17
Damon
Her words seemto split my head in two, right down the middle. She looks up at me then, and the guilt on her face is unmistakable.
She ends the call and stands up as if to come to me.
“DON’T.” I practically spit the command at her, and before she can say anything else, I turn and stalk back to the house.
Everything that’s happened between us in the last few days,everythinghas been a fucking lie. I never should have trusted her, and I know without a doubt now that I never will again. Never. How could I have been so stupid? How could I not have seen her manipulating me this whole time, the laundry, the massage, the kiss on the beach, inviting me to dinner—fucking all of it.
The only thing I can’t figure out is why she would lure me back in only to crush me again. That part makes no sense. If she wanted someone rich who she could trot out to Grayson and all his friends at the club, I certainly check off all of the boxes now that I’m a well-known artist.
Then, just as I’m about to open the patio door and go back into the house, it hits me. I freeze with my hand on the door handle. Grayson is losing the company, so when I came back home, Amanda saw a solution to save her father from ruin. Keep it all in the family. Pump my money into it, and let Grayson take credit for injecting new life into the company. Unbelievable, yet I fell for it. I wonder if she would have actually married me. She’d probably dump me on our honeymoon and sue me for everything in the divorce.
I see my countermove as I stand right here, in this instant. I’m not just going to ruin Sutter Jewels. I’m going to destroy Gray Sutter—and his family—in the process.
When I do finally open the door and come back into the kitchen, I’m met with some strange looks from Stirling and Margot, who are cleaning up the kitchen following breakfast.
“Everything alright, Damon?” asks Stirling as he loads the dishwasher.
“Yes, fine. More than fine.”
“You looked like you spaced out for a minute there,” says Margot as she wipes down the counter.
“Oh, I was just hit with some new ideas for my next gallery show,” I say, and I’m not completely lying. “I gotta get back up to the studio and start mixing some colors while they’re still in my head.”
I stalk out of the kitchen, and as I reach the stairs in the foyer, I hear Amanda’s voice in the kitchen. From what I can tell, she’s very upset. She may even turn on the waterworks for Stirling and Margot, blame me again. It doesn’t matter. I just need to make a few calls and set my plans in motion. Soon, I won’t even be here anymore. And when they return from their summer vacation in my house, they won’t know what hit them.
When I open the door to my studio, I’m faced with more lies. All of the inspiration I’ve felt these past few days is rooted so much in the newness I’ve felt as an artist—the newness I’ve felt about Amanda. It’s all been one gigantic lie, and the hurt I felt when Amanda broke my heart five years ago pales in comparison to the fury boiling my blood right now. None of these paintings will ever see the light of day.
I tear the covers from the three canvases and throw them on the floor. Then I take a tube of black paint, squirt copious amounts of this on each canvas, and I smear all three with my bare hands. I hurl loose objects at them. Then I take each one and smash against the furniture, the walls, the floor, until they’re all destroyed, just the way I’m going to destroy Grayson Sutter’s life. I do all this screaming like the wounded animal that I am. I doubt anyone in this house has witnessed a true artist’s rage before, even Amanda. Well, they have now.
When I’ve finally worn myself out, I sink to the floor and pull my cell phone out of the back pocket of my shorts, not caring that my hands are blackened with paint. There are calls to be made, after all.
The first one is to Nan. It’s the week after the holiday, so she’ll be back in her office. Her assistant Jill answers, just as I knew she would.
“Jill, it’s Damon.”
“Oh, hi! How are y—”
“Listen, I need you to put me through to Nan, no matter who she’s talking to. But first, I need you to do some research for me.”
“O-okay.” Jill is great, and I feel badly that I’m being short with her, but I don’t have time to waste on niceties right now.
“I need you to find out everything you can about the financial state of Sutter Jewels. Find out who’s on their Board of Directors. Find out who represents them legally and in the media. Then I want you compile what you find and send it to my accountant. Tell him I want a meeting with him within the week. And Jill?”
“Yes?”
“Keep this project between us for the time being. It’s part of a surprise I have for Nan—the surprise of a lifetime.”
I extract a final promise of secrecy from her and a few seconds later, Nan comes on the line.
“Damon. Is everything okay?” Her tone lets me know that she was probably in the middle of negotiating a gallery show for one of her other artists.
“Yeah. Sorry to interrupt. Listen, I can’t share all the details right now, but my next show isn’t going to be in London or Paris.”
“Really, Damon? After all the strategizing we’ve done over this situation, you’re going with Pershing in New York?”
