4. Serena
Serena
“Please tell me you didn’t come to ruin this celebration. Haven’t you done enough?” Mama snapped at the Whitmores.
“Can’t ruin something we were invited to,” Miles replied.
I’d been careful to avoid the places he haunted, to rewrite my routine in a town we once shared. Still, every now and then, he’d slip through the cracks. Like that night a few months ago—dinner, some girl on his arm, laughing. Before that, that encounter at Café L’Amour.
Here he was. Again. And damn it if my heart didn’t remember how to ache.
“Excuse us for not rolling out the welcome mat. I don’t forget how someone we trusted attacked us and ruined over thirty years of friendship,” Mama continued. “Should I have security come now or later?”
“That’s behind me,” Omar snapped. “You don’t need to keep bringing it up, Yvonne.”
“I know you’re not talking,” Mama shot back. “Still snorting? Or just sticking to the pills now?”
I was so transfixed with Miles I didn’t feel Erik come up beside me and stand next to Mama. He remained silent.
Instinctively, Miles and I stepped forward. He was sweating and breathing hard; his cologne was strong and really familiar. Sharp. Male. Trouble.
Too close. Not close enough.
He still wouldn’t look at me. Why do I care?
“This is my baby shower ,” Laurene hissed at Mama. “You’re causing a scene.”
“You know how important it is for us to look collected to the rest of the town.” Mama pointed to a guest who was whispering and staring at us wide-eyed. “This is not looking cool, calm, and collected. Quite the opposite.”
“Mama, enough !” Laurene said.
“Hell, everybody in here knows Omar was doing crack. It’s not some secret. But why you insist on dragging us through the mud like it’s a damn thrill ride, Laurene Elizabeth? I have no idea why, but you could have done this in private. ”
“You need to get your mama up under control. She’s talking real wild right now,” Miles gritted out, and I saw his mom, Audrey, place a hand on his shoulder.
“Watch your mouth,” Erik growled, looking Miles up and down.
I inhaled deeply.
“Serena, get security over here immediately. Get the drinks flowing. And make sure no one outside the room finds out they were here. I don’t need this mess splashed across the Lush Chronicles if, God forbid, Omar wants a second chance at taking your father out.
” Mama stood closer to Erik as she glared at the Whitmores.
“You’re embarrassing yourself,” Audrey said tightly. “You’re the one ruining everything, not us.”
Mama’s eyes locked on her. “Don’t act holier than thou, Audrey. Smiling in my face back then while your husband was trying to kill mine.”
“He didn’t try to kill anybody!” Audrey barked. “He had a breakdown!”
Mama let out a sharp laugh. “Oh, is that what we’re calling coke-fueled assaults now?”
“This is why I didn’t want to come,” Omar muttered.
“Well, then roll your ass out, Omar, and take your accomplices with you,” Mama said.
“You act like you don’t have skeletons, Miss Yvonne. Let’s not be quick to call the kettle black,” Miles said.
“Miles—” Laurene warned.
“Mama,” Erik said. Not sharp. Not scolding. But enough to make Mama blink and lift her chin. He stepped forward, taking up the space like it belonged to him. “Not here,” he said. “Not like this. You raised us to handle things with discretion, right? So let’s honor that.”
I waited for Mama to argue. To lash out. To remind him who ran this family.
She didn’t.
She exhaled—slow and tight—and gave him a single nod. Just like that.
And I felt it, sharp and familiar, that stinging little knot of heat behind my ribs.
I understood her relationship with Laurene—at least now. She had set a boundary, and Mama didn’t dare cross it with her. But Erik?
Mama listened to him.
“C’mon, Vonnie.” Daddy grabbed her arm, leading her away. “Let’s try some dessert.”
“Oh, so I’m the villain now?” Mama asked.
“You are,” Miles said.
Erik pointed at Miles as they were basically chest to chest. “I don’t care what history we got with each other. You don’t talk sideways at her like that again. Not while I’m standin’ here.”
“How about a drink, Mr. Whitmore?” Reese asked Omar and Audrey.
I’d forgotten he was standing there watching, his arm around Laurene, holding her close as his eyes flicked between the mess that was all of us. Omar looked at his wife, who nodded. “We could use one.”
Reese led them off toward the bar, and Laurene squeezed my arm before following them.
I locked eyes with Miles.
“Rena,” Erik murmured, and I jumped, feeling like I’d been caught, and turned to him.
“Don’t let him rile you,” he said, chin tilting just barely toward Miles.
I bristled. “I’m not.”
“You are.”
I folded my arms, defensive. “Since when do you care who I look at?”
Surprisingly, Erik smiled instead of getting mad. “If he does something, come to me . I’m here for you.”
“I need some air,” I mumbled.
I’d thrown the perfect shower. I’d accounted for flowers, food, lighting—every little detail. And still, the party was ruined.
Breathe, just breathe.
I paused, tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and soaked up the sun. If I had someone bring out more champagne, maybe people would focus on the drinks instead of Mama storming off and probably cussing.
A new playlist. Something softer. Distracting. And maybe if I gave an impromptu toast—no, too desperate. A game? Too childish.
Think. Think.
How can I fix this? My brain spun through solutions like a Rolodex. I needed to control the narrative before this made it to the Lush Chronicles . Before someone posted a video.
Damage control. Not panic. Not failure. Just…strategy.
So why did it feel like I was about to cry? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about the past? I thought it was dead and gone.
“If they think they’ve won, you’ve already lost,” Jenese once told me. “Control the room before the room controls you.”
“Serena.” Miles’s low rumble chilled me.
“Didn’t you hear my brother? What do you want?” I asked without turning around. My voice was surprisingly calm, despite the inner turmoil I felt. “If you came to piss me off, you did.”
“Cold as ice, baby, always so cold as ice.”
“Why the hell are you still here?”
Miles snorted. “To give you a good look at all this sexiness you been missing, of course. I got a six-pack now. Wanna touch?”
I gave him a look of disgust, but my eyes couldn’t help but glance at his stomach, unfortunately covered by the shirt.
“That why you ran?” he asked, voice quiet now. “’Cause I embarrassed you? Or ’cause I still know how to get under your skin?”
“Don’t,” I said.
“Sure.” He grinned. “That why your hands shakin’, Sunny?”
Sunny. He often said it growing up. My special nickname . I felt a knife in my chest.
“Don’t call me that.”
I had to leave. He was overwhelming.
“What should I call you?” I snapped. “Liar? Backstabber? Two-face?”
“Damn, baby, say it with your chest,” Miles said, smirking. “Why stop there? Add ‘devilishly handsome’ while you’re at it. Talk to me real nice.”
“Stop playing!” I hissed. “I hate when you do this.”
It was just like when we were growing up. He never took anything seriously. Wasn’t that his appeal to you?
“I’m glad I ruined your party.” Miles shrugged. “Didn’t think it’ll happen so quick but…I’m pleased with the results.”
“I have no idea why I’m even bothering talking to you.” I started past him. If he wanted to be an asshole, he could do it by himself. I needed to figure out how to salvage this party.
He suddenly reached out, grabbing my arm and pulling me in until we were touching.
Don’t bend, Serena.
I felt a searing jolt from his touch.
Surrounded by his cologne; it was intense. I tried to draw in a breath but my heart stuttered and tripped.
“I came to tell you something,” he murmured.
“Miles—”
“I want you to know I did it.”
Dread, sharp and sobering, sliced through the heat. I met his gaze.
Dangerous. Deadly. Unforgiving.
God, he was beautiful.
“What did you do?” My voice didn’t shake. Barely.
His smirk was deadly. “What I should have done a long time ago. Let’s end this tit-for-tat once and for all.”
His hand, warm and calloused, slid up my arm, over my shoulder, fingers brushing lightly against my bare skin, sending shivers down my spine, then up, until his thumb rested just below my throat.
Immediately, I was transported to us in the back seat of his car, the windows fogged, my fingers leaving streaks on the glass, my legs over his shoulders, his hand in the same position.
His lips were close—so fucking close. His warm breath grazed my cheek, sending shivers down my spine, and a knot formed in my stomach. A head-turn and we’re kissing.
“Should you be doing this?” I muttered.
“Probably not.”
His thumb didn’t move. Neither did I.
“You ruined my site, didn’t you?”
Miles raised a brow. “Did you sabotage my worker?”
My spine stiffened. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He folded his arms.
I stared at him, waiting for the smug to melt off his face—but all I saw was confusion. Genuine, annoying confusion.
“You really think I did something to your employee?” I asked.
“You really think I messed with your site?” he shot back.
We stared at each other, something uneasy settling between us.
“I didn’t touch your damn worker,” I muttered.
His brow furrowed. “And I don’t even know who’s on your site.”
“I asked my question first,” I reiterated.
“Don’t lie and don’t try to deny it. You’ve been trying to sabotage me,” he continued, voice silk-smooth and venom-laced. “Undercutting my deals. Taking my investors. Poisoning every opportunity before it even reached my desk. You really thought I would let that shit keep sliding?”
I glared at him, and tilted my chin up. “Business is business but I didn’t hurt your employee.”
His grip shifted, trailing down the column of my throat. Move back. Why are you letting him touch you?
“No, Sunny.” He said it like a caress. “This is personal. We will always be personal.”
He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of my ear.
“I’m taking the Harrington estate.”
My stomach dropped.
The jewel of the market. A sprawling waterfront lot that had been the source of intense competition among developers for years. It was mine .
If I got the Harrington estate? Mama and Erik would have to acknowledge all my hard work.
King Developments would be at the top.
Maybe I’d get a say in King Enterprises as a whole. Years of work for the family would finally pay off. I would be unstoppable.
“You’re barely scraping by. How do you think you’re going to pull that off? It’s worth forty million alone. Those two nickels in your pocket ain’t enough.”
“The ladies think what I have in these pants is good enough.” He grinned.
I hated him.
I hated how much I wanted to hurt him, to claw at him, to make him feel something close to what I felt right now.
He released me and gave me his signature smile.
“Auction’s tomorrow.” He shrugged. “Just know I’m gonna walk away with it and have you looking sad.”
He turned like he was done—like he’d already won—but then glanced back, eyes gleaming.
“I’ll wave from the podium, Sunny.”