Fuck, how was I going to fix this?
I closed the door and leaned against it.
Stella’s head snapped up. She caught sight of me, grabbed a paperweight off a nearby desk, and chucked it at my head.
I barely managed to catch it out of the air.
Her face contorted in rage, hands curling into claws as she bore down on me. “You bastard! I’ve been avoiding that bitch for seven years because Iknewshe would pull some shit like that, and you dragged me right to her.”
I held my ground, ready to block the hit I knew was coming. “Technically, you chose this party.”
“Oh, fuck you, Theo,” she spat, my fake name sounding foreign on her lips. “You forced me back into this world!”
She lunged, but it was easy to grab her wrist out of the air, snag her other hand before it could connect with my face, block the knee she aimed at my groin. Not wanting to hurt her, I turned and pinned her to the door, trapping her hands overhead and using my body to flatten her against the wood. Her chest heaved into mine. I stared down at eyes gone black with fury. They dropped to my shoulder, and I knew,I knewshe was going to try and bite me, yet I did nothing to stop her.
A heartbeat later, she attacked, her teeth sinking into my suit jacket, clamping down hard enough to hurt. I didn’t pull back. I didn’t yell at her. As fucked-up as it sounded, it felt right to let her hurt me after everything I’d done to her. It was almost... a release. Almost felt good, like she was finally giving me what I’d been asking for.
Brat.
I shook my head, wincing as Stella bit down harder. No. That wasn’t what this was. I’d been a fighter my whole life, didn’t have a submissive bone in my body. This was just relief that she was so enraged. This kind of anger I was used to, had been harboring inside me for as long as I could remember. I knew how to speak its language, how to use it against her.
“I believe you,” I told her.
Stella released me, the back of her head thumping into the door as she closed her eyes, all the fight drained from her. “Yeah, well, no one else ever will.” A shudder wracked her body. Another. Wetness leaked from beneath her lids, and she bit her lower lip to stop its trembling.
I was probably the last human—besides Maddie—who she’d want to comfort her in this moment, but since I was the only person around, it was either me or no one. Hell, she’d probably prefer no one, but I was feeling just guilty enough for the way I’d been treating her that I felt obligated to do something.
I only needed one hand to keep her wrists pinned, so I let go with the other, wrapping it around the back of her head and drawing her forward until her forehead rested against my chest—a dangerous decision, given her propensity for being bitey.
“You won’t have to see her at another event,” I said. “I got rid of her.”
“How?” Stella murmured into me.
“Let’s just say you’re not the only person I have dirt on.”
She was quiet for a long moment, taking deep, even breaths like she was trying to calm down. “Even after everything she did, even after all the years I’ve spent hating her, I didn’t expect this. What I did toherfamily? God, she’s evil.”
“Yes,” I agreed.
“I don’t want to go back out there. All those fucking people.” She took another steadying breath. “I saw their faces. Maddie will always be the innocent little girl to them, and I’m the big bad bitch who tried to ruin her life. Ihateher.Hatethem.”
I tilted her head up. “Then help me take them down.”
“Why should I?” she asked, her eyes searching mine. “Who’s to say you won’t turn around and stab me in the back when I’m done? Or keep piling on more debt any time I piss you off, so I’m stuck beneath your thumb forever?”
I heaved a sigh. Time to do what it took to make this right. “Fine. It’ll stay at three million flat, like we agreed, even if you constantly piss me off.”
“Again, why should I believe you? You already told me I’d be an idiot for trusting your false promises.”
“Iknow. But that was because I thought you were just like them.”
“Iamjust like them,” she said. “You’ve made that pretty goddamn clear.”
“Then why are you paying Runa’s bills?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“I can find out with a few phone calls, but I’d rather hear it from you now and save myself the time and money.”
