Page 59 of Escorting the CEO
And when she did, she was going to detonate it like a bomb and blow the whole thing up.
I thought about Rhodes. Wow, Miranda really hated him. I wondered if there was a kernel of truth beneath her claims that he had made her life miserable. Maybe. But she was the adult, and as he’d said, she’d swooped in when his father was vulnerable. She’d never treated him well.
There were two sides to every story.
Now, faced with her threats, I had to considermystory. I believed Rhodes—that he’d been devoted to his mother andcrushed when she died. That he’d loved his father, but that he didn’t care for his stepmother, because she’d never been warm and had only appeared to be out for herself. That he’d distanced himself from his family as a result.
I believed him.
Miranda also seemed to be telling the truth, that she felt like Rhodes never gave her a chance. And maybe he didn’t, but he’d been a child. It was Miranda’s job to try to form a relationship with him. Instead, she’d shut him out and played the victim, and was now using this narrative as leverage to justify her attempt to wrest Barrington Enterprises away from Rhodes, even though he was the rightful heir.
Miranda could cry all she wanted. They were crocodile tears, as far as I was concerned. She’d been a wicked stepmother from the word go.
But she could still undo me, undo us both. The thought caused me physical pain. I remembered what it felt like to laugh with him under the covers, to feel the warmth of his humor and his strong arms. What would he do if he lost everything his father had built?
What would I do if I lost the money, the guardianship, the farm, and… Him?
I thought about Luke, cannonballing, his swim goggles upside-down and half-filled with water. That little boy had been through enough. So had Josie and Bo, for that matter. So had my Grammy.
I was not going to be the reason this all fell apart.
But… what was going to happen? Miranda’s investigation was like a wrecking ball coming for us, and we didn’t have lots of places to hide. What would happen when she found out?
What would happen to Rhodes?
The tender bud of hope, so fragile in my chest, started to wither. He would never have feelings for me if I brought about his ruin.
Heart sinking, I looked out at the grounds.
I never should have come here.
And now it was too late.
EDGE
RHODES
The wedding planner’sname was Genevieve, and she was relentlessly cheerful in a way I found exhausting.
“Now, the ceremony,” she said, clicking her pen with great purpose. She sat across from us at the dining room table, flanked by binders. Actual binders, plural, each one color-coded and tabbed. “Have you two given any thought to writing your own vows?”
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Rory said simultaneously.
We looked at each other. Genevieve beamed, as though this were charming.
“Traditional is fine,” I said. To Rory: “Don’t you think?”
“I think…” She stopped. Something moved across her face, quickly contained. “Sure. Traditional is fine.”
“Wonderful.” Genevieve made a note. “And the reading? I have some lovely options—Corinthians, of course, or something more contemporary?—”
“Corinthians,” I said.
Rory said nothing this time.
Genevieve prattled on about flowers and seating arrangements and the precise logistics of the ring ceremony,which apparently required more coordination than a military operation. I answered her questions. I made decisions. I was efficient and focused and entirely in control.
