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His suit was three-piece, obvious wealth. Much like his shoes. I didn’t know much about shoes, but even I knew those were probably custom-made and made from some personal shoemaker over in Switzerland.
“Like this hotel?”
“I own the hotels. I own the universities—” He kept on, giving an impressive list, but the university caught me.
“Chelton University?”
He stopped, his mouth turning down before he heaved a deep sigh and sat forward. His arm dropped from the back of the couch, reaching for a coffee that was already placed on the coffee table as if whomever placed it there knew he’d expect it. It was there for him, no one else. There wasn’t a second cup either.
“The Rothchelton University.” His mouth went flat. “It was named after my great-grandfather.”
The Rothchelton University. That name—I’d heard of that before.
Scout.
He said that was the university his grandfather wanted him to go to.
All the dots connected because I didn’t believe in coincidences. I was reeling. “You’re Scout’s grandfather.”
Also, Scout was a Rothchelton?
“I have my dad’s last name . . .” He talked about his family, that they were wealthy and like cutthroat wolves. He’d not been lying. Owning the global franchise of Carby’s was only one of his grandfather’s empire, and he was here, in front of me, after having me escorted to seeing him. Alone. On his territory.
The floor seemed to dropped out from under my feet. This was all a setup.
“What are you doing? Why am I here?”
“My grandson has talked about me?” He sounded pleased.
“Yeah, as in he hates you.”
His eyes sharpened on me.
I couldn’t be here. Panic was starting to claw at me. My being here wasn’t good. This was all too familiar, too reminiscent of being around Max, around his family. Scout’s grandfather was like them, with their money and power and prestige they wielded like weapons, but his grandfather was more. He put Max’s family to shame. He was leagues above them.
I started for the door, the need to get out of there, escape, retreat, was so overwhelming.
“I wouldn’t do that,” he said as I reached for the door handle. “I would listen to what I have to say because I came here to be of service to you, Miss Williams.”
No, no, no.
Every instinct was screaming for me to go, but those words. Of service. I was frozen.
The same power Max had was washing over me again. The same abusive power. Did all abusers have it? The same power? Was it me? It was as if Max had carved out a hole for his power to slip in and control me, and because Scout’s grandfather was also an abuser, I was just as vulnerable?
I needed to fill that hole so no other power could slip in there and control me. It was me. I needed to push it out of me.
“What do you want?” I didn’t recognize my voice.
Fear was pulsing through me. My vision was blurring on the ends.
“You have a problem. I have a problem. I’m here because I believe we can help each other out. Would you stay? Hear me out?” He had stood. I didn’t know when, but he held a hand out to a chair not far from me.
It was farther away from him than I had been, which was the only reason I sat. I almost scurried there, wanting to get away from him and wishing I could just leave.
Despite his lack of reaction, I could tell it pleased him.
“From what my sources tell me, you and my grandson are in a relationship. Is that correct?”
My lips thinned. “Were.”
“Right.” He was still studying me. Weighing me. Judging how he could use me in the best way for him. He never sat. “You already had a previous relationship with a Max Prestige.”
God. I sucked in air. Him saying Max’s name was too much. Too threatening.
He knew too much.
“I’ve taken the time to familiarize myself with your situation and the incident that occurred between your previous boyfriend and your father.”
No, no . . .
He couldn’t talk on that. It wasn’t his to talk about.
“You’ve been given a bad hand, and you have my sympathies, but—”
But he didn’t care.
But he would use it, weaponize it.
He had no right to say any of this to me.
My pulse was so rapid, heart thumping so hard in my chest, that I swore I felt it though my whole body.
“I’ve also been told of a recent incident that occurred at a nearby university, where another Prestige’s vehicle was vandalized. Did you know they had that car shipped here specially for the trip?”
Oh God. Oh no.
Trenton. He smashed Spencer’s windshield.
“Are you also aware that Mr. Prestige was planning to bring charges against your cousin? I believe he’s the one who did the vandalism. Or that the Prestige family has been financially supporting your father’s family who are challenging his will?”
