After visiting Lorelei for a while, Hope and I headed to the store. I knew nothing about grocery stores because I never shopped. Madeline always took care of that for me. I grabbed a basket and Hope and I walked around as she threw some snacks into it.
“What do you want for dinner?” I asked.
“Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.”
“A hot dog I can make. As for macaroni and cheese, I don’t know how to do that.”
She picked up the blue box of Kraft macaroni and cheese and handed it to me.
“The directions are on the side. All you have to do is follow them.”
I raised my brow as I looked down at her. “Is this stuff any good?”
“Yes. It’s one of my favorites.” She smiled. “You never had that before?”
“No. I haven’t. But if you say it’s good, I’ll take your word for it.” I winked.
When we arrived back at the penthouse, I grilled a couple of hot dogs and made the macaroni and cheese according to the box while Hope sat at the island and looked over her spelling bee words. I set our plates down and took a seat next to her while we ate and I helped her with her words.
Suddenly, I heard the elevator doors open, and when I turned around, my mother walked into the kitchen with a shocked expression on her face.
“What is going on here? And who’s that?” she asked.
“Mother this is Hope, Lorelei’s daughter. Hope, this is my mother.”
She walked over to the island and stared down at our plates.
“Are you eating hot dogs and macaroni and cheese?” she asked with a look of disgust on her face.
“Yes, we are.” I took a spoonful of macaroni and shoved it in my mouth with a smile on my face.
“Oh for God’s sake, Jack. May I ask why this child is here in your home? Where’s Lorelei?”
“My name is Hope and my mom is in the hospital with pneumonia.”
“Oh. Sorry to hear that.”
“Mr. Sutton is looking after me while she’s getting better.”
“He is?” My mother looked at me.
“I am.”
She slowly shook her head in disbelief and then asked to speak with me in my office. Following behind her, I shut the door.
“What’s going on?”
“Bradley didn’t steal the money from the company. I had him put the money in an offshore account for Joshua.”
“Joshua? What the hell does he have to do with this?”
“He’s blackmailing me.”
There was a light knock at the door. “Mr. Sutton?” I heard Hope speak.
“We’ll be finished in a minute, Hope. Go study your words.”
“Okay.”
I turned back to my mother. “You better tell me what’s going on now!”
She took in a deep breath and took a seat behind my desk.
“He found out about something I did.”
I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at her. “And what did he find out?”
She looked down and crossed her hands.
“Mother?”
“He found out that I had hired someone to go to work for Flourishing Fashion Magazine. I had them spy on Dee Sanders and then report back to me about their plans for their seasonal debuts.”
“What?” I gasped. “You sent in a mole to steal their ideas and report back to you?”
“I’m not proud. But you need to understand that they were a new, upcoming magazine that was taking off way too quickly and Sutton magazine was suffering because of them. I wasn’t about to let my company that I built from the ground up go into ruins.”
Anger riveted throughout my body. “So you stole their ideas and made sure that Sutton Magazine’s issues went out first?”
“Yes, and I don’t have any regrets.”
“So you were responsible for Flourishing closing their doors.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“My God, Mother. How can you live with yourself?”
“This is a cut throat business, Jack. You know that. I’ve sacrificed my entire life for this company.”
“I know, and you also sacrificed your children.”
“That’s not fair, son.”
I ran my hand through my hair as I paced around my office. “So Joshua’s blackmailing you to keep quiet?”
“Yes. He said if I don’t pay him the money, he will go to the press.”
“I can’t talk to you about this right now. I have a little girl out there that needs me to help her study for her spelling bee. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
“Our company could be at stake here, and all you can think about is that child and a spelling bee?”
“Yes. Because her mom is in the hospital and she needs someone. Just like I needed someone growing up. But unfortunately, Coco and I were always pushed to the side.”
“That child isn’t your responsibility, Jack. She’s your PA’s child, for God’s sake.”
“It doesn’t matter whose child she is. Now I suggest you leave. We’ll talk about this further as soon as Coco gets back from LA.”
I opened the door and walked out into the living room. Hope was sitting on the couch with her spelling list in her hand.
“It was nice to meet you,” Hope spoke.
My mother turned around, frowned at her, and stepped into the elevator.
“She seems kind of mean,” Hope spoke as she looked at me.
“She is.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jack
I looked at my watch. It was almost twelve thirty. Shit. I grabbed my briefcase and just caught the elevator going down before the doors closed. Running through the lobby and out the building doors, I slid into the back of the limo and told Tony to step on it. There was no way I could be late for Hope’s spelling bee competition. I arrived at approximately twelve fifty five and there were only seats left in the very back row. I scanned the people sitting in their seats, looking for someone who might be nice enough to give up theirs and move to the back. Walking down the aisle, my eyes diverted to the second row where a young man was sitting.
“Excuse me, sir.”
“Yes.” He looked up at me through his brown-rimmed glasses.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.
“If you let me have your seat, this is yours.” I flashed the bill at him. “There are plenty of seats in the back.”
“It’s all yours.” He grinned as he got up from his chair and I handed him the money.
“Thank you.” I nodded and took my seat just as the ten students walked out on stage.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and set it to video so I could record this for Lorelei. Hope saw me sitting in the second row and smiled as she excitedly waved to me.
One child down.
Two children down.
Three children down.
Four children down.
Five children down.
Six children down.
Seven children down.
This was utterly nerve wracking. Hope was one of the last three students standing.
Eight children down.
It was Hope’s turn and the word she was given was one she struggled with last night. I clenched my fist and brought it up to my lips. She looked frightened and unsure and I was terrified she’d get it wrong. I was holding my breath and my phone up. She spelled the word correctly and I let out a sigh of relief. This round went on for another fifteen minutes until the other kid messed up on a word and Hope spelled it correctly. There was silence in the room until I stood up and yelled, “YES!” Everyone clapped as they announced Hope as the winner and placed a gold medal around her neck. I don’t think I had ever been more proud of anyone in my life as I was of Hope.
“You did it!” I bent down and held out my arms.
“I know! I can’t believe I won.” She wrapped her small arms around my neck.
“Your mom is going to be so proud of you.” I kissed her head.
“Mr. Sutton?”
“Yes, Hope.”
“Can we go see her now?”
“We sure can, but one thing first. I want you to call me Jack. No more Mr. Sutton.”
“Okay, Jack.” She smiled.
****
Later that night after I tucked Hope into bed, I took Charlotte’s Web from the nightstand and opened to the page where I had left off. I had reached the part where Charlotte was dying and I won’t lie and say I didn’t get choked up. Looking over at Hope, I saw that tears were streaming down her face as I read.