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I sunk down onto Emma’s bed, my head spinning. “You’re fleeing the country?”
Mom laughed in surprise. “No, of course not. We’re just tired of living in this fishbowl. The media and the threats and, oh, it’s just too much.”
I looked at my mother. She looked as elegant and unruffled as ever in her casual black pantsuit. Her long, glorious hair was pulled back in a loose knot at the base of her neck. Large diamonds sparkled in her earlobes. If the paparazzi took her picture now, the caption would surely contrast this image of understated wealth with the reports aboutLavigne Beauty’sfinancial woes. It would also surely comment on how relaxed and unconcerned she looked. They would wonder if it was an act.
I didn’t think it was.
Unless she’d become a very good actress, my mother really was as unconcerned as she looked. She really didn’t see moving to a country without an extradition treaty as fleeing. I wondered how they’d decided on Morocco – if it was just a coincidence, or if Robert was thinking three steps ahead, as usual. It had to be Robert, I decided. He’d probably formulated this plan before they even went to trial. He’d never let anything touch my mother, not even the law. Not even if it was justified.
“Darling, did you hear me?”
I blinked and realized that I’d been staring at my mother without really seeing her. Without hearing her, either. “No, I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said that you and Emma should come with us!” She said it like she’d just thought of it, and now I knew she hadn’t been acting earlier because she wasn’t very good at it.
I considered it for a second. If she had proposed this right after the verdict was read, when I realized that the life Emma and I knew was going to be yanked out from underneath us, I probably would have gone. If I’d known there were hidden assets, I wouldn’t have turned to Landon. I’d have gone to Morocco happily.
But now I was fiercely glad I hadn’t. And it wasn’t just because Emma was finally getting the father she’d always deserved – I was getting him, too.
“No,” I shook my head. “We’re staying here with her father.”
Mom’s full mouth turned down in distaste. “Because he’s her father or because he’s your lover again?”
“Both,” I said frankly. “He can protect us.”
“Yes, by keeping you in a cage, Cami.” My mom looked around Emma’s beautiful room with distaste. “How do you even breathe in here? There’s nolight.”
In fact, there were two large windows in Emma’s room, both of which framed the gorgeous blue skies and allowed bright white sunshine to flood in. I raised my eyebrows laconically and gestured to them.
Mom, realizing that she’d overplayed her hand, switched tactics. “In Morocco, she could actually go outside. No one would know we were there. She would be safe.” Now her voice was earnest, persuasive. I was swayed for just a moment, thinking of it. We’d spent one summer in Marrakesh in a 10,000-square-foot villa owned by a friend of my parents. It was a beautiful place filled with natural wonders. Emma would love the beaches and the waterfalls – but no. The fantasy evaporated as quickly as it had solidified. Landon would never go for it, and no matter what ultimately happened between us, I wasn’t going to disappear again.
Annoyance creased my mother’s brow briefly. She had expected this to be easy. I’d been dependent on her and theLavigne Beautyfortune for so long, surely, I would jump at the chance to be wrapped in its luxurious embrace again.
“I hope you know what you’re getting into with this man,” she said delicately, her dark eyes shining imploringly into mine.
“I do.”
The truth was, I had no idea, but strangely, I was okay with that. I’d had a golden safety net spread out beneath me my entire life. Having it ripped away had been jarring. Replacing it with the mysterious, dangerous web Landon spun around me was unsettling at times, but I felt more alive than I ever had.
I didn’t want to go back to the way things had been.
19
LANDON
Cami didn’t tell me that something was wrong after Elyna and Robert left, but I knew something was.
“They gave you shit about me, didn’t they?” I asked.
“Of course they did.” She poked me and tried to smile. “You’re an old man, remember?”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her close, feeling some of the tension relax from her body as she leaned against me. “Do you want to cook or order in tonight?”
Cami sighed, tilting her head back to look up at me. “I guess there’s no way we can go out to eat.”
I considered it. “If you really want to. I could get a few of my guys on the restaurant.”
Cami made a face. “No, that’s okay. Let’s just stay in. I don’t want to drag some poor guy away from his own dinner table to stand around watching us eat.”
