One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [49]
Kyle gazed long and hard at him. “Then how about sharing them with me. You know as well as I do this deal is a steal. Nicholas Chenault has done an outstanding job with Chenault Electronics since his father’s death. And at the age of thirty, he’s already proven to be an even better businessman than his father was. At the rate he’s going, there’s a good possibility Chenault Electronics will become the largest black-owned electronic business in the country.”
“Then why does he need our help?” Sterling asked, slowly taking another sip of wine.
“Because of necessary expansion and further research. Chenault’s development of that mangolid chip will move them into the twenty-second century. That fact is a given. He just needs more capital to back him. I think it will be a worthwhile investment.”
“I don’t want any part of it, Kyle. End of discussion,” Sterling said angrily.
Kyle stared long and hard at his best friend. He then came and sat across from him. “No, Sterling, it’s not the end of discussion. I want to know what you have against Nicholas Chenault.”
Sterling’s eyes clashed with Kyle’s. His body began executing an emotional somersault as pain he thought he’d buried long ago resurfaced. He inclined his head in silent acknowledgement.
“I’ve never really told you everything about my mother have I, Kyle?”
Kyle frowned. He wondered why Sterling was deliberately changing the subject. “You told me she walked out on you and your father when you were only six weeks old.”
Sterling nodded. He suddenly felt tired and drained. “Yes, but what I never told you is that after she left us and divorced Dad, she moved to Florida and married a very wealthy man a few years later. I only saw her once as a child and that was purely by accident. I was six years old at the time and had accompanied a youth group to Charlotte. She happened to be there and was staying at the same hotel I was.”
Sterling sighed deeply. “She was there with her new husband and their one-year-old son.”
He paused briefly before continuing. “I recognized her immediately. Dad never removed her picture from his bedroom dresser so I knew how she looked. Not knowing any better, I walked over to where she was standing alone holding her little boy and asked when she was coming home to me and my dad.”
There was silence in the room before Kyle asked softly, “What did she say?”
Sterling chuckled. It was a deep heart-wrenching sound. “At that instant she recognized me, too, not as the little boy she had given birth to six years before, but as a threat to her new life with her husband and child. She denied even knowing me and went so far as to summon hotel security. She told them I was harassing her and her son. I got a good tongue-lashing from the security officer in front of all my friends. That day my mother denied my very existence, and it hurt like hell.”
Anger swept through Kyle. He could not believe anyone could be that cruel and heartless to a child. Even now he could feel Sterling’s pain, his anger, his hurt.
“But what does all that have to do with Nicholas Chenault and Chenault Electronics?”
Sterling met his gaze directly. “It seems Nicholas Chenault and I have something in common.”
Kyle frowned in confusion. “What?”
“The same woman gave birth to the both of us.”
Kyle was shocked. He stood and began pacing the full length of Sterling’s office. Then he stopped and met Sterling’s gaze. “You mean to tell me Nicholas Chenault is your half brother? He’s the little boy your mother was holding that day you saw her?”
Sterling nodded his head. He stood and walked over to the window. This time when he looked out he didn’t see Colby. All he saw was darkness. It was the same darkness that had plagued his life since finding out as a child that his mother hadn’t wanted him. He turned back to Kyle.
“Yes, so to bring it all home to you, Angeline Chenault, the widow of Alan Chenault, is my mother, and Nicholas Chenault, their son, is my biological brother.”
“Does he know?”
“I doubt it. I doubt even Alan Chenault knew about his wife’s past.”
Sighing, Sterling