“I won’t use this against you, and you won’t use your evidence against me. We both hold on to our leverage, so if either one of us attempts to use it against the other, we each have a means to exact revenge. I’m giving Curtis what he wants, so he’s no longer invested in this. The rest of your terms are now null and void. You let Vander and Diana off the hook, and I won’t destroy you.” In this scenario, I’m the winner, and I already know he’ll never agree to that.
He barks out a laugh. “Nice try, honey, but no deal.” He blows smoke clouds in my face, and I cough, waving my hands around to ward off the fumes. “You don’t have that much leverage.”
I was expecting this, and I’m prepared. “It’s really quite simple, Gregory. You either care about your career, your reputation, and maintaining your wealthy lifestyle or you only care about exerting power over your son, no matter the consequences. You’re an intelligent man. You’ve worked hard to build your reputation as one of the state’s top attorneys. I know Leland is going to sell the business to you when he retires.”
He quirks a brow.
“I’m office manager, Gregory. My team typed up the paperwork. It’s a done deal, and you don’t need Vander to run it with you. You never have, and you know he’s never going to be what you want him to be. This was all just a game.”
He shrugs. “I like fucking with him. He has never understood his place, and I’m not done teaching him life lessons.”
“You’re a sick bastard,” I blurt, and he laughs.
“I’m beginning to see the attraction.” He moves his hand toward my head, and I stab him with a warning look while taking a step back.
“Do not touch me, or I’ll send the emails I’ve already prepared to every one of your clients. All it’ll take is a press of a button.” I’m not lying. I have them all teed up.
He shrugs again, like I don’t pose any threat. “Let me educate you, Kendall. In order to negotiate a deal, you need to offer something of value to the other party. You stand to lose very little in this deal while I’ll lose my wife and son and the adrenaline rush I get from fucking with their heads. You need to meet me halfway.” He stubs the butt of his cigar out on the wall behind him. “Make me the offer you came here to make me.”
“I will end things with Vander and walk away from him if you relinquish your control on him. You agree not to interfere with his place in the Yale art program and not to use his mother to force him into doing your bidding. You will let him lead his life without interference from you, and you’ll let Diana divorce you. You promise not to kill them or hurt them in any way. You will not hand that falsified evidence to the police or any authority figure or post any of it online or share any of it in the community. You will not show it to my kids or to Vander.”
“That’s still asking a lot.”
“Is it?” I narrow my eyes to slits. “You were the one who said I was the key to all this. That Vander won’t survive losing me, so I think this is more than enough.”
He ponders my words for a few seconds before shaking his head. “I will agree on condition you stay away from him forever. That means no talking to him. No visiting him. No contact whatsoever, and you don’t mention this deal when breaking up with him, or ever. This term is nonnegotiable and based on you ending the relationship tonight. If I discover you’ve breached this term, at any time, I will personally hand-deliver the evidence to the cops. There is no statute of limitations on rape of a minor in Colorado.”
“Why do you hate him so much? Isn’t it enough to tear me away from him now? Why would it matter if we reconnected in the future?”
“Because I want to break him fully, and this is the only option I have left. What good is splitting you up now if he can find his way back to you later?” He shoves his hands in the pockets of his pants. “Vander needs to learn you don’t always get what you want in this life.”
“I think he’s already learned that lesson, and haven’t you broken him enough? He didn’t have a normal childhood, and you tried your best to break him over the years. He has suffered enough.”
“He will never be done suffering.” A look of pure malice washes over his face. “If I have to give up my plans and let him and that slut go, then this is the way it must be. Vander will never get over losing you. No matter how hard he tries, he will always be broken, and every day without you in his life will be a reminder of that.”
45
KENDALL
I’m strung tight as a bow as I climb the stairs to Vander’s apartment later that night. My heart is heavy as I contemplate what I’m about to do. I had no choice but to accept Greg’s terms. My motivations going into the meeting were to ensure Vander is free, and he is. I know preserving my relationship with him was a long shot, and I was prepared to sacrifice it because I knew I had to offer something to Greg, and that’s the only thing I could offer. He might think he has won, but I’m determined to take him down. This isn’t the ending. It’s only the beginning. And when I have put him behind bars, I will come for Vander and explain everything. I trust in our connection, and I know we will be together again when the timing is right.
Perhaps I’m delusional, but it’s the only way I can reconcile this within myself.
After walking away from Greg earlier, I turned the corner and emptied the contents of my stomach on the sidewalk. I know my actions have saved Vander, and I don’t regret the choice I have made, but it still feels like the biggest betrayal. I’ll have to put on the performance of a lifetime now to get him to believe I am ending things with him to move away and focus on my kids. If he pushes me, as I expect he will, I’ll have to lie. I’m going to have to tell him my feelings have changed, and I really don’t want to do that. It will break his heart and pour acid on all of our memories, so I pray I can avoid it.
I’ve been calling and texting him since school got out, but he hasn’t picked up. I stuck my head into the gym on my way up here, but Jimmy says he hasn’t been by today, so I’m figuring he must be at home.
When I reach the top of the stairs, I stand outside his door and press my head to the wood. Tears prick my eyes, and I can scarcely swallow over the messy ball of emotion clogging my throat.
I love him so much, and this is killing me.
Breaking his heart and walking away without knowing how or when I will see him again will devastate me as much as him, but I can’t bail now. If there had been any other way, I would have taken it. Straightening up, I swipe at the tears flowing from my eyes and remind myself of why I’m doing this. I’m protecting my kids and protecting the love of my life. My own feelings don’t come into it. Removing my compact from my purse, I patch up my makeup and disguise my blotchy skin. Then I take a deep breath and use my key to open the door to Vander’s apartment.
“Vander?” I shout in alarm, the instant I step foot into his place, gasping as I survey the devastation confronting me. His art studio is trashed. The chaise longue that holds such fond memories has been torn to shreds, and filler oozes from the ripped seating onto the floor. But it’s the destruction of his paintings that hurts more. Someone has dragged a knife through some of his canvases and splashed red paint on others.