“I told you, I don’t want Della leaving the property,” Leland says. “You may take Landis if you’d like.”
Kayleigh gives him a cold stare while he’s turned away. I shake my head ever so slightly, and she sinks back against the chair, like it’s killing her to bite her tongue.
“That’s fine,” I say quickly, blinking back tears. “You both go without me.”
“Daddy.” Landis’ voice cuts through the noise.
Leland turns to his son. “What?”
“I want Mommy to go,” he says, scowling.
“She can’t. She has to stay home,” Leland says.
“What if you sent a couple of your guys along?” Kayleigh pushes.
“It might be good if you took him, Kayleigh. I think Leland and I could use the opportunity to talk,” I say.
She shrugs. “Alright, that’s fine.”
She goes back to eating, unbothered. Kayleigh missed out on a career as an actress. When she was helping me get through my divorce, there was absolutely no indication she knew anything. I know she put on the performance of her life when I disappeared.
Paxton grunts and changes the subject. We eat while the men talk, droning on in the background. Then, I help Kayleigh get Landis ready to leave, and I’m allowed to stand in the doorway to wave them off. Paxton and Leland go into the study for a while. I sit in the living room, trying not to feel the empty space where Jensen sits in my mind.
I woke up last night and reached for him. I’ve never reached for a man at night before. I used to move away from Leland so he couldn’t touch me.
The study door slams open. Paxton walks through the living room, towards the side door.
“Leland wants you,” he says.
He gives me a disgusted look, lip curling, and goes outside. Heart thumping, I get up and walk out into the hall. Through the open door, I can see Leland at his desk. He glances up and beckons me with two fingers. My stomach is a cold lump. I hate that we’re alone, nobody but Georgie in the house. She’s as powerless against Leland as I am.
I slip inside.
“Shut the door,” he says.
I obey. He leans back and releases a sigh of exaggerated patience. He’s in a tan linen suit, his hair slicked back neatly. Leland has gotten more handsome with age. He also looks more and more like his late father every year. Someday, the same things will happen to Landis.
“What am I going to do with you?” he says finally.
Tucking my hands behind my back, I keep silent. He’s not looking for an answer. He sighs again and points at the chair opposite his desk. I sit down, back straight, heels tucked. He opens a drawer and takes out a folder, tossing it down.
“My lawyer is reviewing the conditions of you returning,” he says, like he’s doing a real estate deal. “Obviously, if you want to stay, you will comply.”
I nod. “Okay. May I ask what they are?”
“You will behave yourself, as befits your place in my family,” he says. “You’ll attend events, dinners, and so on, as I choose. At home, you’ll run the household. Anyone you speak with, anything you consume, will be run by me first.”
I stare. “Consume?”
He gives me a hard stare back. “Media. Somehow, you got it in your head to leave. It came from someone, something.”
It takes everything I have to keep my face passive. He thinks I don’t know about divorce on my own, that I got the idea to leave him from somebody else. Or, apparently, a book I wasn’t supposed to be reading.
“You’ll marry me with a prenuptial agreement that specifies all of this,” he says. “And outlines next steps for our family.”
The silence is deafening.
“Next steps?” I whisper.
