A Choice of Secrets by Barb Hendee

Author:Barb Hendee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-07-18T00:38:39+00:00

Chapter 10

As Chloe whispered a few words to provide directions, I took her upstairs and down a passage.

Upon entering the apartments, I found myself in a sitting room with thick carpets and low couches. In the far wall, I saw an open doorway into a bedroom. There was a white lace comforter on the bed and flowers in vases on the tables. I wondered if Christophe minded the feminine décor. Slowly, moving carefully due to the weight of the child inside her, Chloe walked over and sank down onto a couch. I went to sit beside her.

“Nicole,” she said.

Then neither of us spoke for a while. I longed to tell her that I knew the reasons for some of her fears, that the child was Julian’s, that he had abandoned her, and that she taken the only path left open: marriage to Christophe.

But the words did not come. Perhaps I had remained silent on this matter for so long that now I could not speak of it.

Finally, I said, “I would help you if I could.”

“Would you?” She paused. “I have things to tell you, things that might make you walk away from me and never look back.”

“I will not walk away.” Of that, I was certain.

She was quiet for a few more moments. “The child I carry is not Christophe’s. It is Julian’s. I love him…or I loved him. He would not marry me and I married Christophe to save my honor.”

“Oh, Chloe.”

She had told me. I could no longer pretend that I knew nothing. I was part of this now. Reaching out, I grasped her hand.

“What is it you fear?”

“Discovery,” she whispered. “I thought I could manage this, but I am trapped.”

“By who?”

“By Julian.”

This was the part I did not understand. “Chloe, what is he doing here?”

“He is blackmailing me. Or he is trying to blackmail me. He’s told me that unless I give him the emerald bracelet and the diamond necklace passed down to me by Mother as my wedding gifts, he will tell Christophe the truth.”

I gasped. “Blackmail?”

Of all the things I thought possible of Julian, this would never have crossed my mind. He loved Chloe, or he had claimed to. But then I thought on the rumors I’d heard of Julian’s gambling debts. Could he owe so much he was in danger? The jewels he’d asked for were family heirlooms, worth a small fortune.

“You’ve not given the bracelet or the necklace?” I asked.

“How could I? They are family treasures.” Her voice broke. “I am expected to pass them down to my first daughter at her wedding. How I could explain their absence? No one here would steal them and no one would believe I lost them.”

My mind raced. Chloe and I possessed no money of our own. My father paid for my gowns and other needs, and Chloe’s yearly stipend went directly to Christophe. Julian would know this and he’d asked for the only things of real value that Chloe might give him.

“Do you think he’d really tell Christophe?” I asked.

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