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Trace leveled me with a look, judgmental eyebrow and all. “You sure you want to get into this?”
“I’m not getting into anything. I’m just asking for information.”
He smirked. “Sure.”
“Trace, just tell me. Why was she here?”
He leaned back in his seat, steepling his fingers in front of him. “She’s setting up a worst-case scenario safety net for her investments. Wants help moving things around. She’s gearing up to divorce Eli.”
I ran my palm across my forehead, not a little bit relieved to hear those words. I wasn’t okay with how good it felt to hear them.
“I can’t say I’m not happy to hear that,” I finally said.
“Same here. She seemed seriously miserable.”
I sniffed. “She’s not happy.”
“How doyouknow that?”
“She told me,” I admitted, looking up at him. “I meant to kick her out of the building but instead we…talked. Sort of.”
The judgmental eyebrow returned. “Couldn’t have seen that one coming.”
I threw my hands wide. “So sue me.”
“I’m sure Eli’s lawyer will.”
“Oh, no. Stop it. Stop it right there, Trace Fairchild, because I’m about to get angry, and I do not want to hold a grudge against my own brother for the rest of our natural lives.”
Amusement curled at his lips. “Oh, really?”
“Yes. Now let’s review the rules. First: do not ever mention that name in front of me again or I will punch you or puke on you, whichever happens first. Second: you know as well as anybody that Cora and I are done.”
His smile spreader wider. “Done, huh?”
“Like the One Ring into Mount Doom-style done. That relationship has been cast into the fire from whence it came.” If that was true, why did I see the wordLIEflash behind my eyelids? “Furthermore, that disgusting fuckface would never have any reason to sue me. I’ve informed Cora to never set foot on our property again.”
“Sounds about right, then.” Trace shifted in his seat, looking somehow more pleased with himself than ever. “She needs to stay away because you can’t.”
I dropped my chin, mustering up my best death glare. “Do I need to review the rules again?”
“No, sir. I just know what I see. You were fucking stalking my office.”
Discomfort churned inside me. I hated when either of my brothers had a point and used it against me. But I could talk my way out of anything. “She needs to know where she stands. Which is not on Fairchild property.”
Trace still looked smug, and it irritated me. But he didn’t need to believe me now. He’d believe me once I proved I was right. He didn’t need to know that banishing Cora from our building was merely the way to prevent me from slipping closer to her.
I didn’t fully trust myself, so I needed my brothers to trust me. I needed to borrow their trust in me to know I could really do it. But if Trace already doubted me, we were all in trouble.
With how smoking hot Cora Margulis still looked in a cream silk blouse coupled with rumors of divorce on the horizon, it wouldn’t take much to start the avalanche of desire.
I needed to begin rebuilding my fortifications immediately.
“Besides,” I added, “I’ve got a plan. I want to acquire Margulis Realty with a good old-fashioned hostile takeover.”
Trace’s eyebrow popped up, conveying his extreme disdain. “You don’t say.”
“I’ve already started buying stocks. I’ll accumulate them on the sly until I’m as close as I can get to being a majority shareholder. You just fucking watch me.”
