"I guess. But I could have figured out some way to make life easier for Belle." I yanked my hand away from Chloe. "I'm not stupid. I'm a billionaire, and I run a very profitable company. I mean, my tower is a dumpster fire, but I should have done better. Belle sacrificed everything for us, and I did nothing for her."
"So what happened? Why did she leave?"
I shifted in my seat. This was painful to talk about.
"When the youngest was in his freshman year, Belle sent out an email to us telling us how much she hated being forced to take care of us, how she never had a life because of us, how she was trapped in her childhood bedroom, and how she was tired of holding up the veneer for our parents’ life and she was done. Then she left. This all happened right after Thanksgiving. That was two years ago, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since."
"Someone should have gone to find her," Chloe said, her eyes wide with concern. "What if she's trapped or hurt somewhere?"
I grimaced. "She talks to the youngest two. I think she still considers them her babies, but she hasn't contacted me or my other brothers."
"Have you tried to reach out?" Chloe asked.
"No," I admitted. "I'm too ashamed."
"I understand you feel that it's your fault, that there was more you could have done," she said, stroking my arm.
Her phone buzzed. I still needed to put her contact info in my phone. But now did not seem like the time to ask. I didn't want to put her in the position of wanting to say no and feeling like she couldn't.
"Sorry, I have to go, I have a meeting," she said softly, patting my leg.
I let her leave. I was wrung out from seeing my parents. After sitting in my car in silence for a while after she left, I gathered myself enough to unload the boxes of Christmas decorations to my penthouse. Then I sat on the balcony in the snow with Milo.
57
Chloe
Icould have gone to see Jack after meeting with Dana, Gunnar, and Nina about the final bake-off challenge, but I didn't. I was mortified that I had gone over to his parents' house without asking him. What had I been thinking?
"I'm sure he'll forgive you," Nina whispered to me in the dark.
"He said I was just like Hartleigh," I groaned. "And I guess I am. I just barged into his life."
"You aren't like Hartleigh," my friend assured me. "Just give him a chance to calm down."
"He's clearly a private person, yet I practically moved into his penthouse. Maybe I pushed him too hard."
"He likes you!" Nina exclaimed. "It's close to Christmas. Emotions run high. Concentrate on the bake-off."
I tried, but I couldn't sleep. I wondered what I could do to make things right with Jack.
I still felt strongly that I needed to foster some sort of reconciliation with his family, but his parents weren't the issue. Belle was. I needed to contact her somehow.
Jack had said Belle was travelling. I messaged a few big travel bloggers I knew from Instagram and asked them if they had ever met a Belle Frost with platinum-silver hair and ice-blue eyes. Surely someone would have seen her. I sent them the invitation to the Christmas Eve party at Jack's penthouse and asked them to please pass on the message if they found her or knew someone who knew her.
My contacts promised they would, and I settled back to sleep. If Jack saw that I had brought Belle back, maybe he would forgive me for going behind his back to talk to his parents.
I was a little sleepy the next morning when Nina and I walked down to the studio.
"Good morning!" Anastasia greeted us. "This is the last round ofTheGreat Christmas Bake-Off, then we have to say goodbye. Christmas is in just a few short days. Because this is the final round, we're calling it the Showstopper Christmas challenge. Throughout the bake-off, Chloe and Nina, you two have created some of the most beautiful desserts I have ever seen, and I've been reviewing high-end restaurants for years. Congratulations on making it this far! This is your last chance to see who will make the most showstopping dessert. As usual, you have until this afternoon to finish your dessert."
Now that Hartleigh was out of the kitchen and I never had to see her again, I was able to relax and fully concentrate on my dessert. Usually the judges assembled in the morning before the competition started. Anu and Nick were there, but Jack wasn't. He was probably still angry at me.
I sighed and focused on my dessert.
"What are you baking?" Anastasia said. I couldn't believe that would be the last time she asked me that. It felt likeTheGreat Christmas Bake-Offhad only begun yesterday.
"A winter garden," I told her. "I want to capture the taste of winter, the coldness, the gloom, but then the hope of Christmas that is a bright spot in the darkness."
