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An unsettlingly familiar figure filled the space between the parking garage doors and the flickering lights of my car. I hit the button again, locking it instead, and stuffed the keys in my pocket. “The fuck are you doing here?”
“I was just coming to see you,” Zane grinned, all teeth and condescension. He crossed his arms over his chest, the black suede of his jacket pulling taut across his shoulders. “Didn’t even have to climb the stairs. Lucky me.”
“I don’t have time to deal with whatever this is,” I bit out, our shoulders colliding as I walked past him toward my car. If I was antagonistic enough to him, there was a chance I could get him to leave before Ray came down. “Please fuck off back to whatever hole you crawled out of this time.”
“Oh, come on, Wade,” he drawled. He spun on his heel to face me as I glanced back over my shoulder. “Can’t we just have a brotherly chat?”
My jaw felt like steel. Every single time he brought up our technical relationship it made me want to bury myself in the frozen ground, never to see the light of day again. Being related to him, even if it wasn’t by blood, was enough to turn my stomach. “I have a meeting with Dominic’s father, so no, we cannot have a chat. Call my assistant and she’ll pencil you in for a few years from now.”
I wrapped my hand around the handle of my car door and pulled. Nothing. Fuck. Forgot I locked it.
“Ah, you’re meeting with Alec?” he mused. His voice was getting closer, the echo of his footsteps getting louder. I pushed the unlock button on my key fob. “Mind if I tag along? I’d love to tell him all about your little ploy with Raylene.”
Ice snaked its way down my spine.
“How much, exactly, are you paying her to pretend to be your one and only?”
Say something. Say something right now or you’re fucked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I watched from the corner of my eye as he leaned against the side of my freshly-polished Aventador. All I could do was pray that he’d tried to figure it out on his own, tried to connect dots that I’d ensured weren’t connectable.
His smug grin was enough to tell me I was royally fucked. “You don’t? I guess Chloe must have been under the wrong impression, then.”
Shit. The goddamn weasel had got it out of her. Maybe she thought that since the wedding was over and the deal would be done tonight, she was free to talk about it. Or maybe he knew exactly what to say to get her to open up like a book. He’d always been an actual brother to her, able to talk his way into her heart in order to truly destroy me.
“I’m sure Dominic would be quite intrigued by the story. A playboy, a failed skier, who had to essentially hire an escort to convince his brother-in-law’s father to invest. Was it that hard, brother, to convince him you’re a good person?”
I could hear the scratching of paint as my nails dug into the door handle of my car. “Ray is not a fucking escort,” I snapped. “Do you honestly think that anyone will believe this stupid little lie you’ve crafted?”
He shrugged. “Seemed believable enough when Chloe spilled the beans. It explains a lot, really. Hire a girl to play the part and give her all the money she needs. Ray sounds a bit like a gold digger, if you ask me.”
“Keep her name out of your goddamn mouth, Zane.”
His lips peeled back, exposing too-bright teeth. “Aw, don’t tell me you’ve got feelings for her. You know what will happen.” He laughed as he leaned closer, dropping the timbre of his voice. “She’ll leave you the moment your business begins to fail. You’ve given yourself another Emily without even taking a second to recognize it.”
The urge to punch him was severe. My fingers curled into a hard fist, denting the metal beneath them, and all I could think about was the burst of pleasure I’d feel right before the sting of pain as my knuckles collided with his face.
But I couldn’t do that. I had to be the bigger person, the better brother as he would say. I’d fought my demons before and come out ahead. He was wrong, and although I knew that in the pit of my stomach, his words still felt like knives, digging into my skin and pulling all the worst parts of me to the surface.
I needed to get him out of there before I well and truly snapped.
Chapter 27
Ray
My heels clicking against the cement stairs wasn’t the only sound echoing through the garage stairwell. I could hear Wade, the irritation in his voice, and the sound of someone else speaking, and as I came to the final step approaching the weighted double doors, I could make out the words they were saying.
I didn’t push them open. Instead, I looked through the narrow glass window, trying to get a view of whatever situation was happening out there.
“She’ll leave you the moment your business begins to fail. You’ve given yourself another Emily without even taking a second to recognize it.”
My breath caught in my throat. “You’re taking this too far,” I heard Wade say, his voice muffled from the barrier between us. He leaned with one hand on his car, the other flailing in irritation. In front of him, with his back turned to me, was a tall, lanky man with dark hair dressed in a suede jacket, jeans, and boots.
“How? You’re the one that’s gone insane,” the man laughed, his head tilting just far enough to the side that I could catch a glimpse of his profile. Zane. What’s he doing here? “If it’s not a lie, then I’m seriously concerned for you, brother.”
“She’s nothing, okay?” Wade snapped, pushing off from the car and taking a step toward him. My stomach dropped. “All she is to me is a fucking business transaction. You were right. It’s not real. But I’m getting what I want despite that.”
