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I won’t look at them. I shouldn’t look at them.
I can’t help it, especially when I see most of them are from his father.
Get rid of that bitch and meet me at Tingel. We’re heading up ASAP when plane is back. I’m finishing this deal myself but you’re coming to watch to see just how it’s done.
You better get numbers for what she’s asking so we can counter. If you’re any son of mine, you’ll take advantage of the opportunity.
It’s your own fault when she tosses you aside but at least we’ll get Tingel out of this.
How… how did he know? How did Dalton Steele know I offered to buy Tingel Island? Max had no idea so how could his father? Either Max is a good actor or…
I stare at the steam billowing out of the bathroom, my stuttering heart flatlining.
Or Max told his father that I was interested in the property. He had an entire day to do so. How many times did I see him on his phone?
This was his agenda.
Keep me distracted. Get my head out of the game so his father had the time to play catch-up.
Another notification flashes as I hold Max’s phone, sick to my stomach at how he used me.
That I had the same agenda doesn’t register through my hurt and disappointment, and anger—anger at Max and a great wave of rage at myself.
This is why I don’t do relationships. I don’t do cuddling in bed and laughing together; I don’t do friends and dance at weddings and walk in the moonlight.
I don’t do it and I sure as hell am not going to do Maximus Steele again.
I scan the text, without really seeing more than a few words: idiot, worthless, knows nothing about business. I text a response, my thumbs flying over the screen even as the water turns off.
How dare he?
“Hey, maybe I should have brought you in here with me, and then we might have had time to—” Max says, appearing in the doorway with a towel slung around lean hips, water droplets glistening on his chest.
A few minutes ago, the sight would have sent me running to him, but now…
“Cady? What’s wrong?” He crosses to the bed in three steps, snatching his phone out of my hands and glancing at the screen. “What did—? Fucking hell! What did you do?” He glares at me, all of his soft affection and hard desire vanishing in an instant. “You texted my father?”
“You told him about Tingel Island? I told you—I trusted you!” I rage, scrambling out of bed and searching for any clothes. Because this is going to get nasty and doing it naked will make it that much worse.
“Patel told him when he was trying to clean up my mess,” he insists. “Said he liked your offer better, but he’d give Sandflower another chance.”
“You did not make a mess,” I cry, pushing away the news that Patel liked me better. “You were respectful and considerate and—”
Max glances down at the phone in his hand. “You told him that?”
“I told him he’s an ass, and you’re a much better man than he is.”
He’s reading the full text. “You… threatened him?”
“He deserves it. But maybe I shouldn’t have bothered knowing that this was your idea to bring me here, to spy on me. To find out more. To use me!”
I clutch Max’s shirt against me, panting with fury and hurt.
Disappointment.
“Use you? How can I spy on you when you don’t even have your phone?” Confusion laces Max’s words. “And I had no idea there was anything to spy on. I wanted you here even before I found out you were trying to get that bloody island.”
“You… wanted… me here?” Emotions roil in my stomach like bad alcohol. “To find out what I know,” I burst out. “You used me.”
