“From my mother,” Elle said. “I’ve had him since I was a child.”
“How sweet,” Carol said and put the monkey in the box. “Is this everything?”
“Not quite,” Elle said. “I’m curious. How did you hear about the new campaign for Prentice? I didn’t know a thing about it.”
For a microsecond Carol froze as if she knew she’d been caught. Then she shrugged. “I thought everyone knew.”
“Of course everyone didn’t know,” Elle said, her anger growing. “Only someone who’d looked at Maddox’s plans would know about the changes. Only someone who’d had a chance to look at papers and a flash drive left at home by the Maddox CEO.”
Carol gasped. “Whatever are you saying?”
“Hello, Mother,” Brock said from the doorway, shocking Elle with his entrance. She gaped at him, wondering what had made him return home so early. He shot a glance at her full of forgiveness and repentance that made her heart turn over.
“Why, hello, Brock,” Carol said with forced happiness. “What a surprise.”
“You were the one,” he said, walking toward his mother.
Carol gave a one-shoulder shrug and steadied herself on an end table. The woman suddenly appeared frail to Elle. “What are you talking about?”
“You looked at my file. You made a copy of my flash drive,” he said.
Carol shrugged again, but this time she backed away. “What’s that? What file?”
“The file for the Prentice account. You sent it to Golden Gate,” he said. “You wanted me to believe Elle sent it, but all along, it was you.”
“It could have been her. She lied to you before you married her. She could have brought down Maddox Communications,” Carol said, her eyes glinting with fear and fury.
“Why did you do this?” he demanded. “It would only hurt you in the end.”
“I knew you would find a way to top Golden Gate Promotions, but your marriage was ruining my future. Look at what it’s already done to me. I’ve moved into a small condo! And I know the terms of your father’s will. My income has been cut as a result of your bastard child.”
Elle stared at the woman in shock. How could one person hold so much vindictiveness and evil? She almost couldn’t comprehend it.
Brock’s eyes blazed with fury, but his voice was deadly calm. “I’m done with you. I never want to see you again. You won’t get one more penny from me. I’m sorry you’ve turned into such a bitter woman, but I won’t have you contaminating my marriage. Now, get out.”
Carol narrowed her eyes at him in impotent rage, then stomped from the room. Her heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs and the sound of a door slamming vibrated throughout the house.
Brock took a deep breath and looked at Elle. “I was wrong.”
Elle nearly laughed. “You think so?”
He walked toward her. “I am so very, very sorry. I should have believed you and from now on, I will,” he promised.
Elle tore her gaze from his to glance at her luggage, trying to hang on to her plan to move away from him and make a new life for her baby and herself. “We have so much baggage,” she whispered. “How can you ever trust me?”
“I already do,” he said. “I trusted you when I shouldn’t have. When I was told by a professional that you were deceiving me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I forced the P.I. to give me evidence that you were selling secrets to Golden Gate. Not until he provided me with ironclad proof did I believe it.”
Elle felt her eyes burn with tears. “I hate it that I lied to you. I hate myself for it.”
“You need to forgive yourself,” Brock said. “I forgive you.”
Elle looked up, searching his gaze. “How can you?”
“Because I know you were doing the best you could. I know you were tortured about it,” he said.
“I was,” she agreed. “When I met you, I fell so hard for you. In my grandfather’s plan, everything was supposed to remain business, but you blew me away. You were everything I’d wished for in a man, but had never found.”
“And you were everything I wanted in a woman, but felt I’d never find. When I made love to you, I felt like I was coming home,” Brock said, pulling her into his arms. “I never knew what love was before I met you.”
Elle’s heart stopped in her chest. “Love?”
He nodded. “Love. I was willing to risk it all for you. Even Maddox Communications. Logan tried to talk me into prosecuting, but I refused. It wasn’t just about the baby. It was about the connection you and I shared. I knew I’d never find that again. When you told me that you’d agreed to spy for your grandfather so that your mother would get her treatments, I could only hope you felt that strongly about me.”