“This isn’t what I want,” Chess appealed to Margery, whose eyes overflowed with tears. He could only hope she listened to him. “Please, Margery. Dredging up the darkest point of my life, when I was a messed-up child, is such a cruel thing to do, and I know you’re not really that type of person. We might not have had the closest relationship, but I’ve always been respectful to you. All I’m asking is that you give me that same kind of respect.” He could hardly breathe, watching Margery’s pain-filled face. Would she accept him, or walk away?
“You’re amazing.” André took his hand. “Look at him. Chess has every right to never speak to you again, and no one would blame him, yet he’s offering you an olive branch because that’s the kind of person he is.”
Margery dabbed at her eyes. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“Only if you want it to be,” Chess said. Time to throw his cards on the table. “Loving André is the best thing to ever happen to me, and I’m no fool. I know I don’t deserve it, but I also know how lucky I am, and I hold on to it. I cherish our relationship. I cherishhim. And I make damn sure to let him know every day how much I love him, because I know how quickly everything can be taken away. Please, Margery. You’re so lucky to have your family around you. I don’t want André to have to choose. Please.”
“Don’t listen to him, Margery. He’ll say anything to keep his meal ticket.” Kyle lounged in his chair. André jerked forward, but Chess held him firm. He wouldn’t allow the night to descend into violence.
Pale and shaking, Margery confronted Kyle, and Chess held his breath.
“You never told me Chester was only a teenager when this happened to him. Only that he was picked up for prostitution. You led me to believe it was something he chose to do as an adult, and insinuated he might’ve kept it up while he was with André. Never a terrible decision he was forced into because of circumstances not under his control. You lied to me, and I’ll never be able to trust you again.”
“That’s his claim, and what does it matter? He’s only with André for the money.”
“Not true.” Heat rose to his face. “And I’ll prove it. I’ll state right here in front of everyone that I want to sign a prenuptial agreement. In case we get divorced, I get nothing more than what I came with to the marriage. All of André’s money and properties will stay with him.”
“Chess—” André stopped him, but he put up a hand.
“No. You’re all my witnesses. This is what I want.” He looked to his friends, who at some point during the fiasco had returned to their seats. Their expressions ranged from proud to pained, except for Wolf, whose gaze locked on Kyle, fiery-eyed but stone-faced. “I’d be with André even if he had nothing.”
André kissed his hand. “As long as I have you, love, I have everything.”
“I never wanted any of this to happen. Our family means everything to me.” Margery twisted her napkin in her hands. “From the start Chess was kind and sweet to me, and Corbin loved him. I always said my husband was the best judge of character, so how could he be so wrong about this?” Teary-eyed, she wiped the wetness off her cheeks. “I thought Chess was what caused André to become so dissatisfied with the business, but it has nothing to do with him, does it? You just aren’t happy, are you?” Her gaze found André, who looked at him first before answering.
“Not for a while, no. I’m tired of it, Mother. I don’t want to spend days and weeks away from home, living out of a suitcase in hotels, seeing the people I care about on the other side of a screen. I’m getting close to fifty, and because I have the luxury of slowing down, I want to take advantage of it and enjoy the time with Chess I truly haven’t been able to since we’ve met.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Margery said. “I’ve been so lost without your father, I let myself be swayed into believing you were making a mistake with Chess, even though I knew how much you love each other. I threw myself into the company to make up for missing Corbin and blinded myself to anything else happening around me. It’s why I brought Kyle in. I thought he was interested in Webster, but now I see it was all a farce. I’ve hurt you and Chess, and I don’t know if you’ll be able to forgive me. And now the company is in turmoil. Who do we have to fill your shoes?”
“Me. I can do it.”
The room’s focus shifted to Henry.
Chess knew his shocked face mirrored everyone else’s. Kyle had the audacity to laugh out loud.
“You? What the hell do you know about anything except partying all night?”
André pointed at Kyle. “I have no intention of going further with this discussion as long as he’s here. Get him out of here.”
Kyle opened his mouth, but Margery spoke first.
“André’s right. It’s time for you to leave. Good-bye, Kyle. I’m officially dismissing you as my counsel.”
Dumbfounded didn’t begin to describe Kyle’s expression. “You-you can’t do that.”
“Funny. I thought I already did. Now leave, please, or I’ll have someone escort you off the premises.”
“I did what you wanted, what you asked me for. You’re a pathetic old woman.” Violence brewed in the ugly twist of his lips, but he stood up, his chair tipping over and crashing to the floor, and he strode out. In his wake, the only sound in the room was the comfortingticktockof the grandfather clock in the corner.
Henry and André hadn’t broken their stare-down across the table since Henry’s bombshell, and Chess held his breath, having no idea what more this night could bring.
Chapter Twenty
The family dinner he’d looked forward to all day had turned into an evening of hell, and André wished nothing more than to take Chess by the hand and leave. But Henry’s surprise announcement took his mind off his personal tumult, and he gestured to the table.
“I think, since Dottie went to all the trouble of making this a beautiful dinner for Chess and me, we should eat, and then you and I can talk.”
Henry nodded, a crooked smile on his lips. “So you’re not dismissing me outright?”
