Exodus (The Ravenhood)

“No. I don’t think so. Not this contract. Draw up another where I have a twenty-five percent stake in the company. And if you don’t, I’ll take the next offer for bottom dollar, and you’ll never have this fucking plant.” His eyes light with fury, but I don’t bother to celebrate, I’m defeated in a way I didn’t think was possible. Coming here was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made because seeing him again has wrecked both me and my chances. I still feel it, every ounce of it. The truth will never set me free. I’m not in love with a memory. I’m still in love with the man standing in front of me. And that truth unleashes an anger inside me that’s been building for years.

“You might have made it easy for yourself by once again exiling me, but you destroyed that stupid naïve girl with your selfish shit and war games. I circled the drain for years wondering how I could have meant so little to you. I’ve lost half my fucking sanity trying to battle my way back from what happened, and that’s because of the way you shut me out and left me dangling in the dark, completely alone.”

I begin to shake with anger.

“I lost him too. And then you saw to it that I lost everyone else.” His eyes sweep me, and I see a flicker of guilt, but it’s not nearly enough. It never will be.

My tone is just as frigid when I finally lift my chin to my maker. “But that girl grew up, and she’s angry about the cards she got dealt by your hand, and she wants her pound of flesh. You can have the company, but you won’t ever, ever cut all ties to me. I’ve been serving the

sentence you passed for years, suffering in silence, and it’s time you start serving yours.” My voice rattles with fury, my hurt and hatred emerging from the river of lies he left me drowning in. “You thought with this, you could wash your hands of me? Tough shit. You don’t get to break ties with me, not now, not ever.” We’re so close at this point I can see the dark tint and curl of his long lashes, the divot beneath his nose, the faint freckle on the corner of his lower lip. I can smell the rich scent of his skin.

“I’ll give you what you want when I have my answers.” I grab my purse and jacket and palm the handle of the door. When I glance back at him, his eyes are predictably on me. “That’s my counter-offer. Take it or leave it. I guess the question is now, how bad do you still want it?”

Jerking the door open, I gesture to Ryan, and he joins me at my side, his eyes darting over my shoulder as I stride toward the lobby.

“What happened in there, Cee?” He helps me into my jacket, his gaze darting between the lobby and where we stand.

“Negotiations.” I’m still shaking as he ushers me into the parking lot toward my car.

Once I’m behind the wheel, my body goes slack as he looks over to me, his eyes wide. “Jesus,” he says, looking as bewildered as I feel. “Who the fuck is that guy?”

“Just a part of my history I need to put to bed.”

“I physically felt that, Cecelia. I felt the tension in that room.”

“Yeah, well, he thinks you’re in love with me.”

A long beat of silence has me turning his way.

He rakes his lower lip with his teeth before lifting deep blue eyes to mine.

“I am. And I’ve never been so jealous of another man in my life.”

I gape at him. “Ryan…you aren’t serious…”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I gave up on you a long time ago.” He nods toward the building. “And no man alive can compete with that.”

“I never…” I search for the words as guilt gnaws at me. He’s always flirted, even in front of Collin, but he’s had a dozen or so more girlfriends since we broke up. He sees the guilt in my eyes and shakes his head.

“Want to feel better?”

I nod.

“I’ve fucked my way through half of Atlanta.”

“That’s more concerning than anything.”

“I’m also the reason there’s a high turnover of assistants.”

I glare at him. “Marcie?”

“Yep.”

“Damnit, Ryan! She was my favorite.”

“Mine too, which is why I bent her over your desk just for spite.”

“You’re a pig.”