“The look on your face when you lose will be enough payment to last me a lifetime.”
A humorless laugh left her, and in her unpleasant joy, I caught a glimpse of Maisie as if in a fun house mirror, warped and stretched and distorted. “You seem to forget the repository of weapons I have at my disposal. I believe you’re smart enough to know I’ll use them.”
Awareness climbed up my spine, raising every hair on its way up my neck. Maisie. But she couldn’t mean Maisie. She couldn’t possibly know.
Unless she’d really seen us just now.
I brushed the thought away. If she suspected, she wouldn’t be covert. She’d have detonated on the spot.
But I reminded her of one thing that had everything to do with Maisie, whether she knew it or not.
“If you think I’ll let you ruin one more good thing in the world, you’re mistaken.”
An indifferent shrug, a twisted smile. “I’ll win either way. Shame you won’t be able to save yourself.” With that, she turned and strode out of the courtroom, and I let her go without another word.
Feeding that particular beast would only make it hungrier. And when I finally chose to battle her, I would end it once and for all.
Ben sighed. “She never quits, does she?”
“No. And I have a bad feeling things are about to get much worse.”
He frowned, but I didn’t elaborate as we exited the courtroom. Down the hall, Evelyn and Thompson had their heads together. Maisie sat on the bench next to them like a child told to be quiet and wait until the grown ups were finished. The second I caught her eye, she jerked her chin to the hallway under the restroom sign.
“I’ll catch you later, Ben,” I said.
His eyes narrowed, and when he sighed, it was clear that he knew. “Be careful,” was all he said before turning and walking out, being sure to take the route that kept him away from the Bowers.
And I ducked into the hallway and out of sight.
It was the closest thing to privacy that we could have, and I leaned against the wall with my hands in my pockets as if I were waiting for someone to exit the restrooms, just in case her mother followed.
Maisie rounded the corner with a placid look on her face, but the second she was out of their sight, she rushed over, snagged my hand, and dragged me into the men’s restroom.
I blinked, grateful it was empty.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I only have a second, but, oh God, Marcus … I think she knows.”
“No—I don’t think she’d be able to keep it together if she knew. But she might suspect.” I cupped her jaw in my hands, tilting her face up to search it. “What do you want to do?”
The wrinkle between her brows made me feel sick to my stomach.
You will ruin this girl, you selfish son of a bitch.
“I … I don’t know.”
“Do you still want to come over?”
“God, yes. I’ll be over as soon as I can get away. She’s going back to work, but I took the day. Shouldn’t be too hard to get to you.”
I brought my lips to hers, kissed her tenderly, ardently before letting her go. “I’ll be waiting.”
That wrinkle smoothed, her smile giving me the falsest of hopes that everything would work out.
With a swift kiss to her forehead, I made for the door, leaving first to make sure the coast was clear. She passed before I ducked back in to wait it out, looking back for the smallest moment of reassurance, which I both gave and took.
And then she was gone.
I stepped back into the restroom, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I was the picture of sobriety—back straight, proud nose, lips flat, eyes stern.
No one would ever know that beneath that mask, I was a wildfire.
It was hours before she was in my arms, and I didn’t calm down until that moment.
It had been an unbearable stretch of time, one consumed with imaginings of the worst. Her mother confronting her about me. A fight and disownment.
Maisie losing everything because I was too selfish to walk away.
The second she was through my door, I swept her into my arms, kissed her with reckless misery at the ways I’d hurt her simply for wanting her.
When the tension in her body dissolved, so did mine, and only then did I let her lips go.
The rest of her I held on to.
She smiled lazily up at me, sighing away the world beyond my door.
“Are you all right?” I asked, thumbing her cheek.
“I am now.”
“Did she say anything? Does she know?”
“She didn’t say a word about you, so she must.”
I kissed her again and released her.
“They spent a long time talking about mediation,” she said, leading me toward the stairs. “Their plan is to be as obstructive as they can without getting in any more trouble, and they’re going to do whatever they can to bait you. And the carrot of choice is your mother.”
I swore under my breath.
“It’s going to be ugly, Marcus. I can feel it. I don’t know what she’ll do, how she’ll hurt you, but she will. If she puts it together, she might bar me from legal meetings. Or worse. After today, I don’t know how much good I’ll be.”
“Maisie, you’ll always be good for me.” But I’m not good for you.
She smiled over her shoulder. “I hope so. But … well, where the lawsuit is concerned, I might be out of the game.” Once in my room, she sat heavily on the end of my bed and kicked off her heels. “What are we going to do?”
“Something neither of us wants. We’re going to have to be more careful.”
This time, her sigh was resigned.
“Until the lawsuit is settled, we have to try not to see each other. Otherwise, we’ll never throw your mother off the scent.”
“Maybe I should change perfumes,” she teased, stretching her feet. But her wan smile disappeared. “I don’t want to stay away.”
“Neither do I. But I’ve already put you in enough danger with her.” I pulled off my jacket, then my tie. “It’ll have to be lunches and extended work outings for the charity. Times when you’re already out, things that can be easily explained.”
Her frown was more of a pout, her chin flexed and eyes shiny. “It will never cease to amaze me how swiftly she can ruin everything good in my life.”
I sat next to her on the end of the bed, pulling her legs into my lap. “There are many things she has control over, but not our hearts. She can’t ruin us,” I said to convince both myself and her. “This is temporary, Maisie—just a blip. I’ve made this hard enough for you, so let’s do the smart thing instead of what we want. Just this once.”
“Just this once? Promise?”
I chuckled, sliding her closer by the hook of her knees. “Promise. Because after we tell your mother, all bets are off. We’re going to do whatever the fuck we want to do.”
She giggled, the sound bringing a smile to my face. It was impossible to feel anything but pleased and easy joy at her happiness.
“So what’ll it be?” I asked, unfastening the highest button of her tailored shirt, which she’d left blessedly low. “Whatever the fuck do you want to do after all this?”
“Well, let’s see …” she started, smiling as I undid another button, rewarded with the view of her breasts, swathed in sheer nude lace. “I’ve thought about starting up another center, maybe like Harvest. But either way, I want to do something meaningful. Something that gives back.”