Page 79 of Accidental Fiancé

“Deal.”

Chloe snipped out, “Oh, my God. Is no one here upset with these two liars?”

“I’d like to hear more about this so-called fake engagement,” Yaya said as she parted the crowd to come closer.

Shit. With that statement, Chloe’s bullshit had legs. I couldn’t ignore a request from Yaya. She was the matriarch of the family,the one everyone—including me—respected. If I lost her support on this, I was cooked.

I firmly told her, “Chloe’s a known liar, Yaya. She always has been. Don’t pay her any attention.”

“I’mthe liar?” Chloe laughed. “You two said you’ve been living together for months.”

“We have been,” I replied. “What of it?”

“Then why didn’t your daughter’s teacher meet Maggie until about three or four weeks ago?”

How the hell does Chloe know Etta? And why would Etta tell Chloe about me and Maggie?She is so fucking fired. Piper will hate going to a new teacher, but she is four, and she’ll get over it.

Maggie’s shoulders caved in at that, her resolve cracking. But she tried to play it off. “Etta doesn’t like me, so if she gossiped about me, I’m not surprised.”

“How I raise my daughter is none of your concern,” I snapped at Chloe.

“You rented a car for Maggie around the same time she first met Etta Pence, didn’t you?” she continued. “Why not just buy her one? It’s not like you don’t have the money.”

How does she know all of this?

Maggie’s chin went up, even as her voice wavered. “Have you been stalking us? Why are you inserting yourself into our lives, Chloe? Don’t you have one of your own?”

Chloe’s head swiveled like a bird of prey spotting a target. “Well, Maggie, that’s the thing. I hadn’t heard a word about you two being a couple before the reunion, and yet both of you were acting a little suspicious and cagey while you were there, so I did a little digging. After your bakery’s fire, you were about to be evicted from your apartment until you suddenly found yourself living with Julian almost a month ago, that is. But that doesn’t make sense with your engagement timeline, does it?”

At least I wasn’t being blackmailed anymore. Now that she had spilled the tea, she had nothing. I growled, “I’m done explaining myself to you, Chloe. So is Maggie. Whatever game you’re playing, it’s over. You should leave. Now.”

“I think Yaya and everyone else here deserves the truth.”

And maybe one day, I’d tell them. But this was not the day. “The truth is, you’re very tired and undermedicated and probably drunk, and I think you should stop embarrassing yourself and Marcus with this nonsense.” I turned to my family. “Everybody, let’s get this party back on track, shall we? Who’s up for shots?”

Half my family chanted, “Shots! Shots! Shots!” in response but Yaya’s eyes sharpened on me, causing my pulse to quicken. We’d be talking about this sooner than I had hoped.

“I have proof!” Chloe shouted over everyone in one last ditch effort.

Maggie squeezed my hand. I didn’t remember her taking it.

Chloe held her phone over her head but the screen was turned away from me. I could have easily grabbed it from her as close as I was, but if I did that, everyone would know I had something to hide. I had to wait and see what came next.

She handed it over to Marcus. “See that? Two million dollars deposited into my bank account over the past two days.”

“Where did you get that kind of money? I thought you were broke.”

She swallowed, irritated. “I told Julian I’d expose him if he didn’t pay me a million dollars a day during the week of this party. An innocent person wouldn’t pay if they had nothing to hide, nothing to be blackmailed with.”

Maggie looked up at me, shock and disappointment on her pretty face. “You didn’t tell me.”

“It’s two million dollars. Not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” she whispered as her cheeks flushed pink.

I couldn’t tell if she was hurt or angry. I hadn’t told her about Chloe’s blackmail and now I was acting as if that kind of money was nothing. Considering Maggie’s financial woes, it could have been either one. Whatever the case, I had upset her, and I fucking hated that.

Just as I was about to apologize, Apollo asked Chloe, “Did I hear you right? You just admitted to blackmail?”

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