The Billionaire's Secrets (31 page)

"There was no accident," Cassandra said at last, her brightly painted lips curving into a smile.

Chloe stood still. She had no idea how to begin to process what she was hearing. "What do you mean?"

"Just what I said.
Colleen didn't fall from the cliff."

"Then how did she die?"

Cassandra looked at Chloe, and for a moment Chloe thought she could see pity in the woman's eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit down?" she said
almost
gently. "This might come as a bit of a shock."

"For the love of God, just tell me,
then
leave me alone!"

"Perhaps a bit of background will help you understand better. You do know that Colleen and Bowen were lovers before she married
Gaelan
."

Cassandra's story was the same as Bowen's. Colleen and Bowen were lovers until
Gaelan
had stolen her away from him. He was possessive and overbearing. She was unhappy.

She paused. "Is this sounding familiar? Is
this what
Bowen told you?"

Chloe nodded wearily. "Yes, I've heard this all before."

"Bowen doesn't know the rest of this story. Colleen never had the chance to tell it to him. Colleen told
Gaelan
she wanted a divorce. He was furious and refused. He couldn't bear the thought of Colleen going back to Bowen. And so he made her a deal.
” Here Cassandra straightened up and stared directly at Chloe, who couldn’t tear her eyes from her.

Cassandra continued. “
He would let her go, but on the condition that she disappear, become a new person
,
and never see Bowen again. He promised her a large sum of money to go away. And she took it. It seemed like a way out. She was heartbroken about leaving the child, but she knew
Gaelan
would never let her get custody.
” Cassandra was stony-faced as she talked, her face betraying no emotions. “
She decided it was time to wipe the slate clean - pretend she had never met either of the Byrne twins, never lived at Widow's Cliff,
never
had a child." Cassandra sighed in a way that seemed to deflate
herself
. "
So s
he went to Italy, changed her name, and started a new life for herself."

She stared at Chloe long and hard
as she stood up
. "Do you
understand
what I'm saying to you?"

Chloe looked at her blankly, the feeling of nausea coming back. She could hear the sound of her own breathing and prayed this was all a nightmare. Soon she would wake up
,
and it would be her wedding day. A wedding day like this one could only exist in a terrible dream.

"Who are you?" said Chloe, her voice sounding strange and faraway to her own ears. She
didn't need to ask
though. She already knew the answer.

The woman pulled herself up to her full height. "I'm Colleen Byrne,
Gaelan
Byrne's wife."

Chapter 9

His friends would be amused.
Gaelan
smiled in the mirror at the sight of himself in
a
tuxedo. Rarely had his friends ever seen him in anything other than jeans, and this was as formal as they come.
A jacket with tails.
He looked like he was ready to step on the set of a movie set in Victorian England.
The kind with the tall, dark, broody hero who mopes around the moors.
Not that he looked broody today. How could he, when in just a few hours he and Chloe would be
husband
and wife?

He was in his room at the bed and breakfast in Puffin's Cove that Ren
é
e had booked for Chloe's family. Her mother and father were in the next room getting ready, and elsewhere in the house were a handful
of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

He had enjoyed
getting to know
Chloe's parents,
Ad
è
le
and Doug,
in the car
. They were gentle people whose lives had been primarily occupied with their
jobs
and child. It was going to be great having
them
as his in-laws, and it was nice to be part of a family again.
Ad
è
le
and Doug had held hands
in the car
, and
Gaelan
was touched by their devotion to each other after almost forty years of marriage. He liked to picture himself and Chloe forty years from now, holding hands, as much in love as they were now. 

He couldn't wait to see Chloe again. Despite the fact that he had spoken with her
several times
, these two days away from her had been torture. And as much as he was looking forward to the ceremony and the chance to publicly state his vows to her, he couldn't wait for the day to be over and for them to be alone. They would leave Widow's Cliff after the reception and stay in St. John's before flying
on his jet
to Paris
the next day
.

The night before, he’d
had a long talk with Marcu
s
,
who’
d agreed to take on even more responsibilities in the running of Byrne Enterprises, freeing up
Gaelan
to spend his energies on his more philanthropic endeavors, the things that made a
real difference in the world, t
he things he loved to do. But most importantly, it would give him more time with Chloe and
Sophia
. Until now, he had filled his days with work and sought to fill the void in his life by building Byrne Enterprises. But all that had changed since Chloe had arrived. It was time to let someone else do the work. He had a life now.

Thanks to Chloe, he knew now he loved
Sophia
like his own child and always would. Still, he would like more children - his and Chloe's.
Sons and daughters to carry on Byrne Enterprises and Widow's Cliff.
He would have to be wiser than his father in
dividing up his estate - he didn’t
want his children to fight over property the way he and Bowen had. He sighed. He
didn’t
want to think of Bowen now. This was his wedding day.
A new beginning.

Gaelan
put on his long bla
ck cashmere coat over the
tuxedo
,
the image in the mirror suddenly more familiar. He ran his fingers through his unruly waves and went to collect Chloe's parents for the ride out to Widow's Cliff.

Already it was starting to snow, big wet flakes like a Christmas card. The owners of the B&B congratulated
Gaelan
as he left the house, cautioning them to drive safely. "Only in Newfoundland," they said with a stoic shake of their head.
"A May wedding in the snow."

The roads weren't too bad yet, and the trip to Widow's Cliff went smoothly. It wasn't until they arrived that things started to go wrong.
Gaelan
knew something was amiss the moment he saw Marcus waiting anxiously inside the front door.
Gaelan
introduced Chloe's parents to him, and, after leaving them in the capable hands of an usher, allowed Marcus to steer him to his own office where they would wait until Ren
é
e told them it was time to go to the ballroom.

"
Mon
dieu
,
Gaelan
!
I've been trying to reach you, but your cell was off."

Gaelan
pulled
his cell
out of the pocket of his long coat. "Damn, I must have forgotten to turn it on after I got off the plane. What was it you needed me for?"

"It's Chloe," he said.

Gaelan
felt a sudden panic as he imagined a dozen different scenarios, none of them good. "Oh God, she's okay, isn't she? She's not sick, is she?"

Marcus put his hand on
Gaelan's
shoulder. "Calm down. There's no need to panic." Marcus went to
the
mantle and poured a small measure of scotch.
"Here, drink this. Chloe, like you, is probably just suffering from nerves."

Gaelan
swallowed the drink obediently, thinking that until Marcus decided to scare him to death, he had been as cool as a cucumber over the whole thing. "So what do you mean by nerves?"

"Well, Kathryn went up there just over an hour ago to meet her, but Chloe refused to let her in. She told Kathryn she wanted to speak to you before the ceremony. Ren
é
e and I went up and tried to talk to her through the door, but she wouldn't even answer us."