ZOE NEEDED A PLAN.
She stood with the rest of Byron’s family in the background as he made another campaign speech. She smiled and nodded at the appropriate times. She clapped and cheered with the crowd. Not once did she let any of the anxiety inside her reflect on the outside. Years of practice hiding anxiety worked out like that.
Ever since Byron admitted he’d hidden the emails from her in the “name of love” she’d been anxious. The extra security around the estate, for her, and Lilah, no longer felt like protection. It felt like barriers. A part of her brain acknowledged Byron wasn’t like Kendell. Byron would never hit her, nor would he fight with her and call her stupid the way her dad had done with her mom, but he still had control over her. She hadn’t realized how much control until he admitted how much information he kept from her. Information she needed to know.
His people monitored her emails. He got reports on her movements. They watched her phone calls and reviewed her schedule. While he never once told her she couldn’t do something or tried to change her plans, if he said something had to change his people would do so without a second thought to her. She’d handed over so much control of her life because she thought they were a team. She’d believed he’d seen the stronger person she’d grown into. Instead, he still saw the damsel Elaina had first called her. Someone who couldn’t take care of herself without him. Someone weak and stupid. The same way Kendell had seen her.
She needed a plan. She needed to figure out how to get away and start over.
First, she’d continue to work with Elaina. She needed money. Lots of money. Byron had her too entrenched in his life for her to just up and leave as she’d done with Kendell. If she worked for Elaina, started her own business and was successful, she’d make enough to set up her own home. She’d play the part of accommodating baby mother to Byron during the campaign while building her own nest egg until she had enough to move away.
The speeches ended. The family clapped and joined Byron at the front of the stage. She shifted so Byron’s immediate family surrounded him. She belonged on the periphery. She wasn’t a part of their inner circle, and she never would be.
She left the stage quickly after the photos were taken of them and went to Dominic hovering at the edge of the room.
“I’d like to go home,” she said.
Dominic frowned. “Byron said the family would be staying after the speech to do more talking.”
Zoe clenched her teeth. She couldn’t even make the decision to leave. “Did he tell you I had to stay, or can I leave?”
Dominic frowned, but he shook his head. “He didn’t.”
“Do you have to get permission for me to go home?”
He blinked as if that was ridiculous. “No.”
That only eased the ache in her chest a little. “Then, let’s go.” She walked around him and out the door. Not giving him the chance to change his mind.
“Are you feeling okay?” Dominic asked as he followed her out. Once outside, they were immediately met by a dark-clad figure who was part of the security detail.
“I feel fine. I just don’t want to be here,” she said.
Dominic shifted from one foot to the other. “He loves you, you know. That’s why he had me investigate.”
Zoe glanced from Dominic to the bodyguard opening the door of the car that slid up to the curb. Another guard stood at the door they’d come out of and spoke into his earpiece. No doubt telling Byron right now where she was and where she was going.
“I know. I’ve been loved like this before.” She got into the car.
Thankfully, the driver didn’t talk to her on the ride back to the estate. It was a local campaign dinner. The election was ten weeks away. Their schedules were getting tighter. After Byron finally told her everything there was to know he’d forwarded her the latest emails. They were coming to her weekly now. Saying she was getting exactly what she deserved.
When she got home, she was heading upstairs when Lilah bounced out of the kitchen smiling with a handful of cookies in her hand. She saw Zoe and hurried over.
“You’re back already? I expected you to be later,” Lilah said. She handed a cookie to Zoe.
Zoe took it and wrapped an arm around Lilah’s shoulders. “I thought you’d be upstairs in bed by now.”
“I was upstairs reading and video chatting with T.J.”
Zoe stopped before they went up the stairs and faced her. “Video chatting? You’re still talking to him?”
Lilah lifted a shoulder. “Well, yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s still my friend,” she said as if Zoe was stupid. “And he says he still likes me.” Lilah’s eyes lit up. “I didn’t think he would after I moved away and told him we should just be friends.”
Lilah started up the stairs. Zoe stared, dumfounded. “You shouldn’t be video chatting with him.”
“Why not? I still video chat with Julie.” Lilah took a bite of her cookie.
Zoe hurried up the stairs to catch up with Lilah. “That’s different.”
“How? I’m making friends up here, but all my real friends are back home. He’s one of them. I can talk to them still.”
“He may get the wrong idea. Or think you’re still holding a torch for him. It’s better to cut things off now.”
Lilah stopped at the top of the stairs and gave Zoe and incredulous look. “Mom, are you serious right now? I thought you’d be okay.”
“Why?” What about Zoe made Lilah think she’d be okay knowing her daughter was still chasing after some boy back home?
“Because you’re finally happy.”
“I’ve always been happy,” Zoe argued.
Lilah shook her head. “No, you haven’t. You’ve always been warning me about how terrible men are, and that I shouldn’t get attached to anyone. But now you’ve seen that’s not the case. Byron is great and you’re happy with him. I thought I’d give T.J. the benefit of the doubt.”
Zoe took Lilah’s arm in her hand. “Don’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Never let your guard down and don’t give false hope where there shouldn’t be any. You’re too young to be thinking about a boy anyway. You should be focusing on making new friends and meeting new people up here. Not trying to hold on to some guy from your past. I thought I taught you better than that.”
Lilah pulled away from Zoe and frowned. “You taught me to be smart. I’m not being dumb, Mom. He really is an okay guy. He’s not going to hurt me.”
“You think that now, but they always end up hurting you. Cut him loose now.”
Zoe turned and stalked to her door. Lilah’s footsteps followed. “How can you say that? Byron is perfect.”
Zoe spun around and pointed. “No one is perfect. Especially not Byron.”
“But he wants to take care of us.”
Exactly why she never should have agreed to this plan. All the work she’d done to teach Lilah to stand on her own was washed away by Byron’s Prince Charming persona. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me and neither do you. We can take care of ourselves.”
“I know that.”
“Then quit thinking Byron is some knight in shining armor sent to rescue us. We’re still in this on our own. Just you and me. Don’t get swept up in this fairy tale and think it’ll last. It won’t.”
“God, Mom, you’re always like this!” Lilah yelled. “You always want things to be terrible when they aren’t.”
“I’m realistic.”
“No, you’re scared and you’re angry and you think every guy is like my dad. Well, they aren’t. There are some decent guys out there. You’re going to ruin everything.”
“I’m going to make sure we’re independent and able to take care of ourselves. You’ll understand where I’m coming from one day.”
Tears filled Lilah’s eyes. “You won’t be happy until I end up like you. Afraid and alone with no real friends. That’s what you want. I can’t wait until I grow up and move out.”
“Well, you’ve got a couple of more years for that, so until then, deal with it,” Zoe snapped back.
Lilah’s eyes glistened before she turned and ran into her room. Zoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She tamped down the guilt expanding inside her. Pressed it down until it was just a tight knot in her chest. One day Lilah would understand. She was only trying to protect her. Words like love and trust were traps. She was better off alone. Lilah would be better off learning that from the start. Zoe didn’t need protection or love. She could do both for herself.
What had her belief in a second chance with Byron gotten her anyway? A guarded escort home and her house burned down. She sucked in a breath and went into her room. To hell with love.