I Heard A Rumor (20 page)

Before Chante could reply, the door opened and a woman walked in. “Is Liza Palmer here?”

“Yes, I'm Liza Palmer. How can I help you?”

“I want to make sure Robert doesn't turn on me,” she said.

“And who are you?”

“I was working on Robert's mayoral campaign, and we were having sex. After seeing . . .” She looked at Chante. “You. You were the one on the video.”

Chante nodded. “So you were working with Robert. Were you being paid for your services?”

“Excuse me?”

“The work you did on his campaign? Were you paid or a volunteer?”

“I was paid until he decided that
you
were the woman he needed to have on his arm once he got elected. Then I was locked out. Fired.”

“Was it because of performance?” Chante asked.

“Or lack of performance,” Liza muttered.

“Why are you here?” Chante questioned. “What do you think we—I mean, Liza—can do for you?”

The woman gritted her teeth. “Listen, I just want to protect myself. I want to make sure that I'm going to be protected when he goes all HAM again.”

“And how was I supposed to protect you?” Liza asked. She pointed at Chante. “You saved her. I remember the way you rehabbed her image, and I thought . . .”

“Wait,” Liza said, “I'm not in that business anymore. What I did for Chante was on the strength of our friendship. I don't know you.”

“Maybe we should help her,” Chante said. “Robert has been abusing and violating women for years.”

“And if you take on her case you're going to look like a bitter ex.”

“Case?” the woman asked. “I don't want to go to court.”

“Then what do you want?” Chante asked.

The woman sighed. “I just wanted to know what to put on Facebook so no one would know that he humiliated me. I loved that man.”

“What?”

“I said I loved him. I wanted to be with him, and I was so hurt when he said that I wasn't good enough.”

“So if he broke up with you, why would you want to protect yourself? I'm sure he isn't thinking about you,” Liza said.

Chante squeezed the bridge of her nose.

“Liza! We can't just write her off.”

“Forget it,” the woman said and started toward the door.

“Stop,” Chante said. “I want to help you, but I need to get some information first.”

“Listen, I'm not trying to hurt him like y'all did. I still believe in him.”

“Girl, bye,” Liza muttered. Chante shot her friend a look that told her to shut up.

“What's your name?” Chante asked.

“Gabby.”

“Have a seat, Gabby,” Chante said as she took a seat behind Liza's old desk. “Liza, will you be a dear and get us some coffee?”

Raising her eyebrow, Liza nodded. Once she left the room, Chante took a look at Gabby. She was young and seemed very naïve—easily the kind of woman Robert could fool into thinking that he really cared about her. “Gabby,” she began, “I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life or who you should love. But Robert is toxic.”

“You don't know him like I do. He's changed.”

“How so? I mean, he's the same guy who followed me to Charleston and threatened me because I'm not making his life easy.”

“He just wants to help the city of Charlotte and . . .”

“No, Gabby, he wants to help himself. Don't let him use you, like I did.”

She leaned back in her seat. “What should I do?”

“Learn to value yourself, Gabby. You say you believe in Robert, and there was a time when I did as well. But let me ask you this: what has he done to earn your belief, your trust, or your love?”

Gabby stared at Chante as if she was pondering her question. “You think I'm crazy, don't you?”

“Gabby, I think you've been hurt, and you're looking for someone to fix it. But you're looking in the wrong place.”

“What would you know about that? I bet you had everything handed to you. You had choices I've only dreamed of.”

“How old are you?”

“Huh?”

“You seem really young to be giving up on yourself for a man that isn't above using a woman to get what he wants. That's not love, Gabby. That isn't someone you can trust.”

“But if he saw me the way he sees you, then maybe he would give me a better life. He would introduce me to the right people and . . .”

“You can do that yourself. Why do you think a man will open doors for you?”

“Not just any man,” she said. “Robert is somebody.”

“Robert is a liar, and he sold you a bill of goods he can't deliver. Gabby, don't do this to yourself. I tell you what, I'm going to help you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I don't want to see you living your life thinking that being someone's wife is the only way you can make your life better.”

Gabby shook her head. “I still don't see why you would want to help me.”

“Believe it or not, I know where you're coming from. My mother thinks everything I've accomplished is nothing because I don't have a ring on my finger. And maybe that's why I believed in Robert and why I thought I needed to marry him.”

“You didn't love him?”

Chante sighed. “I thought I did. But I wanted to be his wife so that my mother would finally see some value in my life. I went to law school, graduated at the top of my class, and got a job with one of the top law firms in Charlotte. You know what my mother wants to know? When am I going to get married?”

“Are you serious?”

Chante nodded. Gabby blinked and shook her head.

“If I'd gone to law school, my mother would've thought I was the second coming. What's wrong with your mama?”

“She's one of those people who thinks a woman is incomplete without a man. I'm not living like that anymore. Gabby, you can have it all, but you have to believe it.”

The young woman dropped her head. “That's the problem, I don't believe it.”

“And that's why I want to help you. I'm offering you a job here, working for me.”

Lifting her head, Gabby smiled. “Thank you. I'm not going to let you down.”

“There's just one thing I need from you,” Chante said.

“What's that?”

“You're going to have to stop seeing Robert. I don't want him around my practice, and you need to establish yourself.”

“What if . . . ?”

“No what-ifs. If you want to work for me, then you're going to have to leave Robert in the rearview mirror.”

Gabby dropped her head, then looked up at Chante. “All right.”

“Good. Be here tomorrow at nine.” Chante and Gabby rose to their feet, and Chante extended her hand to Gabby. “Welcome to the Legal Center for Women.”

Gabby shook Chante's hand and smiled. “Thank you so much.”

As Gabby left the office, Liza returned with three coffees. “I thought I was getting coffee for three people?” Liza asked. “What happened?”

“I offered her a job.”

“What? Are you crazy? How do you know Robert didn't send her here to spy on you?”

Chante took a cup of coffee from the drink tray. “Because she reminds me of who my mother was trying to make me. She thought Robert was going to lead her to the promised land.”

“Poor child. She really thought that he loved her?”

Chante nodded. “Been there, done that. That's why I offered her a job. She's young, and she needs a chance.”

“And you have to be the one to give it to her?”

Chante nodded. “It seems as if my mother's attitude is something that occurs in all walks of life. Someone told Gabby that she had to be married to get ahead.”

“And she thought Robert was the answer?” Liza broke into laughter. “Poor baby. I see why you want to take her under your wing, but you need to focus on Amanda Chavis's case.”

Chante sighed. She wished she could focus on kissing Zach, making love to him in the middle of the day, and tasting his essence.

“I can do both. I'm going to call Amanda right now.”

Liza perched on the edge of the desk. “I don't trust that girl.”

“What has she done to make you distrust her?”

Sucking her teeth, Liza cocked her head to the side. “She slept with Robert, didn't she?”

Chante swatted Liza on the arm. “So did I. What's your point?”

“You didn't know any better. She has proof. And if she loves him as much as she says she does, how do you know this isn't a trick?”

Chante sighed. “It could be, or she could've been subjected to the same nonsense my mother is still pushing off on me. Maybe we're kindred spirits.”

“Or maybe Robert is trying to ruin your business before it gets off the ground.”

“I'm sure that's not the case, and even if it was, Robert doesn't have the good sense to ruin anything without destroying himself.”

Liza nodded, then took a sip of her coffee. “You're right about that. Still, don't you think this is a big coincidence?”

“Not really. She came here looking for you. And unless you and Teresa sent out some kind of smoke signal, no one knows about my firm.”

“That is true, but I still wouldn't trust her.”

Chante picked up the phone. “I'm going to get to work. You need to stop being so hard on people.”

Liza rolled her eyes and drained her coffee cup. “I'm going to find my husband and let him be hard on me. You watch your back with that girl,” she said as she headed out the door.

Over the past two weeks, Zach's business had picked up tenfold. And the news of Natalie's arrest didn't take the shine off the company's revitalization, even if the media did bring up his link to her every time there was an update about her crime.

There were a few contracts that had been missed out on because of the controversy. What he'd found ironic had been the fact that the CEO of one company had been arrested for solicitation after he'd cried that morality kept them from doing business with Zach. Zach had e-mailed Kia and told her to send Mr. Yoshema a potted plant with a card that said,
I feel your pain.

Kia replied and told him how childish that was and she wasn't going to do it.

With things back on track with business, Zach noticed that he hadn't heard from Chante. Though Zoe's idea of focusing on his business made sense, every morning he woke up with Chante on his brain, and he had to see her. The only problem was, he didn't know if she wanted to see him.

Lately, his calls had gone unanswered, and her text messages were usually a one-word reply. Busy.

He wondered if she'd forgotten about him and moved on with someone other than Robert Montgomery. She'd have to be some kind of fool to go back to Robert after what he'd done to her. But he knew a woman like Chante could have her pick of any man she wanted, and absence didn't always make the heart grow fonder.

“Whatever,” he muttered as he placed his smartphone on his desk. He wasn't going to sit there and stare at his phone like a lovesick teenager. Instead, he decided to call Chante.

 

 

“This is Chante Britt,” she said when she answered the phone.

“Finally, I reach the lady.”

“Zach, how are you?”

“A lot better now that I'm hearing your voice,” he said. “The question is, how are you?”

“Busy.”

“Somehow, I knew that was going to be your response. What's been keeping you so busy?”

“Well,” she said with a sigh, “I have my law firm up and running. My first case has the potential to make history.”

“Wow. I guess I don't feel so bad about all of the text messages you didn't answer. Can you talk about it?”

“I, um, I have to go. But I will call you tonight.”

“How about you see me tonight?”

“Huh?”

“We'll talk later, lovely.” After hanging up, Zach logged on to his US Airways account and booked tickets to Charlotte. Tonight he'd see the woman who'd been haunting his dreams.

 

 

Chante sat at her desk with a smile on her face after talking to Zach. Just the sound of his voice made her wet. And as much as she wanted to hop on the next flight to New York, she and Amanda were making headway in their case. Over the past few weeks, working with Amanda showed her how lucky she'd been to find out who Robert was before he put a ring on her finger. She could've been living Amanda's life instead of acting as her advocate.

When Amanda and Harlan had gotten married, she'd had a thriving business in the posh South End of Charlotte and was doing public relations for some of the biggest companies in the Southeast. She and Harlan had met at a legal mixer, which, ironically, Chante had attended. Their relationship had been an affair at first because Harlan and his first wife, Harriett, hadn't finalized their divorce.

Chante had to reconcile her feelings about infidelity before she'd given her all to Amanda's case. After all, she'd been cheated on, and it hurt to find out that the man she'd thought she was going to marry had been unfaithful, even if she and Robert hadn't been married.

But Amanda made her see that you sometimes fall in love with a lie, and Harlan had told her that the marriage between him and his wife was over. What she hadn't known when the affair started was that Harlan was using her connections to win the judge seat. When she'd discovered the truth, she was in love with the man and thought she could deal with being the only one in the marriage who was in love. By the time Amanda realized that her happily ever after wasn't going to happen, she wanted out of the marriage. But Harlan wouldn't sign the divorce papers, and when she said she'd do it without his signature, he reminded her that he was the law and no one in town would take her case.

By the time she'd found a lawyer from Raleigh who'd represent her, Harlan had been arrested, and she was pulled into the storm around him. At the end of the day, Chante learned that Amanda was a phenomenal woman who'd gotten a raw deal because of the man she'd married.

“Chante, this whole ordeal has been draining and unfair. I'm the one who came into this marriage with an established career.”

“I know,” Chante said. “You shouldn't suffer because of his misdeeds.”

“Tell me about it,” she said with a disgusted eye roll. “I wasn't handing down those sentences, nor was I sleeping with the director of that center. Eighty-eight thousand dollars. He ruined my life for eighty-eight thousand dollars and some loose booty.” Chante wanted to say something profound and inspiring, but she was at a loss. Instead, she nodded.

“I'm sorry,” Amanda said. “I wasn't going to get emotional about all of this. This is about my money.”

“But it's emotional as well.” Chante sighed, thinking about how she had waited around for Robert to apologize to her after everything broke during the campaign. It wasn't as if she'd thought his apology would have been sincere or changed anything, but still, it would've been an acknowledgment of her hurt feelings.

“The state has offered a settlement—eighty percent of the money they seized from you—and I turned it down.”

Amanda nodded. “Thank you. It's as if they are determined to make me pay for Harlan's crime. Going off the grid didn't help me as much as I thought it would have. My business is gone, my reputation is in ruins, and people act as if I should be in a cell beside him.”

“That's why we're about to change the narrative, tell your truth, and get your money back.”

Amanda leaned back in her seat. “But I'm about to open myself up to a lot of scrutiny. After all, I had an affair with a married man.”

“A man who you married.”

“Do you think people are going to care about that? Maybe we should settle?”

“No!” Chante crossed over to Amanda's chair and looked into her eyes. “If you want to recapture who you are, you have to tell your story. You might be able to help someone else in a situation like yours.”

“I'm not sure I want to be a life lesson.”

“Oh, I understand. I've been on the other side of this situation. But nothing made me feel better than when I took my life back. Those videos and the media camping out at my front door actually gave me a chance to look at what I'd lost.”

“How?”

Chante smiled. “My grandmother is the one person I can always depend on to surprise me. I went to Charleston to get away from the judgment and the madness that had become my life. Then something unexpected happened.”

“Your grandmother passed?”

“No, thank God! She's actually on a cruise around the world with a man she should've been with years ago. But that's not the point. She wrote me a letter that made me realize I hadn't been living, because I was scared of what my mother thought and what the legal community thought, and because of my confusion over why I hadn't gotten that partnership. All I needed to do was control my destiny.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It isn't. I'm scared. For the first time in my life, I'm in a position where I have to depend on me, and failure is not an option. I have to make things right for you. That's part of my mission.”

“That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself.”

“I prefer my pressure to someone else's. And I know I won't fail myself or you. But you have to know that this will be hard.”

“I can take it. I've allowed people to create stories about me, and I've done nothing wrong.”

“And it's time for all of your judges to realize that. Don't settle. Fight and show the world how you are going to take back your life.”

“Better yet, I'm going to pull a Chante and create an even better life.”

Chante slapped high five with Amanda.

“Now, let's get ready to put you on the right path for . . .”

The intercom buzzed, interrupting Chante. “Yes, Gabby?”

“There is a Zach Harrington here to see you, and he wanted me to tell you that he'll wait as long as it takes.”

“Please tell Mr. Harrington that I'm finishing up with a client and I won't keep him waiting that long.”

“Did I mention that he's fine as . . .”

“Thank you, Gabby,” Chante said and clicked the intercom off. She turned to Amanda with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize because you have a fine man waiting for you.”

Chante felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Wait. How did Zach find her, and what was he doing in Charlotte?

After Amanda and Chante agreed to go to trial and had set an appointment with the state's attorney's office, she was ready to see Zach. Fluffing her hair, she buzzed Gabby and told her to send Zach in.

When the door opened and he walked in, Chante's breath caught in her chest. “Hi,” she said as she crossed over to him, “what are you doing here?”

“I missed you,” he said as he drew her into his arms. “But now I'm starting to see why my calls went unanswered. This setup is amazing.”

She smiled proudly. “I knew I had do something because there was no way that I was going back to the firm I was with before.”

Kissing her gently on the forehead, he smiled. “I'm proud of you. I must say, some of the people at your old firm aren't happy. I went there first.”

Chante dropped her head. “Who did you run into?”

“That guy Taiwon.”

“Bastard,” she whispered. “Anyway, what brings you to Charlotte?”

“Chante Britt. Like I said, I missed you.”

She melted in his arms. “How are things in New York?”

“Great,” he said. “My company and I have been cleared officially of any involvement in Natalie's sex crimes, and business is good again. I just have to figure out what's going on with my sister and the FBI agent.”

“Huh?”

“Zoe, with her headstrong ways, and Agent Banks have something going on. I've never seen her flustered before.”

“Wow.”

“Enough about her. Let's have dinner tonight.”

“Of course,” she said. “I have some things I need to finish up here, and then I'm all yours.”

“I love the sound of that. I'm staying at the Westin, so do you want to meet me there around seven?”

“Sounds good,” she said as they made their way to the door.

“But before I go,” he said in a deep whisper, “there's something I have to do.” He brought his mouth down on top of hers, capturing her lips in a hot, knee-weakening kiss. Soft moans turned into impassioned groans as Zach slipped his hand between her thighs. Immediately, Chante wished she'd worn a skirt instead of her favorite slim-tailored black pants. Still, her body throbbed and her lips puckered with want and need.

Just as she was about to unbutton her pants and lay back on top of her desk, Gabby buzzed her. “Chante, your appointment is here.”

“Damn it,” Chante muttered as she and Zach broke the kiss. She stalked over to her desk and pressed the intercom button. “Give me five minutes, please.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Chante smiled at Zach. “Duty calls.”

“Yeah, you have to handle your business. I guess I can wait.” Zach winked at her, then headed out the door. Chante took a deep breath and fanned herself, hoping her heart rate would soon return to normal.

“Gabby,” she said into the intercom, “I'm ready.”

 

 

As Zach walked to his vehicle on the parking deck, he prayed that Chante's meeting would be successful and short. Very short. Kissing her and feeling her in his arms made his desire for her skyrocket as though NASA had launched him into space. Seeing Chante in her element made him realize just how sexy she was. He hadn't expected to drool over her in a suit as much as he did when he saw her in a sundress. But damn. She looked good. Better than good. And she felt even better. Getting into his car, he decided that dinner was going to be in his suite—no waiters and no interruptions. He'd planned to take her to the famous Hometown Delights, but he'd have to sample that restaurant another time.

Tonight, all he wanted to taste was Chante. Arriving at the hotel, he called room service.

“How can I help you?” the attendant asked.

“Please tell me you have a seafood quiche,” Zach said.

“I don't, but we have low-country-style shrimp and grits.”

Smiling, Zach remembered how he didn't want to take a chance with grits that first night he'd taken Chante dinner. “You know, I really need a seafood quiche. I have a special lady visiting and that meal is kind of sentimental to us.”

“Really? Well, being it's that special to you two, I don't want to have the chef try to make one and we mess it up. I'm going to call over to one of my favorite restaurants and see if they can help us out.”

“If you make that happen, I will definitely make it worth your time.”

“When are you expecting your dinner guest?”

“Seven. And what do you have in the way of desserts?”