got outmaneuvered by a competitor who suddenly appeared out of left field. And once again, the company’s principal shareholder just happens to be one of the governor’s top campaign donors. Don’t even try to tell me this is just a coincidence, because we both know it isn’t.”