The Marriage Agenda(28)

Rex was a crook.

He'd made a number of payments to the environmental analysts-more than  what she'd found. According to new studies that had yet to go public,  the completed plant would have dumped pollutants in sensitive areas at a  damaging rate. For one analyst to be off was one thing. For the three  initial independent analyses to be in such agreement-yet to all be so  wrong-was another entirely.

Rex had paid them off for approval. She didn't know why, and she  certainly didn't have the power of judge and jury, but she didn't need  it. Everything except the note of thanks from HL had been independently  verified. She'd have to leave that out, but she didn't need it.

She had her story.

And when that news broke, it didn't matter how well Knox was doing in  the polls. His campaign would be thrown into a tailspin, and any hopes  he had of restoring honor to the family name would be dashed. Not even  Rex Hamilton-third-generation American royalty-would be able to put a  good spin on this. He had somehow kept it under wraps this long, but his  luck had come to an end.

She dropped her head into her hands. She could not in good conscience  keep Rex's misdeeds from going public, but if she exposed him, she would  destroy Knox-the man she loved.

The same man who'd made it clear he'd never love her back.

Chloe had promised her editor a story, and her job depended on its delivery.

Knox hadn't given Chloe a choice. She didn't want to hurt him, but he'd  made it clear this wasn't about feelings. He was the one who'd said  she'd find a story. He couldn't have known she'd find it in his  backyard, but protecting his feelings wouldn't do anything for her bank  account when they put this business deal of a marriage behind them.

Her heart breaking, she pushed up her sleeves and began to type.





Chapter Nineteen

Knox spent the whole weekend in hell. He'd hurt Chloe, and his words  haunted him. He hadn't meant to say those things to her, but dammit, it  was what they'd agreed. Still, having her notarized signature on the  prenup attesting to his righteousness did little to appease his guilty  conscience.         

     



 

And now he couldn't find her. He'd sent her a text that morning when  he'd returned from a breakfast meeting asking if she'd be around. She'd  responded that she had an important noon deadline, which he took to mean  he'd find her at their home. She did all of her other writing at home,  so why would this have been different? It shouldn't be.

He rechecked the house, then landed in her office. Her laptop sat right  in the middle of her desk. She must have met her deadline or she  wouldn't have left that behind. But why had she left it behind at all?  The new car Knox had given her was there, but her old car wasn't in the  garage, and he'd run through the house twice. She wasn't home.

So why was her computer?

Feeling more than a little like an ass, he opened the laptop. After a moment, the password screen greeted him.

Great. What had she said her password was? Her birthday. As if she thought he'd never remember.

"Shows what you know," he murmured. He typed the date and was in. "Got it in one."

The screen revealed a file. At the top, where the title should have been, was a simple statement.

Knox, I got my story. It's only fair you see it first. Everything here has been independently verified … it's all true.

Even before he read another word, a cold, hard weight sat on his chest. Something was wrong-terribly wrong.

Rex. Money transfers. Pactron. Eleanor Byrd.

Fuck. He read the story a second, then a third time. She'd laid  everything out, and the truth culminated with the answer everyone wanted  to know. Rex hadn't stepped down because he cared about his family.  He'd stepped down because he'd gotten caught with the wrong woman. The  truth had been too close. He probably hoped playing the good guy would  keep the heat down, but Rex hadn't counted on his new daughter-in-law.

Neither had Knox. As he read through the article again, he realized why  she'd been asking about the files. She'd probably found her story right  there in his office. Use whatever you need. Nothing is classified in  here … yet. And he'd smiled.

Chloe had betrayed him.

He clutched the edge of the desk to keep his hands from shaking, but the  unsteadiness only spread to his arms. She'd lied, and he had believed  her. He'd believed her when she'd said she cared not about the name but  about him.

He had been the biggest kind of fool.

From the moment she stepped foot in his rented room that night at Off  the Record, it had been the wrong kind of personal. The Pactron bid had  begun long before he and Chloe met, but back then, no one had thought  the site would pass the environmental assessments, so it was no wonder  she hadn't mentioned it. Then the approvals had come through, and weeks  later, he'd walked back into her life and truly given her an offer she  couldn't refuse.

Access. He nearly laughed. He'd given her access all right. He supposed  it would have been a little much to have asked her to not destroy his  life with it, but it was his fault for not seeing it coming. After a  lifetime of learning not to trust, he'd believed one time.

In one woman.

Fuck.

He pushed back from her desk so forcefully the chair tipped and fell. He  managed to get to his feet before it hit the ground, taking him with  it. As he stood there, trying to catch his breath, he realized the  grinding in his chest was something more than anger. He'd been angry  before, but this god-awful pain went beyond anything he'd ever known.

He was hurt.

He'd trusted her. He'd trusted a fucking reporter, and she'd used that  trust to destroy him, but he'd have to deal with that later. He pressed  his fingers to his temples, but there was no slowing down the headache  that had already begun to settle in. Ultimately, he had no one to blame  but himself. Believing in her had been his mistake-one he'd never make  again. In the meantime, he needed to make strides toward damage control.  His father was a crook, and when this story broke, all hell would rain.  Toby would have a coronary trying to somehow spin it so Knox looked  like the good guy, and Knox's opponent would have a field day.

He glanced at the clock. Chloe's deadline had been noon, but he didn't  know what that meant in terms of when the story would break. Clearly it  hadn't done so yet, or he'd have gotten a phone call. He should really  send the file to Toby so he had time to scrape himself off the floor  before the phones lines went crazy.

He didn't get the chance. His cell rang. As he consulted the display,  his hand shook. Chloe. He thought about ignoring her, but he had a  responsibility to his team that transcended the sting of betrayal. He  accepted the call.         

     



 

"Hello?" He managed to keep his voice even, as though she hadn't wrecked him. He was surprised by that.

"I need to tell you something."

"If you've got anything beyond Rex being a crook and my campaign going to hell, it might have to wait for another day."

Dead silence followed the icy words.

He forcibly loosened his grip on the phone. "Is that all?" he asked.

"I'm not sending the story to the paper. I just … I wanted you to know what I found."

"Yeah, that's understandable. Most people just pick up the phone, but  you write an article that will earn a national byline so you can not  send it to the paper."

All traces of her hesitation vanished. "Look, I'm about to walk into a  meeting I didn't have to attend just so they can look me in the eye when  they fire me or lay me off or whatever vernacular they attach to it.  Bottom line is I'm losing a job I love because I didn't send the damned  article. If you don't believe me, then check my sent email. I just  wanted you to know …  Never mind. I didn't send it, and that's all you  need to know."

The hell it was. "Tell me why. What did you want me to know?"

"Later. I have a meeting-"

"Now."

"I'm … I'm leaving you."

The words hit him straight in the gut. He opened his mouth, but the  first words that threatened to escape were to ask why. To ask her to  stay. And he had no idea how he could think such a thing after what  she'd done. He didn't want to know.

"Are you still there?"

"Say what you need to say, Chloe."

"I can't send it because I love you."

He smacked his palm against his forehead in mock surprise. "Of course  you do. I've been standing here, trying to figure out why the fuck you  would do this to me, and that was the one explanation I hadn't managed  to stumble on by myself. You love me."

"You're an ass, Knox. You saw the article, so clearly you saw my note. I  thought you deserved to see the whole story, and that's the truth.  Believe what you want, but while you're coming up with reasons to  convince yourself how right you are, just try to think of one time I've  lied to you. You won't. You can't. The only person I've lied to is  myself, and I'm done. I love you, but I have to respect myself. I can't  do this … and not because you won't love me but because you're too stupid  or stubborn to admit you already do. Now, if you don't mind, I'm needed  in a meeting so I can lose the other thing I love. Have a nice life,  Knox."