“That’s…” Courtney’s eyes drifted insultingly down Cara’s body, “different.” Her lip curled and her nose scrunched. “So, you’re… an actor?”
It was obvious that Cara wasn’t.
“I work in hair and makeup.”
“Hmmm.” Courtney pressed her red lips together. “I’d heard you ran away to Georgia, but I didn’t realize you blew through your inheritance so fast.”
Courtney made a tsking sound, and Cara stiffened feeling the curious looks of her coworkers fall on her.
And there it was.
She hadn’t hidden the fact she grew up with money and had a trust fund tucked away, but she hadn’t volunteered it either. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t being judged by her last name, but by who she was and how hard she worked. She loved it.
Cara bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself silent. Defending herself would only play into Courtney’s game, and who knew what other bombs she would reveal. Cara couldn’t take that risk.
She met Courtney’s smug expression with a neutral smile. Courtney’s smirk slipped, and she took a breath prepared to let loose a verbal barrage.
“If you need money, we could always find you something more—” Matt visibly flinched under Courtney’s fiery glare.
Courtney reassumed the pitying look and shifted her Balenciaga bag higher up her arm.
Cara narrowed her eyes.Is that mine?
It wasn’t a particularly special bag, but it had been one of the things she still kept at her father’s house—her belongings that Courtney claimed she couldn’t find. After the reading of the will, she had barred the Bloom siblings from the property. Courtney followed Cara’s gaze and moved her other hand protectively over the bag. Then realizing how she had given herself away, she dropped her hand to her side.
Hot pressure built behind Cara’s eyes. She wasnotgoing to cry over a handbag! Cara sniffed as tears clogged her throat. In her periphery, she saw matching expressions of fascinated horror on Jerrod’s and Skye’s faces.
“Matt wants to play producer, so Mom’s going to buy him a studio,” Trey burst out, buying her a moment away from everyone’s intense scrutiny. Had Trey done that to help her? “I’m going to work in postproduction on the graphics.”
Cara vaguely remembered Trey had studied graphic arts in college. Frankly, he lived so completely in Matt’s shadow, sometimes Cara forgot he was there. Why was he risking his brother’s ire by speaking to her?
Matt’s face flushed dull red, and he took a step toward his brother as some of the crew tittered quietly. White-faced, Courtney stepped between her sons and placed a hand on Trey’s face, her painted nails stark against his pale cheeks. Identical, pale blue eyes looked down into his mother’s face. With her next breath, Courtney’s anger dissolved, and she patted Trey’s cheek fondly.
Veins bulged in Matt’s neck, the red in his face rapidly becoming a deep purple, and Cara had the stray thought that he might actually stroke out in front of them. Trey had always been the baby. But even Cara was surprised by Courtney’s preferential treatment.
“Shh, darling. You both will have the company.”
“I thought Bloom Communications was the company you gave Matt?”
The words were out before Cara realized it, but she didn’t regret it. Rage rolled through her, obliterating all previous plans to be the bigger person and get through this encounter. “That was the big move, right?” She cocked her head, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “To install Matt with his vast business experience as CEO? That’s why you pushed my brother out of our father’s company? Because Matt was going to play businessman.”
Did you kill my father for it?
Skye’s hand came up too late to hold in her burble of laughter.
Courtney’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You spoiled little—”
“Oh great! You found the set.” Brian practically jogged through the barn door to where they stood.
His radio crackled, and Brian twisted the knob to silence it. He turned a pained expression to Courtney while Cara scanned the people still watching the tableau play out. Someone must have radioed Brian that there was a problem with his potential buyers.
“So, did you see everything you were hoping for? Any questions?” Brian tried to slip an arm around Courtney’s waist to steer her away. “Let’s go back to my office and I can show you—”
Courtney planted her feet and swiveled back to face Cara. “No need for that.”
“But—”
The smile she gave Brian didn’t reach her eyes.
