I sighed, turning toward him more completely.“You’ve made your point, Cross.Thank you.We are but a meaningless, inconsequential pair of developers, fumbling blindly in a world owned by the Cross family.Anything else you’d like to add?”
That seemed to genuinely amuse him.I saw a flash of humanlike emotion cross his face for the briefest of moments.
“If you need any help getting through to the department, feel free to reach out.”His gray-green eyes damn near sparkled with a type of mischief I could only guess at.He looked like he might shape shift into a cat and prowl away after much longer.“There may be strings I can pull.”
“You’d pull strings for us?”I asked, feigning awe.“That is so touching.”
“It’s the least I can do,” Sebastian said, waving at a passing server carrying a tray of champagne flutes.He grabbed one off the tray and took a practiced sip.Then he flashed me a grin.“Especially given the, uh, unsavory developments coming down the pipeline soon.”
“Oh?”My stomach wrenched violently, a sign I knew to listen to and didn’t like one bit.“Do tell.”
“You’ll be finding out soon enough.The Meridian project is advancing and, well, there will be some casualties, I’m sorry to say.”He offered a grimace that I could only assume was his attempt to feign regret.“But like I said.Reach out if you’d like my help.I classify this type of thing as mentorship.Helping out the young and naive, so to speak.So you could get a discount.You’ll need it, once you realize just how much you’re going to lose in Queens.”
He clapped my shoulder as he walked away.My gaze immediately found Archer.He’d been listening in the whole time, and he was seething.
“I’m going to go get you a very strong drink,” Clara said as she stepped in front of me, filling my vision.“The strongest, most potent drink imaginable.Both of you.I’ll be right back.”
She whooshed off.
“What.The fuck.Was that?”Archer said.
“I think he just threatened us three different ways,” I sputtered.“But one thing’s clear—he’s got major pull with the city and he’s leveraging that against us.”
“Then Hayes is in on it,” Archer hissed.“How convenient for our permit to suddenly be revoked when we’re making moves in Queens that Sebastian doesn’t like.He’s right about one thing.He’s a connected motherfucker.So I wouldn’t be surprised if Cross never got a rejection simply because they know how to threaten anyone that gets in their way.”
I clenched and unclenched my jaw, drawing deep, cleansing breaths as I tried to calm myself down.I involuntarily began searching for Clara in the crowd.I saw Trojan doing the same, but I spotted her first.
She stood at the bar on the other side of the room with her back to me, looking down the bar.Everything else in the room faded away the second I saw a man approach her.
Recognition flooded her face.It wasn’t the good kind.
My feet began moving without me even making the decision.Trojan and Archer followed.All I could see was her face, the fear there, the way this man was crowding her and making her shrink.
As I crossed the room in long strides, I knew somehow that it was Preston.It had to be.There was no other man in her life that could make her shrink on sight.And that’s all that man had done to her—made her feel smaller, worthless, forgotten.
I didn’t know what Preston was saying as I arrived.I only needed him to stop.I peeled his hand off Clara’s arm, being sure to crunch his hand as I did.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife.”
Preston reeled back, looking completely sideswiped for a moment.Up close, he was exactly what I'd imagined—absolutely unremarkable features, the type of man you saw and then forgot about instantly, with a smugness that told me he truly believed he was hot shit.
“We were just talking,” Preston said, straightening.I didn’t think he was worth lifting a finger against, but it was reassuring to see I had a couple inches on him.Even without Archer and Trojan here, I could have taken him.Designer suit be damned.But then I saw Trojan slyly move into place behind Preston.It almost made me smile.I loved my bodyguard and the ways he thought ahead.Preston was trapped at the bar now.
“No, you were touching her without her consent.Big difference.”
He scoffed.“Sure, buddy.”
“Don’t fucking ‘buddy’ me.”I stepped closer, never breaking my gaze.“I’m not your buddy nor will I ever be.Not when you abandoned Clara during her pregnancy and have been such a laughable excuse for a father for that precious girl who somehow still calls you Daddy.”
“Nash,” Clara said softly, but I couldn’t stop now.
“All those times Clara needed even the bare minimum of help,” I went on, unable to stop the anger coursing through me.On Clara’s behalf, on my mother’s behalf, on the behalf of every woman who’d ever been fucked over by these worms who dared to call themselves men.“You couldn’t even pick your sick kid up from daycare while Clara worked three jobs to make ends meet.Getting fired because she needed to leave early all the time to take care of the kid that is 50 percent yours, yet you somehow get away with doing zero percent of the parenting.How does that math add up,buddy?”
Preston set his jaw, stepping backward as I encroached on his personal space.
“I’m not trying to cause problems,” he said, some of that bite missing in his voice.“I just spotted her and wanted to…congratulate her again.”
“Like you did the other day on the phone, huh?”Another step closer.When Preston stepped backward this time, he ran right into Trojan.Trojan grinned down at him the same way a cat does with its toy.
