“He’s driving a red Porsche,” he replied, like that was better than a name. “A rental.”
I shook my head. Odds were good that Clint was hunting down his escaped former fiancé, and it was reasonable for him to start with me. “Send him in. I’ll meet him at the door of the lab.” I wiped my hands with a rag and then headed outside, refusing to feel like an idiot in my pink pants. I did take off my glasses, though. I didn’t want to break the glass with its multi-screens that showed me what all my assistants were working on at the same time I was working on my basic drone. They’d taken a lot of effort to get just right.
When I opened the door, Clint swung the car in front of me, raising a generous cloud of dust from the gravel. He waited until it settled a bit before he got out of the low-slung vehicle, looking relaxed, confident, handsome, wealthy- everything most women wanted in a man.
He smiled and held up his hand to shade his eyes, taking off his glasses with the other. “Look at that sun, bright even in November. How is business doing?” He shook my hand with a grip that was a little too strong.
“I can’t complain.”
His grip tightened; his smile grew wider. “Dani Divine? Haversham is going to kill you for prostituting his granddaughter. Where is she?”
I tried to release his grip, but he dug in, and the man had surprising strength. “You’re talking about your ex-fiancé? I really couldn’t say. Maybe she’s still in Boston. That’s where she lives, isn’t it?”
His fingers dug painfully into my hand, but his smile never slipped. “Yes, it is where myfiancélives, but while we’re having this small misunderstanding, she’s getting some sun. There is no arguing about the vast quantity of sun in this godforsaken place.Where is she?” His voice was lower at the end, flickering with anger he was too well-bred to show.
I gripped his hand back, putting an extra squeeze in there to grind his bones together. “If I knew where she was, I wouldn’t tell you. She left you for a reason.”
He bared his teeth at me. “You’re the reason. She called her friend, and I traced the call here. You do realize that she’s here to destroy you, right? Whatever she tells you, you can never trust her , not when you are her enemy. She doesn’t want you. She’ll never want you.”
I clenched my teeth while I struggled to break his hand before he crushed mine. “I’m disappointed in you. You shouldn’t come to her target and announce her intentions. That’s just in poor taste. Your family would be disappointed.”
His smile relaxed, and he released my grip and stepped back. “My mother would be disappointed if I didn’t bring my sweet Daniela home. My mother adores her almost as much as I do. And your mother, what are her feelings towards my fiancé? Daniela deserves to be welcomed into the bosom of her future husband’s family, not humiliated and left on the side of the road, or do you disagree?”
The muscles in my jaw ached from clenching so tight, but somehow I forced a smile. “One cannot choose one’s parents, unfortunately. I saw that video. She’s very good.”
He sniffed. “Good? She’s a real musician, not the daughter of a good family parading as such. Your sister, before she killed herself and dragged your family’s name through the scandal sheets, was moderately talented. Pity about Trevor quitting when he was so gifted, but without character, talent will never be enough.”
A rush of rage went through me. He’d dragged my sister into this? What right did he have? Because I’d stolen his fiancé. I’d made it personal. I swallowed down the anger. “Andyour talents, Clint, where do they lie? You certainly don’t have character.”
He flashed another smile, harder than the last. “I’m talented at getting what I want, and keeping what I have.”
“That sounds positively worthless.”
“I’m still worth more than you. My family is older, my parents more pleasant, and I am more handsome.”
Somehow I didn’t roll my eyes. The ego of this guy was even more enormous than I remembered it being. He should come to Vegas and get his teeth knocked out every month or so, just so he could realize how transient life was. “All of that? How can you endure yourself and your magnificence?”
“She makes my life more than bearable. She is a necessary part of me.”
Yeah, and he’d used pieces of her that left her hyperventilating and unable to touch me. He’d broken her, and he dared claim that she was nothing more than a piece of him? Somehow, I didn’t kill him, but if he said one more thing, I was going to lose it. I forced a calming breath through my nose before I smiled again. “Wow. I had no idea that she sprang up from your ego. I’ve always been impressed by it, but now I’m stunned. Get out.”
His eyes widened a fraction than narrowed. “Do you have a reason, or are you just?—”
“Who’s this?” Nix asked, putting an arm around Clint’s shoulder and holding him in place. Nix looked kind of sweet and almost stupid when he wanted you to relax so that he could feast more easily on your underbelly.
“You’re Nix Death-hammer,” Clint said, not falling for it. He wasn’t stupid, or he wouldn’t want Daniela.
Nix’s smile sharpened. “I know who I am. Dirk. Is this the ignorant fool that beats women?”
I raised an eyebrow. “He could be. His ex-fiancée is a necessary part of him, and she’s not allowed to leave.”
“I never said that.” He frowned at me.
I shrugged. “I was paraphrasing.” He’d hurt her, whether he meant to or not. He should have realized what he was doing to her. He should have cared about her needs instead of using her to forget about his pain.
“Good enough for me,” Nix said before he pulled back and then punched Clint, nice and slow, a soft punch that Clint still didn’t see coming. It was a beautiful arching jab, from first impact to last, technically perfect.
Clint’s head snapped back, and it knocked him back a step, but otherwise didn’t do any actual damage. “What are you doing?!” He roared with a look of shocked outrage that was so perfect, it had to be captured.
