This was bad, whatever it was.
Nick placed his hands on his hips. “You need to leave.”
“But—”
“Now. You’re not welcome here.”
What the hell?
The lump in my throat was big.
I couldn’t swallow.
Something horrible was going on and I had no clue what it was.
I lifted my foot to turn back toward the door to leave, but then changed my mind.
I wasn’t going anywhere until I found out what was going on. “Why are you acting this way? Tell me what happened.”
“Like you don’t know.”
My heart was racing with fear. “I’m totally in the dark here.”
“Better than being on the street, like my cousin, Jay. I hope you made a lot of money buying Mathors Aerospace. It didn’t take you long to put your armor back on, did it? You ripped his life apart.”
“Mathors . . . What?” I practically yelled, startling a passing waiter.
I was able to fill in the blanks quickly and figure out what had happened.
I had told Gary that we needed to leave Mathors Aerospace alone, but he obviously hadn’t listened.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.
I took a step toward Nick. “I had no part of that transaction. I had no idea it was even happening.”
“Then, it’s just a coincidence that your company bought Mathors Aerospace three days after Jay told you he worked there? Three days afterhe told youthat the company was having a few problems? You never mentioned it to a single person?”
I couldn’t lie. “Well, I did bring it up, but that was because my company was looking for some new—”
“Enough.”
“Let me explain. It’s not what you think.”
“I knew your nickname wasRuthless, but I never expected you to use my family for your own financial gain. I thought we had something between us, but apparently it was one-sided.”
“Nicky, please.”
His jaw tightened. “Don’tcall me Nicky. That name is reserved for people who care about me and who care about the people in my life. Obviously,youdon’t fit in that category. Leave. Now.”
He turned and sat back down, avoiding eye contact just like his parents were, making it crystal clear that our conversation was over.
Things just went from worse to catastrophic, just like that.
I exited the restaurant and got in my car, staring through the windshield.
Things had unraveled so quickly.
Covering my face with the palms of my hands, I tried with all my strength to keep my burning eyes from turning into an ugly cry.
