“The money is not what I want. It never was.”
“Answer the question, Sydney. If I walk away from Cain Enterprises, I lose you. Do I have that right?”
“That’s what you don’t get. You never had me to begin with.”
“You sure about that? ’Cause I’m pretty sure I had you just about an hour ago.”
“Nice.” She laughed bitterly, even though she wanted to cry. “If you can’t win an argument with logic, then throw sex back into the mix, just to make me feel cheap. You know, for someone who doesn’t want to be cruel and manipulative like your family, you do a damn good job of it.”
“Well, then, you’re going to love this. You don’t want to be the girl who sleeps with her boss to get ahead. Fine. You’re not that girl anymore. You’re fired.”
“I guess I should have seen that coming. If you can’t have what you want, then you’ll damn well make sure no one else does, either.” She let out a bitter laugh. “You know, if I thought you could actually get away with that, I’d sue you. I think we’ll both be better off if we just pretend you never said that.” She turned and started to walk away, but then turned back around and looked at him. “You want to know the real reason I would never marry you? Because you’re wrong—it doesn’t have anything to do with the money or whether or not you get control of Cain. It’s because I saw this coming from a mile away. I knew from day one that eventually you’d get bored or frustrated and you’d push me away.”
“So you pushed me away first? You just conveniently waited until I let all that money slip through my fingers before doing it.”
By now she was so annoyed with him that she couldn’t even respond, so she circled back around to him trying to fire her. Even though she didn’t really believe he’d do it. Even though she would sue his pants off if he followed through, she couldn’t believe he’d threatened it. “Besides, you know the one thing you’ve forgotten? You can’t fire me. You already quit. You’re not my boss anymore.”
“Oh, I’ve only told my parents I quit. I’ll sure as hell stay on at Cain Enterprises long enough to make sure you never work there again.”
“So you’ll put up with something you hate just to make me miserable?” She swallowed the welling of grief that swelled up in her throat. “Your father would be so proud.”
Fifteen
She thought Griffin would come after her.
Even after all the horrible things they’d said to one another, even though her heart felt like it was being crushed under a steamroller, she honestly expected him to come after her. Even if for no other reason than the fact that she was on foot, miles from home, in River Oaks, for goodness’ sake.
He didn’t come after her.
He just let her walk away. Which took forever. Just walking down the block seemed to take an eternity. The whole time, she was painfully aware of him still standing there on his parents’ lawn, hands fisted on his hips, watching her walk away.
Of course, she didn’t turn around and check to see if he was still there. For all she knew, he may have gone back inside and poured himself a drink. But she never heard his car take off, and he never passed her on the road. So the whole interminable time she was walking past the six sprawling estates on his parents’ block, she pictured him standing there behind her, watching her walk away.
That image was the only thing that kept her from crumbling to the ground in tears. Because no matter what else happened, she would not let him see her crying. It wasn’t strength that kept her going. It wasn’t even pride. It was pure stubbornness. He’d crushed her, but she’d been crushed before.
That was the thing about a kid like her. She’d lost everything at the age of seven. Everything she’d ever known had been ripped away from her, even though everything she’d ever known was absolute crap. But once she’d lost everything, she knew she could live through losing everything again. She might have been terrified, but she had just kept going.
So now she kept walking. Just putting one foot in front of the other until she’d finally reached the end of the block. Then she turned the corner and walked some more. Cars drove past without noticing her—not Griffin’s car, but others. It was the people on foot who worried her. Twice she saw other women walking on the other side of the street. Once, it was a nanny pushing a high-end stroller that she was pretty sure cost more than her car. The second time a pair of spandex-wrapped trophy wives. Neither spared her more than a passing glance and she turned another corner. Only then did she admit that she was lost. In addition to being emotionally adrift, she actually had no idea how to get herself home.