“Don’t thank me yet. I don’t think Caroline is going to give up anytime soon.”
We both let several moments go by in silence. What Caroline’s doing is going to end up affecting both families in the room, one way or another. She’s already done enough damage. I don’t want her to ruin the fragile peace we’re building.
“I’m glad you’re here.” I look Cash in the eye. “Really glad. It means a lot to me, Cash.”
He nods, glancing down, and I’ve never seen him so hesitant. So out of his depth. He was the sibling who was best at the Constantine parties. Cash takes a deep breath and narrows his eyes conspiratorially. “Want to dance?”
“Only if you promise not to step on my feet.”
Cash takes one big step away and starts dancing. He’s slightly stiff. His ribs must be hurting him. It takes weeks for ribs to heal. “I never stepped on you,” he says. “But you did elbow me in the face once. Remember that?”
He reaches a hand out and spins me toward him, and we dance.
“That was an accident. I thought there was a bug.”
“I barely survived,” he says seriously. And then Leo is there, taking me in his arms.
I stay in this golden, glittering dream, hoping it never ends. The cake is so good I could cry. The presents, wrapped in thick gilt paper and glittering bows, contain expensive, luxurious gifts. I unwrap my first-ever Louis Vuitton clutch while Daphne leans over to see and my face turns hot, then hotter.
There’s everything I could have wanted for a birthday party, but even in my wildest dreams, I never could have conjured up Leo Morelli. He watches me with those dark eyes, the ones that scared me at the beginning. They seemed full of violence. Now I know it’s true. He promises a million sleepless nights, holding me, hurting me. This birthday is more than a special day. It’s a milestone, one where I’m no longer a little girl. I’m a woman now, and I’m not afraid.
Chapter Nineteen
Leo
Haley is pink and pleased after her party, and so exhausted she falls asleep the moment her head touches her pillow.
I, on the other hand, cannot sleep. The pain is too much. It’s set off by stress, and I can’t relax about it until after the meeting is over.
The next day comes too early all the same.
Cash wasn’t the only Constantine I made contact with in the run-up to the party. Haley’s brother was the more difficult call. He didn’t believe there was going to be a party at all. The only way to convince him to come was to offer him his own personal bodyguard. Fine. Done.
In the car on the way to the city in the morning, I wish the second call hadn’t been so easy. It was too fucking simple. Like it was meant to be.
I invited Cash to Haley’s party because I had to. If I’m going to make this work for her—if I’m going to make being with me work for her—then I’m going to have to solve all these problems with her family. Isolation from them would break her heart. So I arranged for Cash to attend. I just need her to see that she doesn’t have to choose.
That I’ll make whatever she wants a reality.
She was happy last night. Happy with how things had gone with Cash. Which means there’s one other Constantine I need to get under control.
I can’t deal with Caroline directly for obvious reasons. So, in the way of powerful families since time immemorial, I have set up a meeting with her eldest son. Winston didn’t even put up a fight. He just scheduled the damn thing.
It feels very much like penance. Opening my heart to Haley is turning out to demand more pain than I thought possible.
Thomas parks in a structure near Halcyon and accompanies me into the glass building. All of my drivers are also skilled bodyguards, so he should be enough. I hate going to Constantine properties at the best of times. I don’t want to be here now. But showing up with a full team is off the table. Not if I want a compromise.
He stays with me outside Winston’s office. The bastard makes me wait three minutes past our appointment time, and then his secretary shows me in. Thomas posts himself at the door.
Perry stands near the corner of Winston’s desk. He has a black eye and a bruise on his cheek. “Hey, asshole,” he says. “I hope you’re in a better mood today.”
“Perry.” Winston doesn’t look thrilled to see me. He looks like he always looks. Clean cut. Cocky. And irritated. “I’ll talk to you after lunch.”
“I can’t wait.” A sarcastic tone. Perry snaps up a folder from Winston’s desk and leaves, walking around me in a wide arc. “Try to keep your hands to yourself,” he mutters to me.
Winston watches him go, then crosses his arms over his chest. I take the seat opposite him.
And wait.
After a minute he lets out an annoyed breath. “You wanted to meet with me, prick. Did you come to apologize for beating the shit out of my brothers? And in our own house.”
“If you want an apology, you’ll have to ask your mother.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Listen.” This is already the most painful thing in my existence, bar none. I cannot go back and forth with Winston right now. “I know we hate each other. I know you’re pissed at me for beating up Keaton and Perry. But this shit with Haley has to stop.”
“She was sick. My mother was only trying to help, and you broke into her house like a fucking psychopath. Are you even taking care of her, or do you have her locked in a dungeon?”
“She wasn’t sick. Caroline sent one of her bulldogs to take Haley from my house. To fucking kidnap her. She didn’t intend to let her go.”
Winston scoffs. “Let her go where? She’s my cousin. She belongs with us. I don’t care what kind of deal you signed with Phillip. No Constantine belongs in a house with you.”
“This isn’t about the deal with Phillip.”
“Then what is it about?” He checks his watch. “I don’t have all day to listen to your bullshit complaints, Leo. Are you sad you didn’t get to fuck my cousin enough times to make up for some perceived slight? Get the fuck over it. You’re lucky we haven’t pressed charges.”
There’s no other way to explain it.
I’ve turned it over in my head a thousand times. There’s no other way to explain why Caroline is doing what she’s doing without going back to the beginning. Every muscle, every cell, resists taking out my phone. Opening the correct app. Pulling up the videos.
I’ve had them for eighteen years. I can’t stand to see them. I only look when I have to transfer the files. Fire ripples out from the scars and covers every inch of my skin. My own body trying to warn me. This is too far, too far, too far.
It’s also necessary. Winston and the rest of the Constantines invest heavily in reputation management. In building a narrative featuring them as the benevolent rulers of Bishop’s Landing and my family as the convenient evil foil.
What Caroline did goes against every story the Constantines tell about themselves. He’ll have to see it to believe it.
I turn the phone around and put it in the center of Winston’s desk. He stares at me over it, eyes narrowed.
“That’s what this is about.”