Flynn wanted to rip the gossip rag to shreds. But that wouldn’t solve the problem. “Renee doesn’t need this when she’s trying to get CGC off the ground.”
“Is it true? She tried to get your sperm bank deposit?”
“That is nobody’s business but ours, Brock.”
“It’s my business if it affects Maddox Communications. And that column slanders Maddox Communications, too.”
“Who in the hell would make a personal attack like this?”
“I only know one person who stands to gain if Maddox looks shady, and he happens to fight dirty.”
Flynn didn’t need a genius IQ to follow Brock’s line of thought. “Athos Koteas? But why target Renee?”
“Because she’s your weak spot. You didn’t answer my question. Is your reconciliation a sham? Is she back just for a kid?”
He owed his brother the truth. “Our reunion started out that way when the clinic contacted me about Renee requesting my sample. That’s why I asked about the divorce papers, and then I subsequently found out we were still married. Renee agreed to move back in if I’d father her child. But our marriage isn’t a pretense anymore.”
Brock cursed and strode to the window. “How many people knew about that stupid college prank?”
“Only family and the other fraternity guys involved, but they made deposits, too. Outing me would also bring their parts in the stupid bet to light.” Flynn tapped his pen on his blotter. “If we have a leak in the office, the perpetrator could have gotten the info from my office. The sperm bank faxed forms to me here. I kept copies just in case something went wrong.”
Brock cursed. “There is no ‘if’ we have a spy. Someone at Maddox is feeding proprietary information to Koteas.”
“If it is Koteas.” Flynn didn’t know why Renee had left him the first time. Would this embarrassment be enough to send her running again? He had to fix this before that happened. But how? “I don’t want Renee to find out about this.”
Brock pivoted, his mouth agape. “It’s a paper with a circulation of tens of thousands. You can’t buy and burn every copy or keep people who’ve already read the column from talking.”
“I need to get Renee out of town until the scandal blows over. No. Scratch that. She’ll want to be here to take calls and make appointments for CGC.”
“You could try to get the rag to print a retraction.”
Flynn scanned the damning words again. They didn’t sound any better the second time. “Technically, nothing they’ve printed is untrue.”
The intercom on his desk buzzed. “A reporter from the San Francisco Journal is on line one,” Cammie said. “He wants to ask you about a sperm bank?”
Reporters. Damn. “Hold all my calls. And, Cammie, don’t talk to any reporters. I’m going out.”
“Now?” Brock asked.
Flynn scrubbed his knotting neck muscles and rose. “I’m going to talk to Koteas. If I leave now he may still be in his office.”
“What good will talking to that bastard do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to do something. Or I might lose Renee again.”
“Lay off my wife,” Flynn growled at Athos Koteas across the man’s wide desk.
The seventy-year-old founder of Golden Gate Promotions laid down the paper Flynn had thrust at him, leaned back in his massive leather chair and cracked an amused smile.
“Aah. Children. They are both a blessing and a curse. We have such high hopes for them when they are born. But my three sons—” he shook his head “—they are useless. You, on the other hand, have no interest in advertising, but like a good son, you joined your father’s firm when duty called.”
That duty had cost him his marriage, and then Flynn realized Koteas knew too much about him. But that wasn’t why Flynn was here. He was here because the damned reporter had refused to divulge her source when Flynn had called on his way to Golden Gate’s offices. He’d had to go with his original suspect.
“Why target my wife?”
“As much as I would like to take credit for that interesting tale, I cannot. I do not waste my time on tabloids.”
Flynn studied the man’s heavily lined face and steady dark eyes and found no evidence that Koteas lied. “No one else stands to gain from this story.”
“Are you sure? Think harder, Mr. Maddox. Everyone has enemies, including your lovely wife.”
Who could dislike Renee?
“Good luck finding the viper in your nest,” Koteas added.
In your nest.
Flynn clenched his teeth as his thoughts raced ahead. He had a suspicion who that poisonous snake might be. Someone who had made Renee’s life difficult since the day Flynn had first brought her home.
His mother.
She wasn’t pregnant.
Renee’s knees buckled under the weight of disappointment. She sank into the new rocking chair and pushed off with her toe. But the repetitive back-and-forth motion didn’t soothe her. She’d come so close to having everything she’d once dreamed of with Flynn.
She wanted him here, wanted his arms around her and his assurances that they could try again. Her need for him was stupid really. She was used to standing on her own feet. But she needed a sympathetic shoulder, and he was the only one who would understand and be as disappointed as she was over the negative pregnancy test.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed his private work number. Voice mail picked up. She hung up and tried his assistant’s number. “Flynn Maddox’s office, Cammie speaking. How may I help you?”
“Cammie, it’s Renee. I need to talk to Flynn.”
“Hello, Renee. Flynn’s out. I’m not sure if he’ll be back today. May I take a message?”
This wasn’t news he needed to hear secondhand. “No. I’ll call his cell phone.”
She disconnected and dialed his cell. No answer. She tried again and still received no response. She checked the new teddy-bear clock on the nursery wall. Almost five. He should be home soon.
Until then, she would hang tight and wait. The flashback to the past and waiting for Flynn to come home kinked her muscles. But this time was different. She wouldn’t turn to the bottle.
She was stronger now. She had too much to lose. And she’d learned her lesson.
Hadn’t she?
“What in the hell were you thinking?” Flynn asked his mother Monday evening in the living room of her lavish Knob Hill house.
She broke eye contact and fussed with her diamond earring. “You have no proof I spoke to that reporter.”
“You knew about my college prank. You dislike Renee, and your driver took you to meet the reporter at Chez Mari Saturday afternoon. How much more proof do I need?”
His mother’s taxidermy-tight face blanched. “Renee Landers is not good enough for you.”
Anger roared through him like a canyon fire. “Maddox, mother. Renee Maddox.” He enjoyed her flinch. “She’s the woman I married and the one who will be having your grandchildren. That’s all that matters.”
“What matters is that you end this marriage before she gets her hooks into you by tying you down with her low-class, white-trash brats. I only spoke to the columnist because I wanted Renee to leave. I had hoped she’d realize she’s an embarrassment and a liability to you and Madd—”
His teeth slammed together. How had he missed this vicious enmity before? “Renee is not an embarrassment or a liability. She is the only person who puts my happiness above her own.”
And that had always been the case, which made her leaving seven years ago all that much more intriguing. Had she left out of some misguided belief he’d be better off without her?
“You’re wrong, Flynn. I want you to be happy, and finding a suitable wife will make you happy.”
“As happy as your marriage made you?”
His mother’s chin jerked up. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Did you ever love my father? If you did I never saw signs of it. You tolerated him because he bankrolled your spending habits. You gave him children not because of any maternal urge, but only because it was expected of you, and children guaranteed Dad would continue supporting you financially.”
“That’s not true.”
He didn’t bother to argue. He knew the facts. The memories of growing up in a cold, unloving household were too vivid to forget. No wonder his father had spent all his time at the office.
Flynn hadn’t known love until Renee had chiseled down his walls and forced her way into his heart with her humor, intelligence and generosity.
“Think very carefully before you make your choice, Mother.”
“What are you saying?”
“Either you apologize to Renee, or you say goodbye to me. I’ll walk out that door and we’re through.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Flynn. I’m your mother.”
“A fact that brings me nothing but shame at the moment. I knew you were unhappy, but I didn’t realize you’d become a bitter, vindictive old woman.”
Ignoring her gasp, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the house. He needed his wife. Only Renee’s kisses could heal the wound of dealing with a parent who would stab him in the back.
Eight o’clock. Flynn was late.
Renee stared at the kitchen counters laden with cookies, a pie and quiche. She’d needed a way to deal with her agitation—an outlet other than drinking.
Flynn hadn’t called and his cell phone dumped straight to voice mail. The hospitals had no reports of anyone matching his description being brought in. She knew. She’d called all the local emergency rooms. Twice. Her stomach burned from nerves.
She had to admit Flynn’s well-stocked liquor cabinet was tempting. Drinking herself into oblivion and not having to worry would certainly be easier than concocting new recipes and walking the floor. But she resisted. She wasn’t her mother. She’d developed better coping skills for dealing with her problems than numbing them out. She cooked. She cleaned. If all else failed she read cooking magazines online.
She heard a key turn in the front door and her pulse jumped like a runner hearing the starter’s pistol. Wiping her hands on a towel, she raced down the hall and reached the foyer as Flynn entered. Anger combined with worry and grief tangled inside her. She wanted to scream at him for scaring her and throw herself into his arms and cry in relief because he was okay.
“Where have you been?”
He frowned at her frantic tone. “Has anyone called?”
She stared at him in disbelief. “No. Not even you. You’re hours late. Answer my question, Flynn.”
Silently he withdrew a folded newspaper from his briefcase. Confused, she took it from him. He pointed at a headline halfway down the page.
Ad Agency’s Top Gun Shoots Blanks?
Uneasiness swirled through her like a cold, damp fog. Her heart inched up her throat as she read the rest of the article. Someone had used her to attack Flynn and Maddox Communications. Flynn had said reputation was everything, and this article wasn’t helping his.