“I’m not sure how that fits in with Emily. She knows Kitty, so I doubt she’d be surprised.”
Knox sighed again. “Kitty’s done a rather fine job of rewriting history. She’s a conniving bitch, Kieran. She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
“What is it she wants?”
“For me to stay away from Emily.”
I continued to watch him, trying to process it. Knox was putting distance between him and Emily in order to keep Kitty from writing a tell-all book that would no doubt draw attention to Knox. I wasn’t sure I was buying that either. Knox had never gone to great lengths to keep his private life out of the press. He’d never hidden his affairs before, certainly never snuck around to this degree.
“Why not just tell Emily what happened?” That was the part I never truly understood. Why Knox felt the need to keep it from her.
“To tell her would mean I would have to give her all the details,” he said. “Including how her father tried to sell her to me when she was eighteen years old.”
“You turned him down. I don’t see a problem with that.”
Knox’s shoulders squared. “I’m supposed to tell the woman I love that I forced Rhett and Kitty to keep her under their thumb for three more years after that? How about telling her how I hired Hannah to spy on her?” He rolled his eyes. “Even I know those won’t go over well.”
“Maybe not, but Emily’s a rational, smart woman. She’s going to understand.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew it was rubbish. She was going to be hurt that she’d been a pawn in Knox’s game, too.
“You see my dilemma?”
“We specifically asked Emily to trust you, did we not?”
Knox nodded.
“Then I think we focus on that. You’ve waited too long for this, Knox. Why chance pushing away when you should be pulling her close?”
“So you’re saying I just pretend Kitty doesn’t exist?”
“To a degree, yes.” I stood. “I’m saying that if you love Emily, if you truly want this to work, then it’s our responsibility to show her that’s a possibility. Don’t make this harder on her than it has to be. If she thinks you’re purposely keeping her your dirty little secret, how do you think she’ll feel then?”
I could see him rationalizing what I was saying.
“I say you fight fire with fire. There’s always leverage to be had. Kitty hasn’t told the new husband all the sordid details of her past. Let’s gather enough damning information and go at her with it. When they do, Kitty won’t have a leg to stand on.”
“And how do you propose I do that?”
“You’re the filthy hot billionaire,” I told him, using one of the many social media references I’d read about him. “Flaunt it. And while you’re doing that, we’ll do a little digging when Kitty thinks you’re preoccupied.”
“If I recall correctly,” Knox said with a slow smirk, “that was a term used to refer to both of us.”
I shrugged. “Then I suggest we live up to the hype. Starting now.”
~~~~
Knox
I spent the remainder of the afternoonthinking about what Kieran said. More specifically about coming at my mother from a different angle rather than letting my mother bully me. He’d made a valid point, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how Kitty had managed to get her greedy little claws into me when I’d fought her tooth and nail my entire life and won.
Of course, the simple answer was that Emily was the reason my guard had been down with Kitty. When it came to Emily, I was willing to go to ridiculous lengths to keep her safe from certain aspects of my life. Namely, the bullshit that came along with being one of the wealthiest men in the world. Everyone wanted a piece of me, and it had taken me years to build a solid infrastructure that would keep the majority of the vultures out. Unfortunately, the greediest vulture of them all just happened to be the woman who gave birth to me.
By the time I made it to Emily’s apartment, I was no closer to determining how I wanted to handle things, but I had put out a few feelers, sicced a couple of investigators on Kitty. With that underway, I opted to give up the ruse of secrecy. I decided I would start by going in through the front door of Emily’s apartment. Kieran was right when he said she would be hurt if she thought I was treating her like my dirty little secret.
“Good evening, Mr. Montgomery,” Phillip, the night doorman, greeted as I stepped out of the Bentley.
“How are you, Phillip,” I greeted in kind. “How’s the grandbaby?”
“Precious as always, sir.” His smile was wide and proud. “My daughter asked me to thank you for the gift basket you sent.”
