Page 61 of Her Inconvenient Groom (French Conquests 4)

“Dustin is still in custody,” Sienna said levelly. “He’s been charged with your attempted murder.”

Finally, the truth, Chantelle thought. The ugly, painful truth, but the truth all the same. The idea that Dustin could be languishing in a French jail was too much to bear. Especially when he had nobody to speak up for him.

“He needs help,” she insisted. “He can’t just stay there.”

“Hon,” Shaundra spoke up from her position by the window, “there’s evidence that he tried to poison you.”

“What evidence?”

“They found a vial of poison in his tattoo kit. Several of your flavored water bottles had been tampered with and contaminated, and their caps glued back into place, so that the seal seemed unbroken.”

The idea of poison in the water she drank daily made her gag.

Naisha took over from Shaundra. “The doctors say there are traces of the poison in your system and it’s what responsible for the loss of your—”

She couldn’t go on.

Chantelle drew her knees up and let her head fall onto it, feeling again the agony of the loss. It was an emotional pain that manifested physically. Deep within her empty womb. “He wanted that baby. He’d never—”

“The police questioned everyone, at length. They’ve talked to all your staff, Rosemarie, everyone. They think they are all loyal to you, and for one reason or another just don’t fit the crime. The only suspect they have is Dustin.”

Chantelle turned towards her assistant, desperate for backup. “You knew him, Sienna. Tell them he couldn’t have done something like this!”

Sienna hesitated, and then answered delicately, “You are worth billions, Chantelle.”

Chantelle blurted in exasperation, “But we have the prenup. You know it. You were there! The terms of the contract were very clear!”

Jacyn asked, curious, “Contract?”

Chantelle sighed. She’d been upholding this lie for almost two months now, and she felt it would do her good to come clean. She motioned to the women to draw up their chairs and sit, and with Sienna standing by her side, began to explain about the complications surrounding her marriage. She told them about her insemination and pregnancy. Followed by the shocking news about her grandfather’s will and the stipulations that could have barred her child from inheriting.

“You tracked down the sperm donor?” Jacyn confirmed, incredulously.

“Yes.”

“It was my plan,” Sienna butted in.

“Of course it was!” All the women except Chantelle said at once. Then they all laughed.

“I’m guessing Dustin was the donor?” Jacyn asked.

She nodded, feeling a little foolish now that the hare-brained idea was out in the open.

Shaundra, the most practical of the three, was the first to fully grasp the situation. “In essence, there is no financial incentive for Dustin to do you harm?”

“None at all,” she said emphatically. “He knew that. And besides, that man would never do such a thing. He lived for his family, his stepmother and siblings. He’s loving and kind—”

“And you love him,” Naisha said.

Chantelle didn’t say anything.

“I knew it,” Sienna said under her breath.

Chantelle groaned. This was an awful, awful mess, and this innocent man was in jail because of her. “Besides,” she added, “when I think about it, the nausea dates back to before the pregnancy. Before I even met him. Occasionally, I’d feel dizzy, but I always put it out of my mind. Brushed it aside as pregnancy symptoms and stress, you know? I felt better in France. But again, I figured it was because I didn’t have all the stress of the workplace while I am here in France.”

Shaundra asked slowly, “If not Dustin, then who?”

“Nobody has a financial or practical interest in seeing me dead,” Chantelle insisted. “My will leaves most of my assets to my brothers, and the rest to several charities. I might have made a few enemies in the course of business, but those battles are fought in the courts or the boardrooms, not with poison!”

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