View Park, page 32
That was a lie, Carter thought. He wasn’t glad as a father either. Although he had interned in the Chase Beauty legal department during Harvard Law, Carter’s decision to go out on his own instead of join the company, as expected, had always been a sore point between him and his father. A sore point was putting it lightly.
“I’ll get to it tonight, after I drop Connor at Avery’s…”
“Carter, I know you’re happy you have a baby and all that, but you can’t let it interfere with your work.”
“Maybe I can do like you did, Dad.” Carter’s voice was laced with extreme sarcasm. “Just ignore my kid altogether. I’m sure she’ll understand like we all did.”
Steven sneered, wondering if Carter thought he was too old to get knocked upside the head. No, he hadn’t been the best father, but he was building an empire and they had Janet. He still loved them all more than his own life.
“You’ve never appreciated the sacrifices I’ve made for this family,” Steven said, “but you seem fine with benefiting from them. Read it. I need to make a decision now.”
Carter wanted to ask why his father wanted to expand Chase Beauty, which had already added real estate and a chain of beauty salons to its hair-and-makeup product line, to include publishing, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t have the time for the answer.
“Look, Dad, I was supposed to meet Julia at Beso five minutes ago. I’ll read it later.”
“She can wait if you tell her to,” Steven said. “She’ll do whatever you want.”
Carter frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You know what it means,” Steven answered. “Julia wants to be Mrs. Carter Chase. She’ll put up with anything if she thinks it will get her closer to that goal. I’ll call her if you don’t have the balls.”
“You know that’s not going to happen.” Carter’s tone reflected his confusion. “Why would you even say that? You know that…”
“I know six months ago you said that Julia was just a temporary amusement until you could get Avery back. She was part of your plan to make Avery believe you were over her so she wouldn’t be so cautious around you.”
“She still is,” Carter said. “But it’s not as if I don’t like her. You don’t expect me to be celibate until I get Avery back?”
“Julia is in love with you. She’s told your mother several times.”
Carter believed Julia was more in love with the idea of being with a Chase than anything genuine. “I can’t do anything about that. I’m going to marry Avery. That’s it.”
“Tell that to your mother,” Steven said. “She’s already picking out invitations.”
“Mom doesn’t need to know anything about this,” Carter said with a warning tone. “Dad, you promised not to tell her.”
“I haven’t said anything,” Steven said. “Now just read the report.”
Carter got pissed off when his father acted as if he didn’t understand the master plan, which was two-fold. Part one was to make Avery believe that he had truly gotten over her, had no intention of interfering with her marriage, and only wanted to deal with her in terms of being good parents to Connor. It was working. Carter even believed that Avery was a little jealous of his relationship with Julia at times. Because of their chemistry, Avery had previously refused to be alone with him. That was changing. Once her guard was down, she wouldn’t be so reluctant to spend time alone with him. That was all it would take.
Part two was much more complicated. Carter had to create a situation in which Avery would be willing to leave Anthony and not hate herself for cheating on him. This had begun by completely emasculating Anthony at every opportunity possible without it seeming obvious to anyone but Anthony. When placed against Carter, very few men could measure up.
Steven smirked. “You remember, kid, it was my idea for you to crowd her husband out slowly, before I knew she lied to you about Connor not being yours. I’d prefer you be done with her. Julia is more suited to our circles anyway.”
“You’re starting to sound like Mom,” Carter said. He placed Connor in the other arm. She was getting heavy.
Twenty-six-year-old Julia Hall came from a prominent Dallas family of doctors. She had made a departure and gone into corporate finance, but this positioned her perfectly for a financial analyst position at Chase Beauty. Janet had intended for her to distract Michael from Kimberly, but Julia had wanted Carter from the start. She was a bona fide, black blue blood like his mother: those who had money, power and social standing dating back to the 1800s.
No one else belonged in these circles. New money, acquired in only a generation, didn’t count. What was worse was money from entertainment or sports. They always wanted in, and people like his mother and Julia always wanted to keep them out.
“That wasn’t your background,” Carter reminded his father.
“This isn’t about me.” Steven was well aware that his middle-class background would never have gotten him where he was now if he hadn’t married a woman like Janet. “This is about you wanting a woman that has rejected you countless times and…”
“You’re exaggerating,” Carter said. “Avery admitted that she wants me, but all that Bible blah, blah and…”
“Marital fidelity isn’t Bible blah, blah, Carter. It means something to a lot of people.”
“Well, nothing means anything to me except Avery and Connor. So, fuck her marriage and that teacher.”
“You better watch it,” Steven warned him. “If your animosity shows, it will force Avery to side with her husband.
“Don’t worry about me.” Supporting Connor had been the perfect excuse to make Anthony look inadequate. “I’ve taken every opportunity, and his growing frustration has only worked in my favor. I’ve undermined him without Avery catching on. She seems more and more annoyed with him every day. I’ve got her keeping secrets from him, thinking she’s doing what’s best for his pride. But it’s only making him more jealous and possessive and when those secrets come out, he’ll explode.”
“Pitiful.” Steven couldn’t help but appreciate Carter’s tenacity. He got what he wanted and that was what he had instilled in all his children from the beginning. The best education, training, and guidance had created four exceptional people. Well, at least three. Haley was something else entirely.
Carter felt no pity for Anthony. He was the one who convinced Avery to keep Connor away from him and guilted her into feeling obligated to him because he had been there for her when she ended her engagement to Carter. Avery was loyal and wanted to do what was right. Anthony was counting on that and Carter would crush him for it.
Steven chose not to press it any further. If there was one subject he couldn’t change Carter’s mind about, it was Avery. “Call me tonight after you’ve read it.”
“It might be late,” Carter said, grabbing the baby bag and turning to leave.
“I don’t care,” Steven answered. “And son…”
Carter turned back to his father, trying to move away from Connor’s tiny hands that were blocking his eyes.
“Be careful with Julia. Women like her have one thing in mind: getting a ring on their finger. If she catches on that she’s just a means to an end, you’ll have trouble.”
“She won’t catch on.” Carter really did like Julia. He just didn’t love her. “I got it under control.”
And Carter truly believed he did. In the last six months, he’d been as meticulous in his social life as he was in his professional life. Avery was just an inch away from him. He could taste her.
“Which one is it?” thirty-year-old Michael Chase asked his seven-year-old son, Daniel, who was twisting and turning on his lap.
Daniel pointed to the computer, but didn’t say anything. He was getting bored and Michael knew he should probably let up. It was good enough that, at seven, both Daniel and his twin brother, Evan, were acing educational software games aimed for eight-to-twelve-year-olds. But they were Chases, and doing better than expected was the least that was expected.
He’d had this conversation with his sons many times. Fate had them born into a family that lived under a microscope. The Chase family, in all their power, money, success and philanthropy, had become more than just a rich family. Their reign over the upper crust of black society, and powerful role in white society, made them unlike any other family of their kind, and the expectations would only rise with every generation. Carter was the Harvard lawyer. Michael was the Columbia finance whiz. Leigh was the Duke doctor and Haley…Haley was the spoiled socialite. Every rich family had to have one.
As the third generation of this dynasty, Evan and Daniel, now joined by Connor, would be expected to be at the top of their private schools, get into the Ivy Leagues, and project the appearance of perfection in career success, family, and commitment to the community. It was a lot of pressure, but it came with advantages too numerous to even mention, including a hefty trust fund.
“You’re a Chase, Daniel. We don’t give up. If you pick the right one, you’ll get a card and can move to the next level.”
Daniel sighed, lowering his head back to where it rested against his dad’s chest.
“Jellyfish!” yelled Evan as he jumped around on the other side of Michael’s desk.
“You can’t even see it.” Daniel sat up, seeming energized by the challenge of his brother.
“I already finished it.” Evan jumped on the black leather settee nestled in the middle of Michael’s home office, one of ten rooms in the six-thousand-square-foot, Tuscan-inspired house nestled in the ultra-lux Hollywood Hills.
“I told you about yelling the answers,” Michael warned the son that was becoming more and more like him every day.
Daniel and Evan were fraternal, but looked almost identical. Both were a smooth, chocolate brown like their mother with dark, fierce eyes like their father. Daniel was reserved and thoughtful like his Uncle Carter. Evan was always on and eager, like Michael. Michael only hoped they would grow up best friends as he and Carter had. They certainly fought as much.
“They’re all jellyfish, stupid.” Daniel leaned forward. “It’s a Bubbler Jellyfish.”
Michael smiled. “You mean Blubber, right?”
“That’s what I said.”
“It isn’t,” Evan said without even looking up.
“Michael!”
They all looked up as twenty-nine-year-old Kimberly Chase stormed into the office. Despite wearing a T-shirt and jeans, no makeup, and her long hair in a loose pony-tail, what always struck one first about Kimberly was that she was distractingly beautiful. Both men and women stared at her everywhere she went. The society papers gave her the title of “most attractive Chase.”
“Mommy!” Evan jumped off the settee toward his mother. “I finished first. Daniel still takes forever.”
“Did not!” Daniel yelled out in his defense.
“Go play,” Kimberly ordered curtly. She was trying her best to hold her temper until the boys were out of the way.
Both boys looked at their father, which only made Kimberly angrier. Michael had always been the disciplinarian in the family, but in less than six months she had ceased to have enough authority over her own children to be listened to alone.
“We’re learning,” Michael said. “Play time will come later.”
“Okay,” Kimberly said, holding up a cell phone. “I just want to know who Shana is.”
Michael reached for his pocket and felt that his cell was still there. He lifted Daniel off his lap. “Okay, you boys can go play.”
Without hesitation, they ran out of the office. There was no glance toward their mother. Michael was all the authority they seemed to need anywhere. He was turning her own children against her and Kimberly wanted to kill him for it.
“Why is this bitch calling me?” Kimberly closed the door behind her.
“I don’t know what you’re…”
“Aren’t you tired of that?” Kimberly asked.
“Tired of what?”
“Pretending like you don’t know that I know you fuck anything that moves!” She tossed the phone at him.
Michael ducked to avoid the flying iPhone. When he looked back up, his dark eyes were intense. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
And he hadn’t. Ever since Kimberly had done something that could destroy everything the Chase family had worked to create. That was six months ago. Since then, Michael never answered to Kimberly for anything, including his affairs.
“Besides,” Michael said, “you don’t fuck me, so why do you care who does?”
Kimberly was disgusted. “Don’t flatter yourself, asshole. I don’t care, but what I do care about is when one of those skanks calls me on my cell phone. How did this Shana bitch get my number?”
Michael wanted to know the answer to that too. “I’ll handle it. Is there something else?”
Kimberly thought about the question. Yes, there was. He could give her a divorce and let her take her children as far away from him and his crazy family as possible. That’s what she wanted, but Kimberly knew she wasn’t going to get it. Michael wasn’t going to give her a divorce unless she agreed to ask for nothing. And he would never let her take the kids. He told her she would never even see them again. She tried to leave with the boys six months ago, but he’d found her and gave her no choice but to come back to L.A. She couldn’t be separated from her kids.
It used to break her heart that her husband had turned so cold to her. She used to worship Michael. He was her knight in shining armor. From an abusive, poor childhood to being a teenaged street hooker, meeting someone like Michael Chase just wasn’t supposed to happen to someone like her. But then again, there was that beauty. She was modeling in New York when she had caught his attention the way she did every man that crossed her path. She was attracted immediately. He looked like a young Sidney Poitier, but it wasn’t his good looks that got to her. It was his presence. There was a power about Michael that anyone would recognize. She’d had no idea who he was until after their one-night stand.
Her entire life, all the men Kimberly had known had treated her like a doormat. Michael was the first man who loved her and needed her. It didn’t matter that she would never be accepted by his mother and they would have to lie to everyone about her past. Although she wasn’t willing to get another abortion, she hadn’t asked him to marry her when she found out she was pregnant. He asked her. And for almost seven years, he loved her and gave her the world.
Things began to change more than a year ago when Kimberly schemed to get rid of Janet Chase, the woman who made her life hell by reminding her she wasn’t good enough for the Chase name. By dredging up a skeleton from Janet’s past—an affair with another man after her engagement to Steven, which resulted in an abortion—she set off a chain of events that led to Janet’s overdose on prescription pills and alcohol, while almost exposing the family for what it was: truly dysfunctional.
As with every other scandal, and there were too many Chase scandals to count, Steven and Janet’s money and influence kept it a secret from the world. But Michael, who lived for his father’s approval even more than his wife’s love, hadn’t been the same since. She had gone behind his back and almost destroyed his parents’ marriage and his family’s image.
But he still loved her and he did not leave her. He worked hard to forgive her, and even though the rest of the family had turned cold to her, Michael stayed. But his relationship with his father had taken a serious blow and Michael made it clear to Kimberly that she couldn’t tip the boat again. He’d lose everything.
So when her old pimp, David Harris, came to California to blackmail her, Kimberly tried to handle it without telling Michael anything. But it wasn’t money David wanted. He wanted revenge against Michael, who’d had him framed and put in a Mexican jail to keep Michael’s parents, or anyone else, from finding out about his connection to Kimberly. David promised Kimberly he’d leave if she slept with him. She thought it was over when she complied, but it was only beginning.
Kimberly found out that David had taped their sexual encounter and was planning to post it on the Internet for the world to see. They struggled for the tape and David ended up dead. When she realized that someone else, hiding in the closet, had witnessed the accident and stolen the tape, Kimberly had no choice but to tell Michael, who had no choice but to tell his father and explain everything.
Kimberly’s life had been miserable ever since. While he was eager to help her hide David’s murder, when Michael found out she’d slept with David, he lost it. That, on top of the fact that his father now blamed him for almost destroying the entire family, was the end of their marriage. Michael made sport of humiliating her, isolating her from the rest of the world. He controlled every aspect of her life. She couldn’t take a step outside the house or spend a penny without his knowing of it. He demeaned and degrading her when it suited him and still had the nerve to want sex.
Sex, she refused, but everything else she put up with. She didn’t have much of a choice. Steven and Janet backed Michael’s threat that she would never get the children. Kimberly wasn’t just afraid for her own life. She was afraid of never seeing her boys, the only good things in her life.
“Yes,” Kimberly finally answered. “I’m going out to eat with Avery.”
“No you’re not.” Michael pressed the Exit button to release the CD-ROM.
“The boys want to see Connor.”
He rolled his eyes. “Can you do anything but lie?”
“Can you be anything but a hypocrite? Your whole life is a lie.”
Michael shot up from the desk and smiled when it caused Kimberly to jump. “I have you to blame for that.”
It was Kimberly’s turn to smile. “Which I take pleasure in every day.”
Michael slowly came around the desk, enraged by the sight of her. Not because he hated her, but because he couldn’t hate her enough to get rid of her. “The boys will see Connor at her birthday party next week.”
“I’m going.” Kimberly turned to leave, but Michael was at her side in a second, pulling her away from the door.
