Chapter 2

I closed my eyes, and my mind filled with scenes from two weeks earlier.

To win the lead on a major deal, I'd drunk so much at client dinners that I ended up in the hospital with a bleeding stomach.

The boss cared about that deal more than anything, and because of it, I'd leapt to become the youngest partner at Summit Crest Capital.

I'd clawed my way up so I could stand beside her with my head held high.

That Chanel bag had cost nearly eleven thousand dollars. I'd bought it with an advance on my profit share.

I wanted to show her I wasn't the poor kid who needed her family's money anymore.

But she'd turned all that care and effort into one small piece of Dylan's new car.

My phone chimed. She'd sent me a photo of herself in a lace nightgown.

"Be good. Don't be mad anymore.

"I'll come see you this weekend and make it up to you, okay?"

In the past, whenever she did this, I'd decide I was the one being unreasonable.

Now, looking at the sexy curves she'd so deliberately posed on the screen, I just felt sick.

"Whatever you want."

...

Right before I left work on Friday, Veronica actually showed up.

Her makeup was flawless, and she was holding a paper shopping bag.

"Ta-da! Surprised?"

She pulled a few little items out of the bag and leaned close to my ear, her eyes smoldering. "Tonight, I'll do whatever you say."

For a moment, looking at her familiar face, my heart still skipped a beat.

She pushed a beautifully wrapped box into my arms. "Here. I'm sorry about the bag!

"It's a tie. Once I make director, we'll move back here, buy a big house, and get married."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

It was Megan Doyle, executive assistant to our founder and chairman, Richard Whitlock, and Veronica's best friend for years.

When she saw Veronica, Megan raised an eyebrow, a half smile on her lips. "Well, look who it is. Miss Busy herself. What are you doing back in town? I thought you wouldn't even have time to sleep this weekend."

"Megan, you're such a kidder."

Veronica laughed stiffly and got rid of her.

As soon as the door closed, the phone in her pocket buzzed twice in quick succession.

She pulled it out and glanced at it, and her expression shifted. "Caleb, I'm so sorry.

"The office just called. Something came up with that co-investment project, and I have to rush back to the branch to handle it."

I watched her hurry out.

The little bit of hope that had just risen in me shattered.

Almost without meaning to, I opened Dylan's social media.

"Thanks for spending your weekend with me, too. The passenger seat of my new car will always be yours."

But the location tag was right here, in my city.

I clenched my jaw and zoomed in and out on the photo.

In the end, I didn't ask her anything. I just quietly turned off the screen.

In a daze, I remembered picking Veronica up after a cocktail party last year.

Dylan had mocked me right there on the street. "I heard you're still living off Veronica, Caleb?

"Must be nice being a kept man. Then again, I heard you're the reason your parents died. Careful you don't rub that bad luck off on her."

Not only did Veronica not stop his vicious insults, she told me he was just a young guy who'd had too much to drink.

She told me not to make a big deal out of it.

Dylan stood behind her, grinning with pure contempt.

With that memory in my head, I followed her out.

Sure enough, her car never went anywhere near the train station. It pulled up outside an upscale restaurant instead.

Dylan was already waiting there.

The moment Veronica stepped out, he slid an arm around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world, then gave her butt a hard squeeze.

She swatted his shoulder playfully, giggling.