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He flushes a little at that, his face going slightly pink. There’s a pleased smile playing around his mouth, and he drops his gaze back to the keyboard of his computer.
“It’s nice to be using my skills against her for once,” he says. “She exploited them for her own gain for a long time, and it’s much more enjoyable to do it this way.”
I like seeing this side of him so much. Getting to see all of him. He’s so much more comfortable around me these days, and it makes me feel good to know that he trusts me.
The feeling is mutual.
I would trust Vic with my life.
Once the withdrawal process is started, we turn to the next order of business. My conversation with Ransom in the tub reminded me all over again how important getting my college degree has always been to me. For a long time, it was the only real goal I even had. My desire to stick it out and graduate instead of quitting to help Olivia run her estate was part of what made her reveal her true colors, forcing my hand and blackmailing me into agreeing to marry Troy.
Now that we’ve decided to stay in Detroit, I want to follow through on that goal—partly for my own satisfaction, and partly as a giantfuck youto Olivia, a reminder that she doesn’t control my life anymore.
I definitely don’t want to continue at Wayne State though. There’s just so much baggage at that school for me to ever really feel comfortable there again.
I told the guys my plan to transfer to another school and continue my studies, and they were on board with it. So now all that’s left is going to campus to pick up my transcripts so I can apply somewhere else.
All three of the brothers insist on coming with me. None of them are eager to have me out of their sights for long, and I honestly prefer it that way too. We were forced apart for far too long, and it left invisible wounds on all of us. Staying together now helps heal those wounds, at least a little.
We head out after lunch, and they fall into place around me as we head down the hall and to the elevator.
“This will be new,” I say, casting a teasing glance at them. “For once, you’ll be coming to campuswithme, not just showing up there because you’re basically stalking me.”
Ransom belts out a laugh, draping an arm around my shoulder. Malice snorts and rolls his eyes, but I can see amusement in their gray depths.
It doesn’t take long to collect my transcripts once we get to the Wayne State campus, and although the woman behind the desk in the admin office keeps shooting glances at my men, I’m glad they’re with me. I don’t have many fond memories of this school, and it settles my nerves to feel them at my back.
As we leave the building and head back across campus, Ransom entertains us all by pointing out the various places where I had run-ins with the men, and I’m laughing as we pile inside the car.
But the light mood evaporates when we get back to my inherited condo… and find Olivia waiting for us.
She’s standing outside the building, and her eyes lock with mine before Malice even stops the car. My heart starts to beat harder as we get out, and she strides up to us, red in the face and eyes blazing with fury.
Usually, even when she’s angry as hell, she looks put together and composed, completely in charge. But now she looks more unkempt than I’ve ever seen her before.
Her hair is escaping from the neat updo she pulled it into, and one of the buttons on her blouse isn’t done up. She’s clutching at her purse like a lifeline, and there are dark circles under her eyes that even her expensive makeup can’t cover.
Good, I think savagely.It’s about time she found out what it’s like to feel helpless and out of control.
“Olivia.” I give her my best fake smile as the men all close ranks around me, Malice and Ransom on either side and Vic right behind me. “What are you doing here?”
“I know what you did,” she hisses as soon as she reaches me.
She jabs a finger at me, then jumps when Malice smacks her arm away. I realize as he does that her hand is trembling. Whether from stress or from anger, I’m not sure, but it’s another slip of that untouchable armor she usually surrounds herself with.
“You’ll have to be more specific,” I tell her, doing my best to sound composed and unbothered.
“You removed the money Troy put into my business,” she snaps. “You had no right.”
“I think you’ll find I have every right,” I shoot back. “Because that money is mine now.”
Olivia’s eyes narrow as she glares at me, hatred clear in every line of her body. “I’m warning you. Stop fucking with me. You have no idea what you’re doing here.”
“I have a pretty good idea what I’m doing, actually,” I tell her, letting my lips curve upward on one side. “And every time you confront me like this…” I let my gaze linger on her rumpled clothing and her messy hair. “It just makes me more certain that I’m on the right path.”
Even more of Olivia’s facade slips when I say that. Her face morphs into something filled with anger and hate, and she doesn’t try to hide it at all anymore. She looks vicious and cruel, almost inhuman, as if a monster has possessed the body of an old woman.
“I knew it,” she spits, lowering her voice. “I knew the moment my son met thatslutthat she was going to be the ruin of this family. That she wouldn’t rest until she’d dragged the Stanton name into the mud. And then they had you.” She takes a step closer to me, her mouth curling into a sneer. “Your mother was a gold-digging whore. My son tried to tell me they were in love, as if that was supposed to mean something, but I saw her for what she was. She was trash, and in the end, that’s all you are too.”
