5. Cami #2
“He started dipping into company funds to cover his losses. Shell accounts. Creative bookkeeping. But the hole kept getting bigger, so he borrowed more money to pay both debts. From me. At interest rates that would make a loan shark blush.”
My mind was racing. The financial irregularities I’d noticed over the past year.
The accounts that didn’t add up. The money that moved in ways I couldn’t explain.
I’d flagged it for Logan twice, and both times he’d told me not to worry about it.
Told me he had it handled. Told me I was overthinking things.
I wasn’t overthinking. I was right. I was right about all of it.
“Now the company is bleeding money and Logan can’t stop the hemorrhage.
His mother has been negotiating on his behalf for months because he’s too much of a coward to face me himself.
” Salvatore came back around to stand in front of me.
“And tonight, instead of the cash payment we agreed upon, Greta Caldwell dumps a woman in a wedding dress on my floor and runs.”
“So that’s where the money went.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Salvatore went still. Completely, utterly still. A predator that had just spotted prey.
“How do you know where the money went?”
Shit.
“I did his books.” No point hiding it now. “For four years. I noticed the discrepancies but he told me it was nothing. Told me he had it handled.”
“You did his books.” He repeated it slowly, like he was tasting the words.
“I have a business degree. I ran half his company while he took the credit and fucked my sister behind my back.” The bitterness in my voice surprised even me.
“I know where every dollar in that company came from and where it went. I know the accounts. The vendors. The clients. I know which numbers are real and which ones are bullshit.”
Interest shifted to calculation. Those gray eyes were looking at me differently now. No longer a problem to be solved. An opportunity to be exploited.
The idea came from nowhere.
No. Not nowhere. From the rage that had been building in my chest since the moment Logan said my sister’s name at the altar. From the fury that had been simmering beneath the fear ever since Greta slapped me across the face and told me I should be ashamed.
From the part of me that was done being the peacekeeper. Done being the good daughter. Done being the woman who smoothed things over and kept her mouth shut and let everyone else walk all over her.
“You want your money, don’t you?”
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Your two million dollars. You want it back.” My legs were shaking but I forced myself to stand. Forced myself to meet his gaze head on. “Well, I want his life burned to the ground. So I have a proposition.”
Silence. The guards were staring at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had.
“Help me ruin Logan Caldwell.” The words came from somewhere primal. Somewhere I didn’t know existed until today. “And I’ll give you everything I know. Every account. Every transaction. Every piece of dirt I’ve collected over four years of doing his dirty work.”
Salvatore didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just watched me with those cold gray eyes.
“Help me destroy him piece by piece.” My voice was steady now. Strong. “And you can have whatever’s left.”
The silence stretched. One second. Two. Five. Ten.
“Why should I trust you?” His voice was soft. Dangerous. “You could be lying. You could be working with the Caldwells. This could all be an elaborate trap.”
“If I was working with the Caldwells, why would Greta dump me here like garbage?” The anger was winning now, drowning out the fear.
“Why would she slap me across the face in front of a room full of people? Why would she have me kidnapped and drugged and delivered to a man she clearly thinks is going to kill me?”
“Fair point.” He tilted his head, studying me. “What exactly do you want from this arrangement?”
“I want him to lose everything.” The words came out hard. Sharp. “His money. His company. His reputation. His family. I want him to feel exactly what I felt when he said her name instead of mine. I want him to know what it’s like to have everything ripped away.”
“And your sister?”
“She can rot with him.”
Another long silence. Salvatore’s eyes never left my face, searching for something. Weakness, maybe. Or deception. Or the breaking point where I’d back down and beg for mercy the way anyone else would.
He wasn’t going to find it. The woman who would have backed down died on that church floor. The woman standing here now was someone new. Someone harder. Someone who had nothing left to lose.
“You understand what you’re asking.” It wasn’t a question. “You’re asking me to help you destroy a man. To take apart his life piece by piece. To leave him with nothing.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re prepared to do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
“Yes.”
“Even if it means working with a man like me. Living in my world. Playing by my rules.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
It was a slow thing, that smile. It started at the corners of his mouth and spread across his face, a crack splitting through ice. It didn’t reach his eyes. It didn’t soften anything about him. But it was a smile nonetheless.
“Tell me more.”