Take a Chance on Me(73)

“Do you believe him?” Mitch asked.

Charlotte’s expression crumpled for a split second before she regained her composure. “I don’t know. She’s young and very beautiful. Maybe this time he gave in to temptation.”

Mitch got up from the table and walked to the sink, peering out into the backyard for a good two minutes before turning back. The calculation was clear in the set of his jaw and glint in his eyes. “How much does she want?”

“A million,” Charlotte said, stating the number as though she were rattling off an item on her grocery list.

Maddie tensed.

“That’s a lot for a senator caught f*cking his intern,” Mitch said in a hard tone.

“Mitchell!” Charlotte blanched, her gaze fluttering down.

“What else?” Mitch asked. “There’s got to be more to this story.”

Charlotte reached for a napkin in the middle of the table and started to wipe an invisible spot like Lady Macbeth.

“Spit it out.” Mitch’s voice was so cold that it sent ice water splashing through Maddie’s veins.

His mother blinked, all the color draining from her face. “It seems she’s uncovered the whole sordid story.”

“What. Story.” Mitch fired the words like torpedoes.

“She knows what you did.”

Maddie’s stomach dropped, and her eyes flew to Mitch’s. He raked a hand through his hair. “Son of a bitch.”

“What?” Maddie spoke for the first time, unable to stop the word from flying from her mouth.

Charlotte eyed her son as though looking for direction. Mitch crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Mitch?” Blood rushed through Maddie’s ears. She knew something bad was going down.

He gripped the counter with both hands and leaned back. If he was trying to look casual, he failed miserably. He blew out a long breath. “I didn’t tell you the whole story the other night.”

“And what is the whole story?” Maddie asked, forgetting all about his mother sitting there, watching them.

“When I was trying to find evidence to clear my name I hired an MIT hacker friend of mine to break into Thomas’s files. We didn’t find anything, but we stumbled across something else, a deal Thomas and my father had done. A highly illegal deal that would ruin them.” Mitch met her stunned gaze. “I destroyed the evidence.”

Maddie turned back to Charlotte, still not making the connection.

“Somehow, she found out, and if I don’t pay her she’ll go public,” Charlotte said, suddenly looking twenty years older. “Not only with the affair, but with details about the deal. Somehow she knows what Mitchell did to save his father’s career. A sordid Riley family exposé, if you will.”

Mitch’s expression shuttered over into a cold, blank mask. “How could she possibly know?”

“We don’t know,” Charlotte said, pressing her lips together for a moment before continuing. “But she provided enough details to confirm she’s not lying.”

She pressed a perfectly manicured hand to her chest. “If it was only your father, I’d let him clean up his own mess, but I failed you once and I don’t want to fail you again. It’s not too late for you. In my heart, I know it. I haven’t always been a good mother, but I still have a chance to change that. I can’t let her bring you down with him. Not again. Not after what you sacrificed the last time.”





The headache started in the back of his skull and worked its way over Mitch’s forehead.

Jesus, could this day get any worse?

He dragged his fingers through his hair as he stared at the river meandering slowly downstream. He’d bailed after his mother’s dramatic announcement, needing time alone to think and ponder the state of his meager future.

He sucked in the humid summer air, picked up a stray pebble, and tossed it into the water. It plunked into the center, sending ripples through the smooth surface.

Obstruction of justice was tricky; the sentence ranged anywhere from fines to jail time. The case was old, half of the parties were dead, and the spotlight would be on his father, not him. While it was too hard to predict the penalty of his actions, one thing was certain: he’d be disbarred.

There’d be no getting around that.

The word twisted in his gut like a knife. It shouldn’t matter. He didn’t practice anymore.

But it did.

To realize he harbored hope was like a kick in the gut. All this time he’d convinced himself that he didn’t give a shit about his nonexistent career. But it was a lie. Complete bullshit. Deep down, hidden where he wouldn’t have to examine it, he’d wanted to start again. He hadn’t avoided Luke’s case out of some misguided sense of honor. He’d avoided it so he wouldn’t have to confront the truth. That he had hope.


It was Maddie’s fault. Until she’d come along, slipping past his guard, he’d been content with the numbness. Content to believe he didn’t care about anything or anyone. He’d been fine, happy even, drifting along in oblivion. But then she’d walked into that shithole bar he hated and made him remember what it was like to be alive.

And hope had snuck in.

He skipped another rock into the river, watching the smooth gray pebble bounce over the water’s surface before sinking to the bottom below.