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I don’t need to turn my head to know he’s tracking her every move because I’m doing the same. The protective edge he carries sweeping his every pore.
The confusion on my face must overshadow my shock. Lorna’s smile carries a fake sweetness. “Ah, what a pleasant interruption.”
Cole takes a half step closer at the comment and it somehow causes her face to turn more callous. Victorious, when she has no right.
“So happy you two seemed to reconcile.” Lorna sounds almost bitter, and it makes me eye her with a fresh batch of hatred.
“Rory, Cole, you should both go,” Abram says, cutting in.
I’m not moving until I know what this is about. I had my own agenda coming here and if I could, I’d bury my shoes in the floor. I can’t, so I lock my knees instead.
I’m not going anywhere, and now knowing who’s in here, I know Cole won’t leave unless I do. So, it looks like they’re stuck with the pair of us.
“No, Abram,” Lorna starts, not turning her head back toward him. Waving him off with a backward gesture. “It’s a good thing Rory’s here. There’ve been things we’ve needed to clear up.”
I’m not sure how she does it, but her eyes turn more ruthless and cold the longer she speaks. Dead is the sound, like her insides.
A sickness settles over me, and I have to force my hands to stay at my sides and not find my stomach. How can she make even speaking sound so wrong, dirty?
A deadly glint shines from Cole’s eyes now and it makes my chest surge. His hands are locked firmly, gripping the small of my back since we first stepped inside.
At first, I’d thought it was to keep me in place, but now I’m curious if it’s to root himself instead. His anger is under control, barely.
“The only thing needing cleared is your presence from this property,” Cole speaks. Those usually light eyes filled with danger.
Like a cobra, Lorna slowly rises from her chair, never taking her eyes off us and I want to throw up. If words are venom, then her mouth is the poison.
“Why should I leave?” Not an ounce of reluctance in her tone. “This is my husband’s office, and one day it will be my son’s as well.”
Like any true villain she points out the obvious, building us up before going in for the kill.
Clasping her hands together at her waist, she adds, “I’m not going anywhere.” She sounds so sure of herself.
Cole’s hold on the back of my shirt tightens at her refusal. The move is a power play on her part. She’s trying to intimidate us, and I know if the situation called for it, Iceman would do what he thought was best.
Without hesitation, he’d take back control and yank and we’d be out as quickly as we arrived. Simple as that.
For now, he’s still allowing me to make the call. Giving me control, and I appreciate it because I know how difficult this is for him.
“If anyone should leave, it should be Rory, she should never have had a position inside this company.” Her lip curls. “Even in the mail room.”
Fresh shivers rack through me.
Abram rises from his desk at this comment. “My daughter is not going anywhere!” he defends at Lorna’s back.
Her posture whips around. Almost lazily so, but the actions jerky like she’s trying to control her annoyance too. “Of course, you’d take her side… you always did prefer to side with the weak.” Her expression nothing but sinister.
“Rory never had anything to do with this. And don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to insinuate, Lorna, because it won’t work. You no longer have anything over me.”
Abram’s temper overflows, glare lethal.
“You’ve taken years from my life, and I want the rest back,” he fumes, stone faced. “I learned long ago not to underestimate you and your conniving ways. You knew exactly what you were walking into today when I asked you here. I want a divorce.”
Lorna visibly winces, and it’s like her outrage is rippling off her.
“Your daughter has everything to do with this,” she fires back, trembling. “She keeps getting in my way. Same as everyone else.”
The whites of her eyes glow, her focus back on me. My chest squeezes, scorched by the intensity. My head tells me to look away, but I can’t. Not after what she’s admitted. My mind spirals, telling me there’s more.
