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Randolph’s head lifts, and he makes eye contact with me. Londyn turns and when she sees me, her eyes go wide. She grabs her hood and pulls it up. Does she really think she can hide from me? I’d know her anywhere. But what I really should be asking myself is, why is she with her father, and why the hell is she trying to hide that fact from me?
Her father says something to her, and she turns back to him. He takes her arm, and a minute later, they’ve moved behind a building, out of my line of vision. With my heart in my throat and my stomach somersaulting, I pull back onto the road and drive straight to the villa. The first thing I do is check to see if her suitcase is there. Once I see that it is, I dash to my office and boot up my computer. With an uneasy feeling rolling through me, and a sense of déjà vu coursing through my veins, I do a few online searches, and within seconds, my world turns upside down.
“Holy shit.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Londyn
“ARE YOU READY to come back now?” my father asks, as Cason drives away. I stare after his vehicle, my mind spinning a million miles an hour.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, swiping at the stupid tears welling up in my eyes.
“It’s for your own good.”
I shake my head, and try to wrap my brain around all this.
“Come on, Londyn. Do you think he bought you for any other reason?”
No, actually, I understood from the beginning that Cason was out for revenge. I told him so myself, and he never disputed it. But over the last two weeks, not only did I think we recaptured our feelings from our youth, but we built upon them. Apparently, I thought wrong, and the proof is in my father’s hand—or so he says. Were Cason and Luis really talking about me after the fashion show?
“Wait,” I say as I shake my rattled brain to clear it. “How did you know I was here, anyway?”
My father waves a dismissive hand. “None of that matters.”
“It kind of does. I told you I was in Florida, how on earth did you find me here, and figure out what I was up to?”
He turns from me. What is it he doesn’t want me to see?
“All that matters is you need to come home and take your rightful position
in the family.”
“Rightful position? Meaning, you want me to marry your colleague’s son to better your position in the markets.” I wave my hand. “Haven’t I done enough?”
“Yes, you have. Raising money in such a manner is a disgrace, Londyn, to you and the family.”
I glare at him. “I was trying to help, and short of marriage, you left me no choice.”
“Selling yourself to some lowlife was the answer?” He makes a tsking sound. “You’ll be lucky if Theodore’s son Sheppard will have you after this.”
I can’t stand Theodore’s arrogant, spoiled son, and the thought of any sort of relationship with him sickens me. As my father continues to look at me, disdain all over his face, fire burns through my veins, and my cheeks flare hot.
“Excuse me? Who I’m with is my choice, not yours, and Cason is anything but a lowlife. He’s a good man, a kind man, and he believes in me.”
My father presses a button on his phone, and Cason’s voice comes through. I listen for a second, and my insides twist. I swallow the bile punching into my throat as I hear the conversation between Cason and Luis, except this time I hear Cason use my name. I’m the one he’s calling pedestrian! My blood drains to my toes, and the world around me grows fuzzy. It can’t be true. It just can’t be.
“Where did you get that?”
“I have people everywhere, Londyn.”
I lift my chin, glare up at him. His blue eyes are narrowed in on me. “So that’s how you knew I was here? You have someone watching me?”
“Well...” he begins and stops.
“Well what?” I demand as wind blows down the street and chills my bones. But I won’t get into his car with him.
“Can we go to the airport already?”
