The Marriage Contract, Natasha Black [thriller books to read .TXT] 📗

Instead, I found a place closer to the airport that had a movie theater next door and a restaurant attached. That meant I could spend the day watching movies and zoning out as I prepared for the biggest grand gesture I could imagine. I watched the same superhero movie three times and only paid attention to a third of it each time. The rest of the movie I was staring at the screen but not even seeing the film. What I was seeing was how this could all play out in different wonderful and terrible ways.

Eventually, I got back to the hotel and crashed for the few hours I had until I needed to be at the airport. Once on the private jet, it was an entirely different experience. Charles and Beverly were obviously accustomed to flying that way, but it was new to me. I had to laugh at how ridiculously opulent it was and how routine they found it. How in the hell had Chloe adapted so well to my world? She grew up with this as everyday life. How did she just suddenly start walking to work in a bar and living in a nine-hundred-square-foot townhouse apartment?

Charles offered me lunch on the way back to Portland, but I couldn’t eat much. A bite or two of a prime rib sandwich was all I could get down. My stomach was churning at the anticipation of what was about to happen. When we landed, Charles and Beverly ordered a limo, and when it arrived, they followed me in my car back home.

I made one stop on the way. It was pretty comical seeing the limo stopped at a mall, but I had to run in and grab some of her favorite chocolates and a bouquet of flowers to go with it. I saw a lingerie shop and ducked my head inside to see they had some of the comfortable pajamas she loved. I picked those and a bottle of the perfume she wore and headed down to the store I’d really come in for. It was a specialty shop that I had noticed the last time I came into the mall a few weeks before. In the window, there was a display with a pregnancy pillow. I remembered thinking how it looked like it would be comfortable for someone who had that belly, whether it was full of children or beer. I grabbed the pillow in lightning fashion and made my way back out to my car.

Back at the townhouse, I saw her car parked in its usual spot. Parking next to her, I got out and guided the limo to a few spots further down that were usually empty. The limo parked sideways in them until Charles and Beverly were out, and then it left.

“Here we go,” I muttered to myself as I stuck the key in the door.

When I got the door open, Chloe was standing in the middle of the living room, apparently on her way to open the door. She looked hopeful and happy to see me, but her eyes turned dark and her lips curled in a snarl when she looked over my shoulder.

“What are they doing here?” she yelled.

“They want to talk,” I said, trying to calm her.

“I don’t want to talk,” she said, moving toward the couch. “Tell them to leave.”

“Chloe, we need to have this discussion,” Beverly said. “I understand you are angry at us.”

“Angry doesn’t begin to cover it,” she said.

“Listen to me,” her father said. “Your mother and I took time away from our business to come down here and speak with you.”

“What a sacrifice,” Chloe scoffed. “What will happen if you aren’t there, Dad? Will the whole company just fall apart without your physical presence?”

“Chloe,” Beverly said in a warning voice.

“No,” Chloe said, defiantly, “I am quite done being talked down to and expected to just take it when people do it. I am also tired of acting like the sun rises and sets with your fucking jobs.”

“Language, Chloe,” Beverly said.

Chloe turned to her with a bitter smirk on her face. “I will say whatever the fuck I want to in my own home, Mom.”

“This is exactly what I feared,” Charles said. “She is too angry.”

“Wait,” I said, interjecting. “Everybody, calm down.”

“No,” Chloe said. “You think I’m too angry? You tried to run my life. Then you tried to ruin it. You’re damn right I’m angry. I’m angry that you tried to tell me how to live and force me to go along with your plans because it was convenient for you. I have every right to be angry with you. And as far as insolence, you don’t have the right to tell me what to do anymore. It’s not insolence. It’s independence.”

“Chloe,” Beverly scolded. “Don’t shout at your father like that.”

“Don’t scold me, Mother,” Chloe said. “The way you spoke to me on the phone was unacceptable. You hurt me just to hurt me, and you know it. You were cruel for the sake of being cruel.”

“Stop!” I shouted. “This is not why I brought you all down here.” I turned to Chloe. “I know you’re upset. I know you have a lot on your chest you need to get off, and you deserve to do that. But shouting won’t help anyone.” I turned to her parents. “Is this really why you came all this way? To fight? Your daughter is hurt and bitter and angry. Maybe you should listen to her for a few minutes first, before you write her off as a spoiled child. Remember, she is carrying your grandchild.”

There were a few moments of quiet as everyone tried to calm down. Charles and Beverly sat on the couch, facing Chloe on the love seat. I left the room to go get a few glasses of water for everyone, and when I brought them back, Beverly nodded her head at me.

“I would like to speak, if I may?” She