She scoffs. “I’m scarier than Pax.”
“Guess you’d better prove it by punishing me later.”
I clear my throat. “Not to interrupt, but can we focus?”
Juliette shoves Roman and then turns to me. “Paxton’s probably at the office. Let’s go.”
Roman drives fast, weaving through the quiet morning streets of Rosebrook Falls like he’s done it a thousand times.
“I knew about the two of you,” Roman says, his eyes finding mine through the rearview mirror. “I’d catch him staring at you like you were the center of gravity and he was trying to resist the force. It’s the same way I used to look at her.”
His tattooed arm reaches over, sliding onto Juliette’s thigh.
A pang hits me, remembering Lance doing the same thing just two days ago.
Juliette adds, “I knew there was someone, and I thought it was you. I just wasn’t sure.”
“It’s complicated. Art—”
“Art’s a piece of shit,” she says.
“Yeah. He kind of is.”
“Lance deserves better, and so do you.”
My throat tightens. “He deserves to make his own choices. Not sacrifice himself because he thinks that’s all he’s good for.”
“Then let’s go get him back so we can remind him.”
The WayMont Corp building rises up ahead. Glass and steel, the kind of corporate headquarters designed to intimidate.
Roman parks in a reserved spot and kills the engine.
Paxton is waiting for us when the doors open, and for a moment, he throws me off-kilter. It’s the first time I’ve seen him up close, beyond his anniversary party, and I was so distracted then, I didn’t soak him in.
He looks like Lance.
The same dark hair, same sharp jaw, same intensity in hiseyes. But where Lance has rough edges and barely contained violence, Paxton is polished and controlled. Three-piece suit, a watch that probably costs more than my car, and the kind of presence that makes the air in the room rearrange itself around him.
He’s intimidating. Almost frightening.
I imagine he’s the kind of man who runs boardrooms and ruins lives without ever raising his voice.
“Miss DeGrance.” He extends a hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“From Lance?”
He grins and it’s so effortlessly perfect it takes my breath away. “And others. My family loves a bit of gossip.”
“Have you heard from him?” I ask.
His eyes move from me to Juliette to Roman. “I thought he was with you.”
“Your old nanny showed up at my father’s place in Boston with armed men. She took him. She’s alive, Paxton, and she’s been behind all of it. Brutus Myrddin is her brother.”
“Can youbelievethat bitch?” Juliette says.
Paxton gestures toward his office. “Let’s talk.”
