Never Say Never, Part Four (Second Chance Contemporary Romance, Book 4) (7 page)

“You lied to me about everything, that’s what’s going on.”
He strolled to her fridge, opened it and rooted around for a drink. There was a bottle of pop in the back and he swept it up and uncapped it on the corner of her kitchen counter.
 

She glared at him, but straightened her face quickly. He glugged it down then tossed the empty bottle in the trash can.
 

“Chase, I would never do anything to hurt you.”
Chastity removed those ridiculous gloves and gave a small smile. It was supposed to be comforting or sweet, but it came off as cunning.
 

“Cut the bullshit. I know you’ve been collecting information on my business dealings, and I know you’re planning on bringing me down.”
 

Chastity glared at Janet, who wilted and sidled off to the wall. She leaned against it and stared at the door, one hand on her head, the other gripping her midriff.
 

“What do you want from me? An apology?”
Chastity rose and threw the gloves down on her tiny coffee table. “Because you’re not going to get it.”
 

Chase squared his shoulders. “I’ll tell you what, sister –”
 

“She’s not your sister.”
The squeak came from Janet, and they both froze and stared at her.
 

“What?”
 

“Shut up, bitch,”
Chastity growled.
 

“She’s not your sister. She’s your cousin.”
Janet gritted her teeth and glared at the other woman in the room. “It’s about time the truth comes out. She came back after your parents died because she wanted a piece of the pie, Chasey babes, she used you.”
 

The irony in that was unbelievable and he showed Janet his back.
 

“So what?”
Chastity licked the corner of her mouth. She strode to the window and cranked it open. “You had everything growing up and I had nothing, why wouldn’t I want a piece of the pie?”
 

“It was never your pie to begin with.”
 

“It wasn’t yours either!”
Chastity yelled, spittle flying from her lips. She ripped her hair out of the tight bun and it fell around her face, sticking out at odd angles.

“You’re absolutely fucking mad,”
he replied, then scrubbed at his face with both hands. He couldn’t black her out, but he sure as hell wanted to. She was a blot on the page of his life. There were so many of those now, the ink overpowered the white space.
 

“I am what you made me. I am what you and your family made me.”
 

“What are you talking about?”
 

“I had nothing while you grew up with everything. When my mother needed help, your father didn’t have the empathy to reach out and give her the money she needed to make her own life.”

“I am not my father and I am not beholden to his mistakes.”
Chase shook his head in disbelief. This bitch really was crazy.

“My mom died on the streets, selling her body to give me food. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? Foster care, orphanages, abuse, while you sat in your perfect little room, in your perfect home with all the opportunities in the world.”
Chastity ranted, pacing back and forth.
 

“I have no interest in your reasoning.”
 

“Of course you don’t, you only care about yourself. The fantastic Chase Newman,”
she said, making twinkling movements with her fingers. “He’s the big guy, the boss, no one messes with him.”
 

Chase flashed a grin and strode forward, then laid a hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes. “You’re damn right. Nobody fucks with me.”
 

Her mouth dropped open and she breathed through it, bathing him in the horrid scent of stale coffee.
 

“There’s a good reason for it to,”
he said, then raised his index finger and confront her with it, “if you fuck with me I will destroy you. I suggest you rid yourself of those papers, before I rid the world of you.”
 

He’d never truly hurt her, but she had to be scared, she had to realize what he was capable of.
 

Chastity stared at him, blinking.
 

“Oh, and don’t come near my home again. You no longer work for me. I never want to see your face again, ‘sister’.”
 

Chase turned and strode to the door, and Janet whimpered. “The same goes for you,”
he shot back at her.
 

Then he left the building, and the two women who’d tried to destroy him, behind.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Hi Joseph,”
she said, opening the front door with a frown. “What’s up?”

Emily had called him a week ago to tell him that they’d have to find another way to get to Brian, because she wouldn’t risk Chase. He’d been largely silent since then.
 

“How are you?”
Joseph pushed past her into her apartment, and her frown deepened. He wasn’t usually this rude, either. His attitude was…
she couldn’t place it but it pissed her off.
 

“Is there something I can do for you?”
Emily closed the door behind him, but didn’t walk away from it.
 

“We need to talk.”
He gestured towards the couch, then went and sat down on it himself.
 

“Uh, okay,”
she said and walked over to join him. The coffee table was clear, and CNN was on the TV in the background, muted since he’d knocked. She picked up the remote and made to switch it off, but he reached out and stopped her.
 

“You might want to keep it on.”
 

“What for?”
 

Joseph sighed and shook his head. “You couldn’t stay away from him. I tried so hard to be with you and to be everything you needed, but you could not stay away from him. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”
 

Emily ground her teeth. “What the fuck are you talking about Joseph?”
 

“Chase.”

“What happens between Chase and I is none of your business. I might have told you my problems in the beginning of our friendship, but it wasn’t so you could create a hidden agenda and manipulate me.”
She tapped her knuckles on her knees.
 

“Agenda! Ha, Chase Newman had an agenda with you and you never saw it.”

“I don’t care to hear your opinion on this, Joseph, and if you came here to talk to me about this, you can leave right now.”
 

“Why don’t you want me?”
He grabbed her thigh and she slapped him hard on the back of his hand. He retracted the grip and glared at her. “What’s wrong with me?”
 

“This is not a pity party. I feel what I feel and it’s not for you. It never will be.”
 

“You led me to believe that you wanted me.”
 

“Bullshit!”
Emily growled it and he started away from her. “That’s total bullshit and you know it.”
 

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter now anyway. What’s done is done.”
Joseph turned his attention to the TV screen and smiled.
 

“What do you mean? What’s done?”
 

“That.”
He pointed and she focused on CNN.
 

Chase Newman’s picture was up on the screen beside Brian Ross’. A headline ran beneath the images in bold font.
 

Famed Billionaire Helps Congressman Pay off Campaign Fund Gambling Debt
 

“No,”
she gasped, then turned to Joseph, “what have you done?”
 

“I did what I had to do,”
he said, calm as could be. He dusted off his tailored pants and smiled at her. “I bet you wish you’d never met Chase now.”
 

“No.”
Emily gripped her jeans and ripped at them. “I wish I’d never met you.”
 

Joseph reeled as if she’d slapped him. She was moments away from following through with the real action.
 

“Don’t you see what a scumbag he is? He helped your ex-husband, the guy who framed you for murder. He helped him!”
Joseph threw his arms up in the air, then brought them down with a thud.

Emily’s heart pounded hard and beads of sweat broke out at her temples. What if he blamed her for this?
 

“Don’t you see what a scumbag you are?!”
She was done. Joseph had pushed too hard and too far.
 

“What the fuck?”
 

“You’ve condemned him for your own gain,”
she said, then paused and shook her head, “and what have you gained, Joseph?”
 

“I –
I –”

“Nothing. You’ve gained nothing but my disdain for this.”
Emily turned off the TV mute, rage travelling through her, raising the temperature of her blood to boiling.
 

The newsreader was a woman, her hair cropped into a bob and wearing a tight blue suit with bright red lipstick.
 

“The scandal that struck the nation,”
she said, with a blank expression meant to convey her professionalism, “will likely see Chase Newman, billionaire playboy, sequestrated for tax evasion, while Brian Ross is left reeling in the wake of dishonesty.”
 

“What?!”
Emily turned to Joseph. “Sequestrated? Why? Tax evasion?”
She could barely speak in full sentences from the shock.
 

“I took his information to the IRS.”
Joseph said it with pride. He truly believed he’d done the right thing and it drove Emily past the rage and into a higher level of fury.
 

“Get the fuck out of my apartment.”
 

His eyes widened. “What, Em, don’t you see I did this for you?”
 

“Get the fuck out of my apartment before I call the cops.”
She jumped up from the couch and glared at him, the stripper days flashed through her memory and she envisioned another Isis-style fight.
 

How dare he harm Chase? How dare he?!

Joseph went pale and stood slowly. “I did this for you. To make you see that he’s not right for you. Emily, I did this for us.”
 

“There is no us.”
She growled the slapped him on the cheek. The red mark appeared instantly and he gripped at it, white as sheet. He’d never seen this side of her before, and he wouldn’t again.
 

“You need to calm down.”
 

“If you don’t get out of here now, I’ll lose it. I’ll fucking lose it,”
she yelled. She hated this anger, but it overwhelmed her. She was back in the thumping music, the smoke and the flashing lights.
 

Men staring at her, groping. Big Nick in the doorway. Joseph morphed into the big bouncer for a moment and Emily made a fist.
 

“I have to go,”
he whispered, then dashed for the door. He didn’t look back and that was for the best.
 

Emily McDonald was done.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

She banged so hard her knuckles turned red, but he didn’t open up. He had to be in there –
she’d checked the office and they’d told her he wasn’t in. No way would Chase run away from the media storm, it wasn’t his style.
 

“Chase!”
Emily yelled it, then bashed on his front door some more. The cleaning man at the end of the hall jumped and stared at her. He made a move in her direction, but she shot him distilled anger in her gaze.
 

He scurried off down the hall.
 

“Open the door, I have to talk to you.”
 

The lock scraped back and he appeared in the crack, he opened it wider and growled in his throat. “Get away from me.”
 

“You need to know how this happened.”
 

“I know already. I don’t have time for your shit, Emily, now get the fuck out of my building. These surprise visits of yours are a pain in the ass.”
 

She slammed her palm onto his door and pushed hard. “I have never chased after a man in my life, but I have for you Chase Newman. That counts for something.”