Chapter 30

F or all Kevin's posturing about him and Cameron living like normal people, not indulging in obscene wealth, honestly—the house was a little much for one person. But I guess the rules were different for a man, weren't they?

Hadn't even thought about the possibility of it—that I knew exactly where the guy lived. That house in Coconut Grove that was still listed as Cameron's address in the account—she'd told me how she'd let him have the house. Probably bought with her money in the first place, but he didn't seem too proud to accept her generosity.

Was I genuinely out of my mind showing up here? Probably. But I'd have been out of my mind to just walk away, leave Miami behind, to stand by watching while he got his hooks back into Cameron.

It was mostly about Cameron, honestly. Turned out I was a little possessive when I got serious about someone. Discovering new things about myself all the time.

I got out of the car into the hazy light of dusk that played in the palm trees along the long, neat street, down the driveway that wound longer than anyone needed a driveway. The lights were on at the house—didn't really know what I would have done if Kevin hadn't been here. Or maybe it was Cameron and she'd already gone back there.

I wasn't thinking things like that.

I didn't stop for breath or a single thought until I was at the front door and I'd rapped hard, twice, and I shoved my hands in my pockets, leaning against one of the square columns at the front entrance—a two-story house with a decorated front entrance, tall arched windows along the front, a dramatic bay window on the second floor looking directly out into a wall of trees, because people who lived in houses like these were always terrified at the fact that they had neighbors. Fancy place. Not obscene-wealth—I'd worked with enough of those—but solidly upper-middle class, petite bourgeoisie pretending to be royalty. Suited Kevin.

No answer from the door. A sensible person would have walked away. I rapped hard again, and I wasn't above playing dirty, because I dropped my voice deeper and shouted, "Signature for a delivery!"

There was a rustling from inside, and then footsteps coming down the stairs with a heavy, world-weary sigh before the door swung open—like a true salesperson, I stuck my foot in the door just before he saw me, made a face, and tried to close it.

"What the hell are you—"

"Oh, god forbid somebody show up uninvited to a home while someone else is there. You wouldn't dream of it, would you, Kevin?"

He tried to shove my foot out of the door, but it meant he let up on the pressure on the door itself, and I pushed it open, walking in behind him. He spun on me, red-faced, sweat on his brow. Ostensibly, the guy was dressed down, wearing a polo shirt and khakis, but something about it still looked like he was trying to be something he wasn't, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why that energy drove me out of my mind.

"I'll call the police on you," he said.

I folded my arms. "Try it. I'll tell them you were trying to kidnap me. Have a lot of people who would corroborate my story, especially given you're already trying to ensnare one woman."

He shot me a dirty look, folding his arms, matching mine. Mirroring my gestures—he stood a little to one side as well, angled his shoulders in the same way I did. Standard persuasion tactic, building invisible rapport. I'd used it a million times. "What the hell do you want?" he said, and I put my hands up, deliberately breaking the posture he was mirroring, squaring my shoulders with him instead, standing with my feet wider.

"What do you think I want? You're trying to force my girlfriend into a marriage with you. Work it out, buddy."

He was hesitant, but he matched my posture, too, mirroring me into an aggressive, confrontational position, hands out. "Not your girlfriend as much as a girl who took you on a desperate fling looking for some meaning in her life."

I shifted my posture again, hands in my pockets, giving him a dry, sarcastic look. "Sounds like you adore her. I can see why you're so desperate to have her back, with the way you talk about her."

He matched my fucking posture again. Made me want to punch him in the face. "Love looks like a lot more things than just fucking someone random a couple times and calling her your girlfriend. Sometimes it looks like making sure someone gets off a self-destructive path. But you'd know that better if you hadn't been on destructive paths your whole life."

I pursed my lips. Should have brought Ruth after all. She'd begged to come with me, but I'd told her I had to do this myself… really I think it was just that I didn't want anyone to see me if it didn't work. "Looked me up a bit, huh?"

"What can I say? I'm a diligent guy." He pursed his lips too—I hadn't even done it watching to see if he was mirroring me, he was just mimicking every little thing. It felt like itchy clothes all over me, an overwhelming presence I wanted to rip off. "Have you ever known what it's actually like to commit to something? Or do you just cruise on with things that are about to break and then hop onto the next?"

"What, you think I—"

"I'm sure it's easy for you to talk serious love, commitment, when you've never seen anything through. You've walked away from everything," he said. "Just the kind of spineless worm who's there while things are nice, while things are easy, and then you drift away. But you know that, don't you?"

I tasted bile, but I swallowed it back down. "Bold words from the one who pushed Cameron away, said she was too successful for your fragile ego, and now you're begging for her back."

"You take her word for all of it without reservations—"

"And I'm supposed to take yours?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Is there a single thing you've done for Cameron's life? Her business? One thing, other than trying to siphon off as much money as you can with your bloodsucking company, trying to manipulate her into thinking she needs to spend as much as she can to feel complete—"

"You don't fucking know what she's—"

"Have you ever helped her do one thing she's proud of? Or are you just dragging her into the same rhythm you're in—drift to something until it's hard, run away, care about the next thing?"

"I'll thank you to mind your own—"

"Oh, this is my business," he said, stepping forward. "This is my wife you're talking about, despite everything. Just because we separated doesn't mean I don't care. Love is a lot more complicated than that, and you'd know if you ever committed—"

"I don't think you know the first thing about loving someone when you don't—"

"And I was happy to see her chase the things she cared about, but when you entered the picture—when your damn company came into the equation, luring her into self-destructive tendencies—that's when I had to do something."

" Do something being destroying her brand—"

"That brand that's dragged her deeper and deeper into this bullshit. You know her well enough to know the way it eats at her." He paused, glinting a smile at me. "Or maybe you don't."

I swallowed, a heavy feeling over me, but I mustered up enough to shoot him a glare. "And I'm supposed to believe this very deep, intricate read of her when you don't even have any read on yourself."

He laughed, taking another step in, backing me up—I didn't even mean to, just his presence coming closer compelled me back up to where my back hit the wall. "I think," he said, his voice deep, just a low murmur, "I sense projection."

Dammit—the way he got under my skin, it drove me insane. The way he made everything itch, the way he made me feel… small. The way he made Cameron feel miles away. I didn't realize until too late that I was shrinking away from him, and then when I did, it was too late—I was small under him, wincing, my posture weak, his strong.

He folded his arms. "I hear you're going to leave Miami," he said. "Been quite a run you've had here, from the sounds of things. Good luck in the next place."

God, this guy made me sick. Even now, gloating, he did it like he was controlling somebody else's body.

Maybe there was a reason that coin said tails.

Or maybe it was just a stupid piece of metal.

I folded my arms, matching him, but not with the same energy—folding my arms like his but faltering, shoulders hunched forward. "What the hell would you know?" I said, my voice muddled, trying to project something I wasn't.

"I know a whole hell of a lot. A lot more than you do. And I'll thank you to stay out of things. Now, can I show you the door? You can help yourself out of this damn city the way you helped yourself inside the damn house."

I dropped my arms, letting my hands fall awkwardly by my sides, and I looked away, dropping my gaze to his collar. "I just… want Cameron to be happy."

"You've done a piss-poor job of it so far."

Bingo. He mirrored my gesture. Shape-shifting demon that he was, he dropped his arms by his sides, too, weakening his voice. I swallowed, breathing visibly, before I pushed out, "I've done perfectly well. She's been happy with me. I think you've done worse."

" I've done everything that needs doing. Made the hard decisions, where you can't."

I was quiet for a second before I put my hands in my pockets, signaling smallness this time, timidity. "Why do there have to be things like this? The… hard things where we have to sacrifice what makes us happy. She's been perfectly happy with me."

"You don't know the first thing about what she's really like. You don't know the… the times we had together. The years."

"The years that have led to something like this?"

He kept following my movements, and by now, he wasn't looking at me either—had looked to the window frame next to me, his hands in his pockets in an awkward, uncomfortable posture like mine. "You couldn't know. It's been a long time. Longer than you've been a part of anything."

I murmured something inaudible. He gave me an inquisitive look.

"What was that?"

"Do you want me to say it?"

He shifted awkwardly. Got him tied up in his own net—the awkwardness he'd mirrored me into, the change in dynamic, forcing him to answer a question honestly—he was without the supports for what he was supposed to do, what he was supposed to put on, and he'd gotten himself deeper into this uncomfortable rut, until now he looked like he wanted to itch his own skin off. "Just say it already," he said.

"I told you to go fuck yourself," I said, looking up into his eyes, and he flinched backwards. "You think I'm going to leave Miami because of this?"

"I—" he started, but he stopped talking when I cut him off this time.

"You've read enough about me to know that I'm going to hunt you to the ends of the earth," I said. "And I'm going to turn everyone you know against you. And you know I will, don't you?"

"What are you—"

I stepped forward, and he took a step backwards, but I wasn't letting him have any control over this interaction—I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him back towards me, leaning in, and he leaned back away. "You've known all along," I said. "That's why you had to control Cameron the way you did. Why you had to sway her with pretty promises to get her to marry you. Why you have to keep her to a fraction of who she actually is. Because you know you're just a hollow shell of a man, and anybody with any character can twist people away from you—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He pushed my hand away from him, and I went with it, pretending I'd been waiting for him to do it, because that was when I walked to the side, circling him, my shoes clicking on the hardwood as he turned with a wild look in his eyes, following me.

"Shut the fuck up, Kevin. You know what I'm talking about. Asking stupid fucking questions won't shake me. I'm not here for a discussion, I'm here to tell you something you need to know. You're being shortsighted with Cameron, and you know it. You can bring her back now, but I've already gotten to her. She's already seen outside of your prison walls."

"I'm not—"

"Shut up," I snapped, flicking my hand in front of his face so he flinched, losing his sentence with it. "You can close her back up in a cage if you want, but she'll always be looking to escape. And you know you can't make her want to stay. And it eats at you, doesn't it, Kevin? It haunts you like a fucking nightmare." I stopped circling him with his back to the wall now, and when I lurched in towards him, he backed up, hitting the wall—the reversal of the position earlier, and all the power I'd portrayed in the dynamic, now in my hands. His eyes flicked everywhere but mine. "And you read about me, Kevin. You read about how I can sway anyone, on anything, and you know about what will happen if you force Cameron away from me now. That's why you're so keen on seeing me out of Miami, isn't it, Kevin? Because you know Cameron in your hands is going to be a ticking time bomb—knowing I will always be there, hunting down everywhere you go. Everyone you talk to will turn against you. Every deal you make will blow up in your face. And that whole time, Cameron will be there watching me, and you'll know she wants me, not you. Never you. Because—" I put my hand in his face, pointing, and he leaned away, pupils dilated now. "Because you know, don't you? You know she's never loved you. Not once. Not for one second. And that's what haunts you the most—knowing that you love her and she has never, can never, will never love you. And why you have to be everyone but yourself."

"Get the fuck out of my face," he snapped, pushing my hand away. This was good, now—finally saw it in his eyes, the desperate flare of fear, flashing out into anger.

"Sure," I said, stepping back, and it pulled the floor out from under him—he watched me with wild eyes, scanning, flicking over the room. "I'll stay out of your face. I'll stay well out of your way—you'll never even see me. But you'll know I'm there, and every time something turns against you, you'll know what's happened. You'll know who's the bad luck charm haunting your life. And you'll know Cameron knows where I am all the damn time. And you know, Kevin?" I stood taller, putting my chin up. "I hope you rot in the hell you've created. I hope every day haunts you. So go ahead and play your hand with Cameron and her brand. And get comfortable, because this game is going to keep going until you let her go."

"I'm not afraid of you," he growled, but his face told a different story. I laughed.

"You've always been a slippery liar. But you can never convince yourself. Goodbye, Kevin. Remember, you can get out of this whenever you want to. You know what you have to do."

He clenched his fists tighter, a wild look on his expression—flaring red—should maybe have been concerned that maybe he'd throw a punch, that he'd actually just get hands-on and try to get rid of the problem at the source. Should have brought Ruth after all.

But even if he wanted to try, he didn't get a chance, because—as much as everything fit exactly into whatever little semblance of a plan I had right now, one thing went wildly beyond anywhere I could have planned it, because the door unlatched and swung open, and I whirled with my heart in my mouth to where Cameron stood in the doorway, the low violet dusk light behind her casting her in silhouette, leaning against the doorframe with her hand in her pocket.

" Cam? Baby—" Kevin started, but she held a hand up.

"My name is Cameron. Say it properly. I've already contacted the divorce attorney anyway, so let's skip to the good part, shall we?"

My stomach dropped, turning back on her. "Cameron—what? You're… are you okay?"

She smiled at me in that way that made my chest flutter, no matter the situation—even this damn one here, now, where I couldn't work out up from down, heads from tails. "More than okay, hearing you lay into the guy like that."

Kevin took a step towards us, anger flashing in his eyes, but he was broken—I'd already worn him down to the point where everything was desperation. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you seriously telling me you're going to sacrifice the whole brand, your whole life, just for this girl?"

She looked idly down at her fingernails. "Hm. Well, seems like it. Anya would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't. But you're welcome to try, anyway. We've already submitted the motion to leave the parent company anyway."

It felt like a dash of water to the face, and for Kevin, too, judging by the look on his face. "You're not serious," he said. "And everyone in your company? Did you even talk to them before—"

"Kevin, as always, you grossly overestimate yourself," Cameron said. "Did you really think you of all people would be able to singlehandedly dismantle a brand like mine? We've already partnered with a new firm to handle the physical logistics, and we're planning a promotional campaign for the move to independent."

"You're fucking lying," Kevin snapped. "How the hell would you—"

"With a little help," she laughed lightly. "From London, of course. God knows the woman can do anything. And God knows that she's not the only one willing to hunt you to the ends of the earth if you do something to the other one of us."

My heart flopped in my stomach, a nervous, giddy sensation, looking her over. "Cameron…"

She smiled my way, holding out a hand for me. "Come on, princess," she said. "I'm not keen on talking to you in front of this man."

"There's no firm taking you on after all this," Kevin said. "Not after—"

"Technically, you're right," Cameron said. "Hasn't been established yet. But a small group fronted by an old friend of London's is interested in leveraging some recently freed-up assets and taking advantage of what's sure to be a fire sale on our contracts and retail outlets… someone with a very strong reputation in real estate."

My stomach swooped, and it took a second to find words through the pounding of my heartbeat. "You don't mean…"

She smiled sweetly at me. "Someone who's interested in taking you on for the new firm, too. Had apparently heard you'd make an exception to work for one boss."

"Cam—" Kevin started, stepping forward, put Cameron put a hand up.

"I think we've said enough here. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be in touch plenty through the divorce proceedings."

He crumpled. Not a lot of times I'd seen a man so thoroughly collapse into himself—someone completely lose everything right before his eyes, breaking down like paper stars crushed under too much weight. "Please, darling," he said, his voice small. "I just wanted to help you… you know that."

"I never asked for your help. And after having seen it first-hand, I don't think I'll be asking for it anytime soon. That's more than enough. London—let's go."

She held out her hand, and she led us out to where her car was parked next to mine, and she got the passenger door on her car for me. I didn't even think about the logistics, ditching my car here—Cameron held the door open for me, so I got in, and she sat in the driver's seat, leaning back against the seat, resting her head backwards, and she laughed, turning her head to look at me.

"Gets a girl excited hearing you eviscerate a man like that."

"Are you serious?" I whirled on her. "Then that's—"

"Very serious. I arrived to hear you yelling, and I decided to hang outside until you'd finished, because if I walked in on that, I'd have ended up making out with you on the spot."

"That's—well, it's good to know," I said, my face prickling. My heart still pounded like I was waiting for something to fall any second, to break, like I was in the middle of a desperate sprint and didn't know why it had paused. "But you know what I mean. That's it? You're leaving the parent company, striking out—"

"Anya told me I didn't have a choice, so—ah, it seems that way." She shrugged lightly. "I'd like to see what I can do in this life, when it comes down to it. And that would end the moment I went back to him. Besides, I, well…" She looked away, tousling idly at the back of her hair. "I'd miss you too much if you left Miami. It would be extremely inconsiderate of you to do that—just leave me there in a state where I could never find another woman like you, compare everyone I ever met to you and find them all lacking. I'd end up having to go to Vegas too and track you down, and I can't imagine I'd like Vegas much, so, really, this was the only option."

I stared at her for an eternity before I heard myself let out one little breathless laugh, shaking my head. "Cameron… you're not getting shy all of a sudden, are you?"

"Might be. I've never done this before." She turned back, smiling softly at me, where she was lit up in an ethereal glow from the violet warmth of the Miami dusk. "I'm not going to lie, this is risky. I contacted María Gonzales, talked to her about some things… and I ended up signing on the property."

"The…"

"The one you took me to earlier. Don't be coy. I told you I want living-room dance parties with just the two of us. I figured it would be a good way to convince you not to leave this city."

I swallowed a thick lump, feeling like I was seeing stars, like my head was spinning around—swimming, in the radiance that was this woman. "You don't do anything in half measures, do you?"

She laughed. "It was a practical move, too, darling, but you know that, don't you?"

"Secured the property, moved the liquid to pay it right away, and now it's collateral for María's move to buy the properties at the bottom of the drop once this moves forward."

She smiled wider, eyes sparkling. "You're every bit as good as she is. I didn't have a clue what was happening, but that's exactly what she did. Needless to say—I've had an exciting day, and I am really going to need to get back into the office, but I had to go extend a job offer to you personally. On someone else's behalf. María said she could use someone like you to help make this work, and who better for Queen Pearl's new life than the one who made the last one work?"

I laughed thickly, looking down. "I can't believe you just… up and… all of that. I didn't even know what I was trying to do, just convince Kevin of anything, try to do anything…"

"London." She laid a hand on my arm, gentle, soft, perfect. "You didn't go around thinking you had to do everything, did you?"

I ducked my head. "Maybe it's a bad habit I get sometimes."

"With the lashing you just gave Kevin, I think he'll back off after this. I don't believe I've ever seen him so… brought down to size."

I shook my head, looking up at her through tears I didn't want to admit were there, because… how corny was that? "You know, it's damn sexy when you swoop in like an angel of vengeance and save the day."

"Noted. I'll find every opportunity to in the future. But I'm also looking forward to…" She gestured vaguely in the air. "How do I even say it? What's the term that encompasses quiet mornings with you, you popping into the office at random times just to see me, going to the opera and to dive bars—that encompasses making love late into the night and then rushing out the door together in the morning after sleeping in late, city drives with my hand on your knee, and taking you to high-profile rooftop parties and living-room dance parties in our pajamas—what's the term for that?"

I let out a long, slow breath, looking out at the city—at that Miami skyline that I guess was home after all.

"Being happy," I said. "I think that's the term."