Page 1 of The Forever Promise

ONE

radio silence

“Chloe,did you see this? Isn’t that Bryce’s dad?” My brother Noah pointed at his laptop.

I peered over his shoulder at a picture of Gene Windsor, my father-in-law. It was a recent photo that showed off Gene’s thick white hair, watery blue eyes, and tanned, deeply lined face. The headline read:Billionaire Insider Trading Scandal.

“Let me see that!” I yanked the computer away from him. The article claimed Gene had made a profitable investment that was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. If the accusations were true, Gene Windsor had received illegal tips from his firm, which had resulted in him purchasing a vast amount of real-estate index stocks. Those stocks had earned him over a billion dollars injust six months!If he was found guilty, he could be fined up to twenty-five million dollars and spend twenty years in prison.

Gene wasn’t quoted in the article. His attorney only said, “My client has no comment.”

The internet, however, had a lot to say.

Social media was having a field day with the scandal. The most linked-to article was:The Rich Get Richer—Until They Get Busted!The Windsor family was everywhere, all at once. A google search instantly produced thousands of pictures of Gene, Bryce, and his brothers—Jake and Colby—who I’d never met and hadn’t heard much about.

I scoured the images, hungry to see Bryce and his family despite the bad circumstances. Both Jake and Colby were tall and handsome, like my husband. I wondered if they were close— Bryce never talked about them. Neither Jake nor Colby were quoted anywhere I could find; they remained a mystery.

But therewasa quote from Bryce: “We appreciate the gravity of this investigation, and look forward to fully cooperating with the United States government in this inquiry. Thank you to our shareholders for their continued support—our company remains strong because of them.”

My heart wrenched when I read the words. It was the most I’d heard out of my husband’s mouth in two long, dreary weeks.

Our wedding photo made it into one of the articles, too—Second-Generation of Windsors Profit.I ached when I glimpsed it. Although my gown was lovely, I looked frozen, petrified; Bryce looked handsome in his suit, but his expression was grim. It certainly wasn’t the wedding day I’d dreamt about as a girl…

I closed the laptop and shook my head. I didn’t want to think about it. Any of it.

“Is Bryce’s dad going to go to jail?” Noah asked. He stuffed some fruit snacks into his mouth and concentrated on his video game, something involving a character that looked like a friendly marshmallow.

“I don’t know. I don’t think he’s been arrested or anything.” I couldn’t picture Gene Windsor being handcuffed and led away; he was an intimidating man who was very set in his ways. I couldn’t imagine him cooperating with an investigation, let alone envision himin jail.

I wonder what Daphne thinks of all this.But I hadn’t spoken to my mother-in-law (oh, how she hated that term!) or anyone else from the island since I’d left. It had been radio silence, and I was too afraid to break it.

My phone rang, and I lunged for it—but it was a local number, not what I’d been hoping for. “Hello?”

“Chloe?” The voice was raspy, familiar, and unpleasant. “That you?”

“Lydia?”I sat up straight. Lydia was my stepmother; I hadn’t talked to her in ages. “Is Dad okay?”

Noah whipped his head around. We hadn’t heard from either my father or my wicked step-monster since Bryce had paid them off.

“He’s fine.” She sounded as though she were exhaling from a cigarette. “It’syouI’m worried about.”

My heart stopped. “What do you mean?”

“I saw your husband on the news. Looks like his Daddy’s in trouble, eh?” She laughed, and it immediately turned into a snarling cough.

“I don’t know anything about it. Why are you calling? Do you need something?” I couldn’t fathom why she’d bothered to call if there was no emergency. Lydia hated my guts.

“You know what, kid? You’re smarter than I thought. Idoneed something.” She cough-laughed again. “Money.Lots of it. You think you can hook me up?”

My stomach sank. “No, I cannothook you up. Bryce already gave Dad money.” In fact, my husband had paid my father one million dollars in exchange for Noah coming to live with us.

“Yeah, but we blew some of it at Foxwoods. Actually, we blewmostof it—wasn’t your Dad’s fault, the asshole dealer at the blackjack table had it out for us, I swear to God…” She rattled on for another minute, complaining about their bad luck, how they were tricked and robbed, blah blah blah…

But I knew the truth. Somehow, my father and Lydia had managed to blow througha million fucking dollarsin the span of a few weeks. Booze and stupidity werenota good combination!

“I’m sorry you guys lost, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” I said, cutting her off. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go.”

“Don’t you hang up on me, you uppity little bitch!” Lydia sounded just as nasty as I remembered. “You need to do something to take care of your father and me. Remember how we took you in when you had nothing? You need to helpus. And if you don’t, I am going to fuck your shit up, you hear?”

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