13. Sal #2
“That’s so sweet of you, Margaret. I’m wonderful, actually.
” She tucked herself a little closer against my side, let the woman take in the cut of my suit, the weight of my hand at her waist, everything my name meant in a room like this.
“Funny how things work out. I lost a fiancé who couldn’t keep his hands off my little sister, and I landed somewhere I’m genuinely adored.
I do hope Rosalie ends up half as lucky. She’ll need to be.”
The woman’s smile faltered. She hadn’t expected the bride to bite.
“Do give the family my best,” Camellia added sweetly, and turned away first, which was its own small violence in a room like this. You did not turn your back on Margaret Ellery. Camellia did it like she was flicking lint off her sleeve.
I had never wanted her more in my life.
Every time we passed someone who’d been at that wedding, she did it again.
Smiled, charmed, let them see exactly how far she’d risen from the broken woman who’d run from a church in tears.
By the end of the hour I could feel the whispers starting to turn.
Maybe the girl wasn’t crazy after all. Maybe Greta Caldwell had protested a little too loudly.
But I could feel the tension in her. The strain of being in the same room as the two people who’d destroyed her.
“I need some air.” She leaned close, her lips brushing my ear. “Just for a minute.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No. Stay. Keep being seen.” She squeezed my hand. “I’ll be right back.”
I let her go. Watched her slip through the French doors onto the terrace.
Then I started counting.
Sixty seconds. That was all I’d give her. Sixty seconds of solitude before I followed.
At fifty-three, something felt wrong.
I didn’t question the instinct. I’d learned long ago to trust my gut, the animal part of my brain that sensed danger before my conscious mind could name it.
I moved.
Through the crowd. Past the champagne fountain. Out the French doors and into the cool night air.
She was standing at the entrance to a gazebo. Frozen. Her back rigid, her hands clenched at her sides.
I followed her gaze.
And saw them.
Logan and Rosalie. Inside the gazebo. Her dress hiked up around her waist. His pants around his ankles. His cock buried inside her, her legs wrapped around him, both of them so lost in their fucking that they hadn’t even noticed they had an audience.
They couldn’t even wait.
A whole party a stone’s throw away and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other for one fucking evening.
Cami turned to run.
She crashed into my chest.
“Don’t run.” I caught her shoulders. Held her steady. “Don’t let them see you run.”
Her eyes were wild. Panicked. But she stopped. Forced herself to breathe. Nodded.
That’s when Logan finally noticed us.
The color drained from his face. He scrambled backward, pulling out of Rosalie so fast he lost his balance and fell, his bare ass hitting the gazebo floor with a thud.
Rosalie shrieked. Yanked her dress down. Her face was crimson, her eyes darting between us, trapped and frantic.
I stepped forward. Put myself slightly in front of Cami. Let my voice drop to ice.
“The debt.” Each word was deliberate. Measured. “Plus interest. Four million dollars.”
Logan was still on the ground, fumbling with his pants. “I... we were just... this isn’t...”
“Ten days.” I cut him off. “Not one more second. You will have the money transferred to the account my lawyer specified, or I will take it from you in ways you cannot imagine.”
I pressed a deliberate kiss to Cami’s temple. Let my lips linger. Let them both see exactly where she belonged now.
“Consider this the final warning.”
Rosalie was staring at me, her brow furrowed. “What is he talking about? Logan? What debt? What does he mean?”
I smiled. It was not a nice smile.
“Oh, he hasn’t told you?” I looked at Logan, still cowering on the gazebo floor. “How interesting. I assumed your mistress knew about your gambling addiction. The debts you’ve accumulated. The company money you’ve embezzled to cover them.”
“Logan?” Rosalie’s voice was sharp. “What is he talking about?”
“Or perhaps you didn’t know that when his mother tried to settle the debt, she offered me Camellia as payment. A piece of furniture. Something he could throw away to save himself.”
“That’s not...” Logan finally got to his feet, his face twisted with panic. “That’s not how it happened. My mother acted on her own. I never...”
“Shut up.” My voice cracked through the air, a whip snapping.
“Every time you open your mouth, you dig yourself deeper. Ten days, Caldwell. And if I hear you’ve touched any of your remaining assets before my payment clears, I will personally ensure you experience every creative form of collection my organization has ever devised. ”
I took Cami’s hand. Squeezed once.
“We’re leaving.”
We walked out of that gazebo, past the mansion, through the crowd of oblivious partygoers. Cami was silent, her hand tight in mine, her face carefully blank.
We made it to the car before she started shaking.
“I’m furious.” Her voice trembled. “I’m so fucking furious. They couldn’t even... at a public event... where anyone could have...”
“I know.”
“They don’t even care. They never cared. They just...”
I took her face in my hands. Made her look at me.
“She is worth ten thousand of your sister.” The words came out fierce. Certain. “Logan will lose everything. I swear it to you, Camellia. I will burn his world to ash. I will leave him with nothing but the memory of what he threw away when he chose her over you.”
She stared at me. Searching for something in my eyes.
“You mean that.”
“Every word.”
“I believe you.”
“Good.”
I kissed her.
She kissed me back, desperate and hungry, her hands fisting in my shirt. Then she was climbing into my lap, her dress bunching around her thighs, her body pressing against mine.
“Partition,” she gasped against my mouth.
I hit the button without looking. The glass slid up, sealing us away from the driver.
Her hips rolled against mine. I groaned, grabbing her ass, pulling her tighter. She was grinding on me now, her mouth hot on my neck, my cock straining against my pants.
“Need you,” she whispered. “Need to feel something good.”
“I’ve got you.”
My hands slid under her dress. Found the edge of her underwear. Started to pull them aside.
Then the world exploded.
The black SUV came out of nowhere. Ran the red light at full speed. Slammed into the passenger side of our car with a deafening crash of metal and glass.