Logan laughs low. “You can’t help yourself.”
“You know it’s true.”
He tips his head, then concedes with a reluctant nod. Am I really convincing my billionaire boyfriend to take a train over flying private? I try and fail to hide my smile. He glances at Pearl. “The train works fine. I just need to plan accordingly. If it’s twenty hours—which is insane, but the way,” he says to me, “then we should leave today.”
I nod, relieved it came from him and not me, especially with my dad sitting right there.
Logan and Pearl’s friends drift over then, fresh and ready to leave the island and explore the mainland, now that the storm has passed. Sunshine is their appointed guide for the day. They cluster around Logan, making their rounds—thanking my dad and Jo, asking Pearl if she’s sure she doesn’t want to join.
Dash hovers behind Sunshine, while Harlow speaks for the group. Reign stares at his phone while Griffin punches his shoulder, trying to get his attention, goofing off.
I’m smiling up at the group when I notice Pearl has gone quiet on the other side of the table. Sitting alone. Glaring at me. The butter knife is still in her hand.
“Isn’t it something,” she says.
“What?”
“How easy it is to manipulate men.”
I set down my fork. “Pearl, are you okay—”
“Don’t.” The word comes out flat, stripped of polish. “Don’t fucking ask me that.” She glares at me, eyes cutting once toLogan, then back to me, and the mask is just—gone. Completely gone. “You have ruinedeverything.”
“What have I ruined?” I ask. Except I already know. Logan is right beside me and has barely looked at her all morning. I hate that it hurts her this much, even now, after everything she’s done.
“Pearl,” Logan cuts in, low and careful.
She shakes her head, those long, perfect sheets of blonde hair swaying. “No. No, fuck this. Fuck you.”
A few sharp inhales around the table. This Pearl—no one else here has met her.
“What is your problem?” I ask, just as Dad says her name in that warning tone, telling her to calm down.
“Calm down?” She laughs, short and ugly. “I am so fucking sick of you defending her to her face and talking shit behind her back.” Dad grumbles defiance, but she continues, “You called her dangerous, remember?”
“What?”
She turns back to me. “He said you were dangerous. Stupid. That you were advising people about their health when you didn’t have a degree—”
“I have a degree!” I look between them. Dad’s jaw is tight, color climbing his cheeks.
“Pearl, that isenough,” Dad snaps.
“And you.” She turns to Logan. He goes completely still beside me, and I feel it—the way his whole body changes. Something cold settles in my stomach. “You want to tell her whatyou’vedone behind her back?”
“Pearl, please don’t do this,” Logan pleads. His voice sounds strange. Chills break across my skin. My heart clenches painfully.
A short, strange laugh escapes her. Then she opens her hand and lets the knife fall. It hits the table with a hard clank that makes Jo flinch.
“You want to know how easy it is to manipulate Logan?” Her voice drops, turns almost sweet. “A little secret between you and me. A little girl talk.” She leans forward on her elbows, closing the distance across the table. “That doctor who signed the petition to close your practice.” She lifts one finger and points it at Logan, beside me.
My brain goes quiet first. Throws up a high wall of white noise. That’s all I hear when I turn to look at Logan’s face. Everything else—the restaurant sounds, the clinking, the low murmur of other tables, all of it drops away. Just that absence of sound, that wall, and then my heart beating into my ears.
“What?” I croak.
I wait for him to shake his head, to deny it. The look in his eyes, though... “Baby, I’m sorry—”
I stand abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor. “What?” The word comes out again before I can find a better one. My throat has gone completely dry. “You? What?”
