My jaw flexes. “I’m not attracted to you.”
If I say it enough times, maybe I can make it true.
“Sure you’re not,” she says, and I hate the sarcasm dripping off her words. I hate how correct she is. “You know, I have all the reasons in the world to be cautious around you. But me? You won the company. Sure, you and my uncle don’t get along, but that can’t be the reason.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Not who your uncle is. What your uncledid.”
“What he did? You mean trying to bankrupt the company?”
“No,” I say. There’s fire in my veins, so much of it, and it burns. “He negotiated in what seemed like good faith for over a year. All while he installed a mole in my team and hired trained professionals to terrorize my sister.”
Her face doesn’t change. “Trained professionals? Now you’re exaggerating. He had lawyers, yes, but nowhere near as expensive as yours, I’m sure. The Montclair machine is a?—”
“I’m not talking lawyers. I’m talking about how he targeted my sister. His hired people pretended tostalkmy sister. Sent her notes at her work, her apartment, anonymous text messages.”
Paige’s breath catches. “He did… what?”
“For almost half a year, he made her look over her shoulder and he drove me nearly out of my mind. It wouldn’t surprise me if he tried other things to split my focus, too.”
“That’s… I can’t… Why would he do that?”
“Don’t believe me? Ask him.”
“We don’t talk.”
“No, of course not. You double-crossed him instead.” The anger is a swarm inside me, swallowing me whole. “You think I don’t play by the rules? He broke the damn law. He confessed too, when West and I confronted him. Did you see his black eye this spring?”
Paige shakes her head slowly, but there’s pained denial on her face. “He told me he’d fallen on the golf course.”
“He fell, all right. And he’ll fall further still.” My hand tightens at my side. I shouldn’t feel this way for her. I shouldn’t want, I shouldn’t need. She’s related to him. We’re on opposite sides of a chasm and there’s no way to bridge it.
I should be stronger than all of this.
“If he hired a team to…” Her lips thin. “He always talked about how much he hated you and your father.”
“Your favorite dinner topic, no doubt.”
Her eyes meet mine again. “He’s been erratic this last year. There have been other things… I’m sorry, Rafe. He should never have gone after your sister. Business is one thing, but family is another.”
My clenched hand releases at my side. She didn’t know. For all my suspicions, she didn’t know. She might have double-crossed her own uncle, but she didn’t knowthis, and that tempers my own anger.
“Family iseverything,” I say.
“I know that better than anyone,” she says, and there’s a world in that one sentence. She shifts from one foot to the other. “Will your sister come to the wedding?”
I imagine the two of them meeting. Paige’s wicked mouth and glittering eyes meeting my little sister’s newfound bite. I’ve always protected her. Too much, she’s recently told me.
“I want the chance to apologize,” Paige continues. Her chocolate eyes are clear, and there’s no taunting curve to her full lips.
She’s sincere.
She’s sincere, and she didn’t know about what her uncle did.
So I find myself nodding. “Yes. My sister will be at our wedding.”
“Great,” Paige says. She tilts her chin up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s my turn to run from you.”
“I didn’t run.”
