Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“I’m sure,” he said, not looking as though he cared much either way. “This isn’t about who Robert is though. This is about the public’s perception of him. They’re very different things.”
Then Garrett outlined how my mother had beauty, likability, and charm enough to recover if she fed the public what it wanted. Robert’s head on a platter.
“She would never,” I said, and I was almost positive that it was true.
“I’m sure,” Garrett said again. This time he didn’t sound as sure though. He sounded like he was placating me.
I frowned. “She wouldn’t.” I looked at Landon, hoping he would step in and confirm it for both Garrett and myself.
Landon glanced up, met my eyes, then shifted his gaze to Garrett’s. “Do me a favor,” he said. “If you ever run into Elyna, don’t tell her this plan of yours.”
“You can tell her because she would never,” I muttered, but I couldn’t put much heart into it. As much as my mother loved Robert, I wasn’t sure if it was enough to outweigh her love of Lavigne Beauty. And I had a feeling that if she thought sacrificing him to the wolves would fix everything, he would walk into the den willingly.
He’d do anything for her.
I looked at Landon and Emma and felt my heart squeeze painfully.
I knew the feeling.
23
LANDON
Part of me wished Garrett would shut the fuck up already. Part of me was curious to see Cami’s reaction. She leapt to Robert’s defense immediately, as I knew she would. Then she leapt to Elyna’s defense, but I wondered if she felt her lack of conviction as clearly as Garrett and I heard it.
Later, when she and Emma were napping in the back, Garrett and I talked about it.
“That poor bastard Robert,” Garrett said, knowing that no context was necessary. “That woman could tell him to lop off his nuts, and he would ask her for a rusty butter knife.”
“Whipped,” Dominic muttered, not looking up from his computer screen. Like Julian, he couldn’t walk away from work for the entire time we were in Croatia, so he was trying to get ahead now.
I didn’t join in. For one thing, I respected Robert. He’d stepped in and taken care of Cami like she was his own. For another, I was becoming uncomfortably aware that we weren’t so dissimilar. If Cami needed me to–
No. I shut the thought down hard, like I was slamming a lid on a box. Cami was nothing like her mother.
When we finally got to the resort, Cami and Emma were wide awake, and I could have used a nap. Emma wasn’t having it though. She wanted to explore every inch of Corberon and she needed both of us to do it with her.
“You’ll learn to sleep when you can,” Cami said, laughing softly as I dragged a knuckle across my eyes and followed Emma out of our room.
As Emma wished, we explored every inch of the resort, hand in hand. The only time Emma didn’t approve was when she wanted to walk between us, holding our hands herself so that we could swing her back and forth.
“What did you think?” Cami asked Emma when we finally circled back to our rooms.
“It’s beautiful. You can get married here, too,” Emma said.
Cami’s eyes widened as she looked at me. “Well, thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
I wondered if she meant it. I wondered if she found it as hard not to wonder what if it was us as I did? Because for some reason, I sure as hell was. Ever since I’d had the revelation in the parking garage with my mom that I wasn’t a damn thing like her or my dad, I’d been thinking a lot about what my future could look like now. And I liked the idea of Cami in it, permanently.
One step at a time, I reminded myself. I was closing on the house the day after we got back from Croatia. My team was vetting contractors this week, making sure that the people I was bringing in to replace the windows, change the locks, and beef up the security system weren’t security risks themselves. We still didn’t know who was behind the threats, and I didn’t want anyone even remotely connected to a Lavigne Beauty contractor at my house.
“Hey,” Cami murmured, leaning in. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t even know what getting married means. No weddings on Daniel Tiger or Paw Patrol so far.”
“I’m not worried,” I murmured back.
“No?” Cami asked, tilting her head and looking at me. “Because you got really quiet.”
I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, one of the guys I’d brought was at my elbow. “You have a minute, Mr. Campbell?” His eyes slid to Emma and then back to mine, telling me without words this wasn’t something to talk about in front of a kid.