Hearing Danielle’s shrill voice had made all those violent impulses resurface, and he was perversely that his loathing for his stepmother was almost enough to distract from the thoughts of Jay spread out like a feast beneath another man.
“Nicholas, don’t hang up. Your secretary put me through.”
He let out a hoarse, disbelieving laugh as he toyed with the pen in his hand. “What the fuck do you want?”
“I’m broke.” Her nasally voice was like the whine of a mosquito. “I’m about to lose my apartment.”
“I’m not running a charity. And even if I was, you’d be the last person to benefit.”
“Would you be willing to talk to Jay?”
His fingers hovered over the “end call” button. “Is she there?”
“No, but I can give you her number.” She sounded smug now, but still spoke quickly, as if she thought his interest might wane. “Her address, too. For ten grand.”
“You think I’m going to pay you to have my estranged older sister give me a talking-to? That’s really how you want to play this? I’m not ten years old.”
“I know you’ve been looking for her.”
The words fell into a silence that was a little too telling on his part.She must have heard the rumors. “After what you did, I’m surprised she’s still talking to you.”
“I’m her mother,” Danielle said haughtily. “She trusts me.”
“And you’d sell her to me for ten grand.” Not bothering to keep the disgust from his voice, he said, “What if I hurt her?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Would you care if I did?” Suddenly, he was furious, blinded by his loathing for this woman. “No, I don’t think you would. You’ve been jealous of her your whole fucking life. You’d love it if she got what was coming to her, you fucking Judas cunt.”
“Don’t talk to me like that—you—you oversized brat!”
“I can talk to you however I want,” Nicholas countered. “You want my money, you dance to my tune. You want to sell Jay to me? Do that. But call it what it is when you give me her information. You’re not her mother, you’re her pimp.”
“How dare you.”
“I’ll write you the check as soon as I’ve determined both are valid. Forgive me,” he added coldly, “for not trusting you.”
He hung up on her while she was still swearing at him, which normally would have been good for some amusement. But as he stared at the wall with his framed Stanford diploma, all he could think about was that photograph of Jay in the café with that lock of gray hair dangling in her eyes.
I’m going to possess you, my little blue jay. And I’m going to make you love it.
Nicholas had to hand it to the old step-bitch. She’d waited a full week after that initial phone call before hounding him for more money (after he’d told his secretary he didn’t want to talk to her, no less), and then threatening to sue him for all he was worth if he didn’t give her what she wanted. As if he’d been the one to get her disinherited. She’d violated her own fucking terms by cheating on his father.
Nicholas ran his hand over the desk in what had been his old bedroom, shaking the memory of that day from his head. Perhaps he had her mother to thank for making Jay into whatshewas: a woman who ran from her potential because shethought the spotlight would burn.
“Dried up old whore,” he muttered, and then laughed.
Oh, the fuckingirony.
He knew exactly how he was going to make her pay.
Nicholas left the converted office, taking care to close the door behind him. Jay’s room was still shut, so he headed out through the sun room to the detached garage. The weather was fair, with puffy clouds rolling slowly across the cornflower blue sky. He could see them reflected in the serene surface of his pool.
The puppy had been waiting for him. As soon as he had the door open, there was a whine, followed by several high-pitched barks. A shiny black nose appeared in the gap.
He bent down and scooped up the dog. It immediately began to wiggle. The sight of those comically large paws cycling at nothing in the air made one side of his mouth turn up as he headed back into the house. Carbon’s carrier was still in the front hall, and he eased the reluctant dog inside.
Whines drifted from the crate all the way out the front door and into his car. Nicholas tried to put on music, but Puscifer turned the whimpers into anguished howls so he shut off the radio with a sigh. “You have shitty taste in music,” he told the dog.
