Page 46 of The Mood Board

“My fiancé”—I emphasized the word, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice—”takes me to come charity events, yes.”

Russ’s eyes glittered. “Sounds like he treats you well.”

I knew what Russ was talking about—”treating well” to my ex was all about money and ostentatiousness. But when I answered, all I could think of was how much I missed everything Liam was: kind, generous, funny, and bright. “Yes, he does.”

Tears blurred my vision, and I wiped them away quickly. When I looked back at Russ, he was watching me, his mouth screwed up.

“It sucks what’s going on,” he said. “With your fiancé, I mean. I would never have taken illegal money, you know.”

My hand over my cheek as I wiped at the wetness there, I stopped. Had I just heard what I thought I heard? It was all over the news that Liam had been arrested for fraud, but the exact details of the case hadn’t yet been released to the public—it was still too early.

So how had Russ known what they had arrested Liam for?

“How did you know that?” I snapped, unable to keep up my pretense.

Russ’s nostrils flared, a self-satisfied smirk growing on his face. “I have my sources.”

Or he was the source—him or Janelle. And he was enjoying this, too. I could see it in his expression.

My ex had seen that I was happy with someone else, and he couldn’t stand it. And not just anyone—I was happy with a billionaire, which he wasn’t. Not yet, anyway.

Liam was something Russ would never be, no matter how much he tried. Liam had founded one of the biggest tech firms in Sacramento. He had made it into Fortune 500’s 30 under 30. His name was on a hospital wing. There was no way Russ could ever talk himself into that kind of success. Instead, he was a vulture, swooping in to take what was already on its way to triumph.

I had chosen Liam over him. And that had to drive him crazy.

Russ only wanted what he couldn’t have—I realized that now—what was off-limits, forbidden, or simply too difficult for him to achieve. But did he want me so much that he was willing to take Liam out in the process? Or was I simply an extra cherry on the top of his sundae? He could destroy Liam, take Vitality Venture for his own, and have me back under his thumb and control again.

Either way, he was sick. The Russ I knew had been a narcissistic asshole, but now he had achieved new levels of malevolence.

“I want you back, Bailey. Plain and simple.” He leaned back, hooking one arm over the back of the couch as he rested one leg over the other. “So much that I’m willing to throw in an incentive: Get back together with me, and I’ll let my sources know that Liam might not be so guilty after all.”

The words swirled in my head for a long minute, but my sputtering brain couldn’t comprehend them. And then it did, and all I could see was Russ through a fog of red—violent, red rage.

“Get out,” I whispered.

Russ was still smiling. “What?”

“Get. Out.” I enunciated each word, hissing them through clenched teeth.

My ex’s smile melted. “What are you talking about? I was offering to help your boyfriend.”

I rose from the couch, hands clenched so hard my nails bit into my palms. “Get out of my house. Now!”

Russ rolled to his feet, his gaze darting around the room as though looking for some camera that would tell him this was all some joke. Or maybe he was looking for someone to save him because he began to back away from me. “What the hell, Bailey? I was offering to help.”

“I want you out of my house in the next thirty seconds,” I gritted out, my voice still dangerously quiet. “Or I’m calling the police.”

Russ’s eyes narrowed, though he didn’t stop his backward trajectory and nearly stumbled on a potted plant. “You’re kicking me out? When I was trying to do something nice for you?”

I didn’t answer, just kept advancing, clutching the phone in my hand as a warning and a promise.

My ex reached the door, fumbled for the knob, and opened it.

“You’re such a bitch, Bailey. You always were. Good luck trying to get your asshole boyfriend out of jail now.” His mouth curved into a wicked smirk. “He’s never going to get out of there, you know that? He’s going to rot.”

And then he was gone, out the door that I slammed after him. I stood in the entryway, shaking, heart fluttering, tears pushing behind my eyes to get out.

I had just blown my best chance at figuring out what was going on and getting Liam out of jail.

What was I going to do?