Some Like It Charming

Eight


The door buzzed and Ethan groaned. “Don’t they know it’s a pajama day?”

He rolled off her, picking up her pants and handing them to her. “Sorry about that. We can try again after I get rid of whoever is trying to disturb us.”

Mackenzie unhooked her leg from the back of the couch. “Let’s move it to a bed. This couch isn’t big enough for the two of us.”

He grinned at her and answered the intercom.

Ethan listened, furrowing his eyebrows at Mackenzie, then said, “The doorman says your father is here. Luke Holden?”

A sick feeling washed over Mackenzie and she blanked her face before Ethan could see. She sat up, shaking her head. “Don’t let him up.”

He raised an eyebrow, watching her closely.

She shook her head again. “Don’t let him up.”

Ethan told the doorman not to let her father up, then leaned against the wall and said, “Well?”

Mackenzie shoved her legs into her pants. She should have foreseen this. But she hadn’t heard from her father in ten years. Wasn’t sure he would recognize her name, even if she was his daughter. Wasn’t sure he would care, if he did recognize it.

Looks like he had and did. And wherever Luke Holden smelled big money, that’s where he went.

She looked up to find Ethan still watching her.

She said on a long sigh, “He’s a con man. With a smile so pure, you’ll think he’s an angel. Or a prophet. He’s done that one before. Started his own religion. Convinced hundreds of people he was a prophet sent from God to take their money.”

“I take it you don’t have a good relationship.”

She smiled slightly. “You could put it that way.” She stopped smiling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this would bring you to his attention. I didn’t think of him at all. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to him.”

Ethan wandered to the wine chiller, taking out a bottle and saying casually, “Ten years?”

She looked down, didn’t say anything.

He brought over two glasses filled with a deep, dark red and said, “Not a charming hopeless crush who didn’t love you back. Your father.”

Ethan held on to the glass when she tried to take it, forcing her to look at him. Forcing her to smile and laugh so she wouldn’t cry.

A father who didn’t love his own daughter.

When Ethan sat down next to her, she stood up and walked towards the window, pretending to look outside.

She said, “He’s handsome and charming. And can make anybody, man or woman, think they are the most important person in the world. He did it to my mother, left her pregnant with me. Did it to me when I tracked him down.”

Mackenzie remembered what it felt like to be her father’s most important person. She remembered what it felt like to be the two of them against the world.

And she remembered what it felt like to realize it had never been the two of them, it had only ever been him against everyone else. She had only been a weapon in his arsenal. Maybe his best weapon, but still only a tool he used to get what he wanted.

She took a sip and said, “He can see inside anybody and know what they want, what they’ll give for it. How much they’ll give for it.”

Ethan said softly, “What did you give up to be loved by him?”

She felt him behind her, his heat warming her back, and she looked at him over her shoulder. His jaw was clenched, a look of pure disgust on his face.

She shook her head. “Not that.”

She turned toward him, taking his hand, looking down at his long fingers. Running her finger along the trimmed nails, the golden hair on his knuckles.

She said, “I wanted to be loved by him. I wanted to be his daughter.”

The first time she’d seen Luke Holden, she’d known he was her father. Honey-golden hair, tawny eyes, and a radiant glow about him. As if he knew something you didn’t. And it was good.

She forced herself to look up and meet Ethan’s eyes. “And Luke Holden wanted to see if he could turn me into him. He wanted a little mini-me.” She smiled wryly. “I looked just like him, there wasn’t any doubt I was his. He’d taken one look at me and then just smiled. Like I’d been the gift he’d been waiting for.”

Ethan blinked, a dawning realization covering his face. “He’s why you’re such a good salesman.”

She laughed humorlessly. “I learned at his feet. Trained at his compound every year to see who wanted what we were selling, how much they wanted it. I used everything I had to wring every last penny from them.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Forgive me, but I’ve seen you close a deal. You don’t use anything but the facts. And their greed. You don’t give them anything, sometimes not even a smile.”

He made her laugh and she leaned against him, the knot in her stomach loosening a little.

“I got tired of selling myself. Of giving anything they wanted to get them to fork over a check.” She shook her head. “They don’t get me. They don’t even get to see who I am. I’m not part of the deal.”

“I am constantly surprised that works. All of my other top sellers are quite personable.” He ran a finger along her mouth, tracing the small frown that still lurked there. “You shouldn’t be successful at sales.”

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You try taking money for a theoretical promise of heaven. Selling a tangible investment that they can moan or celebrate over every day? Cake.”

He laughed and squeezed her. He murmured, “You said you didn’t still love him.”

She pulled back and looked out the window again. “I don’t.”

“He’s your father.”

“It took a long time for me to realize that he’s not. He’s a sperm donor. Nothing more than that.”

Being a father implied some sort of emotion, some sort of care for his child above his own needs. There was none of that with Luke Holden.

Ethan grunted. “We don’t get to choose who our parents are. We can only choose who we want to be. And I can safely say you’ve learned to use your power for good.”

She turned back to him and let him put his arms around her, let him pull her close. She said, “I can see what you want.”

She could. She could see everything that he wanted.

Ethan said, “Because that’s hard to figure out with me pressed up against you?”

She shook her head. “Not that.” She whispered, “Take me shopping.”

He pulled back and looked at her suspiciously. “You’re just trying to distract me.”

“Maybe. And maybe I need new clothes.”

He looked down at her pajamas, then cursed. “I feel like I can’t miss this opportunity.”

One corner of her mouth kicked up.

He narrowed his eyes. “What about pajama day?”

“We’ll just spend it having sex.”

He nodded. “I was starting to see the point of it.”

Ethan followed her to her bedroom, sitting on her bed and watching her get dressed. “You can distract me for a little while, but we’re not finished discussing your father.”

“Yes, we are. The end. Daddy-daughter issues? So boring. And when we get home from shopping, you can peel all the new clothes off me and forget everything I told you in a blaze of passion.”

“It does sound promising.”

“Yeah, it does.”

He smiled. “There will be short skirts and high heels.”

“I didn’t have to read your mind to figure that out.” She walked over to him, grabbing his shirt and leaning into his face. “There is one thing that I want you to know before we go.”

She waited until his eyes widened, until he looked sufficiently nervous, then said, “If you call anybody to meet us, I will hide your body where no one can find it.”

He smiled and said lightly, “You just want me all to yourself.”

Mackenzie let go of his shirt and walked out. “Whatever gets you through the day, O’Connor.”

Ethan followed her, chuckling.

And turned off his phone before they got in the elevator.



Halfway through their shopping expedition, Mackenzie left Ethan to grab two cups of coffee. Ethan had told her someone in the store would happily go get it for them, but Mackenzie needed a break. A break from shopping, a break from the over-solicitous staff, a break from Ethan. He’d been treating her with kid gloves since her father’s unexpected attempt back into her life. Soft touches, whispered words. His every attention focused on her, waiting to lift even the smallest frown into a smile.

It was grating on her.

She didn’t need to be coddled because she had a lousy father. She didn’t want it to affect her at all. And Ethan was making it clear that not only was she upset, he could see it.

She didn’t like either of those situations.

Ethan had finally waived her off to get coffee, apparently realizing she needed a moment to herself, and Mackenzie knew he would take the opportunity to buy something highly inappropriate. She decided if she didn’t know what it was, she couldn’t be embarrassed about it.

Mackenzie waited in line and didn’t notice the man a few people ahead of her until he paid for his coffee. The tattoo peeking out from the cuffs of his expensive suit was what grabbed her attention. By the time he turned around, she had hardened her heart and got a good hold of her wallet.

Her father offered her one of the two cups he’d bought and she thought about ignoring it, thought about throwing it in his face.

His eyes glittered. “That’s not how to get what you want from me.”

“I want you to go away.”

“I know it. And throwing a fit isn’t how to get it.”

She took the cup, following him to a table and sitting stiffly.

Luke looked at her, his eyes memorizing the new lines on her face, the firmness to her mouth, her blond hair. He quietly valued the new clothes she was wearing and his eyes lingered, just a touch too long, on her engagement ring.

He sat his cup down untouched and said, “You’re not a kid, anymore.”

“Ten years will do that.”

He nodded. She couldn’t help but notice the changes in him. His golden brown hair was peppered with gray, the laugh lines deep in his face.

He picked his cup back up, took a slow sip, and said, “I’m married.”

She blinked but didn’t hide her surprise fast enough. He chuckled. “You’d like her. Thought I was Satan himself when she met me; hasn’t changed her mind much in the five years we’ve been married. She wanted to meet you, damn near broke my jaw when she found out I had a grown daughter I’d never bothered to tell her about.” He looked out the window. “Told her she could meet you next time.”

Mackenzie sipped her coffee, not surprised to find it sweet and rich just like she liked it. Her father remembered the little details just fine. The little details, he always said, was what kept a con man out of jail.

Luke sighed and looked back at her, reading in her eyes that there would be no next time. “Your sister is turning three this November,” he said and her breath whooshed out as if he’d punched her.

She hid her trembling hands under the table. “Cozy. A nice wife, a new child.”

He smiled slightly. “My wife is not nice. I’d call her prickly, with a side of bulldog thrown in for good measure. She got her teeth into me and I haven’t wanted to get them out yet.”

“That’s not the type you normally go for. She must be loaded, and smart enough to keep it out of your hands.”

He chuckled, a low rumble that made the woman sitting at the table next to them spill her coffee. “Oh, I’d taken her inheritance before she ever met me. Tracked me down to get it back.” He shook his head, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “She doesn’t believe a word I say. And still just won’t let go.”

“Very different from my mother.”

He handed his napkin to the poor woman at the next table, smiling into her eyes and making her face flush red. Then turned back to Mackenzie. “Your mother was a sweetheart. The biggest mark I’d ever seen, and she believed every word I ever told her. I’m lucky I got a hold of you when I did or you would have turned out just like her.”

It took all her concentration to keep her breathing even. To keep from leaping across the table and tearing off his smug, confident face.

He watched her, then murmured, “You’ve gotten good. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d forgiven me about that.”

“I haven’t. You can rest assured.”

He nodded, winking at the woman who was still trying not to stare at him. He said to Mackenzie, “Are you playing this one?”

“No.”

“Good. Because you won’t win.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t know anything about the O’Connors.”

“No. I know you. And you think it’s cheating to use your gifts to steal from someone.”

“Yes, that sounds exactly like cheating to me.”

“And so you take their money ethically?” He shook his head, laughing. “You sell investments.”

“It’s a step up from eternal life.”

He nodded his head graciously. “Of course. And now you’ve moved on to marrying for money.”

Mackenzie said, “You know nothing about it.”

“I know it sounds like a con. So I’ve come to see if my daughter has joined the game.” Luke watched her a moment. “Now I’m wondering about him.”

“It’s not a con.”

“So says the mark.”

“It’s a favor.”

He sighed heavily, shaking his head. “It gets worse and worse.”

She laughed, a bitter edge to it. “What do you think he’s trying to get from me?”

“What does any man want from a woman? Everything.”

“I know exactly what he wants from me. He’s not a con man.” She paused. “Okay, he is. But not one like you.”

Luke’s eyes flicked behind her. “Maybe he’s better than me.”

Mackenzie turned to find Ethan bearing down on them, anger plain on his face. Her shoulders relaxed. Ethan wasn’t better than her father. He wasn’t playing her. She had no doubts where he was concerned.

Ethan took her hand in his, pulling her up and trying to stare down her father. “Don’t bother her.”

“She can take care of herself.”

“But she doesn’t have to. I’m right here, and if she says she doesn’t want to see you, then I will make sure she doesn’t.”

Her father looked between the two of them, his brows furrowed in thought, and then he barked out a laugh. “Oh, you two. No one’s running this thing, I see.”

He stood, nodded at Ethan and smiled at his daughter. “When you two work this out, remember your old dad. Come and meet your sister, my wife. We’ll get to know each other again.”

Mackenzie couldn’t help it, the words popped out of her mouth. “I already know everything I need to about you. People don’t change.”

Luke nodded. “True. But they get older and slower and wiser. People sometimes get tweaked. And sometimes that’s enough.”

He smiled at her, and his smiled widened when he saw her hackles rising.

He laughed, a crystal clear boom that not even his daughter could see through. “And sometimes it’s too little, too late.” He shook his head. “Too much of me and not enough of your mother. I did too good a job.”

“My mother was a beautiful mark. You never wanted me to be like her.”

“No. And I still don’t. But she would have forgiven me, and you won’t.”

Mackenzie took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t have forgiven you. She wouldn’t have realized there was anything to forgive. But you’re right that I won’t. Don’t come back. There’s nothing for you here.”

She waited, staring him in the eye. Letting him see everything he had done to her, everything he’d taken from her. Letting him see that he could never make her believe he cared for her.

Luke finally nodded at her, a smile still on his face. He looked at Ethan. “You know what I’ll do if you’re playing her.”

Mackenzie snorted. “You should have threatened yourself.”

He turned to her, his eyes suddenly cold and hard. “I should have. But I was too stupid then. So I will threaten him.” He looked at Ethan again. “Your deepest, darkest fears will become reality. I might even talk her into helping if she finds she’s fallen to another con man.”

Ethan didn’t falter under her father’s gaze. “She hasn’t.”

Mackenzie turned, leaving her father standing there, knowing she should have left long ago. But she’d thought he would have given a hint at what he wanted. How much it was going to cost to get rid of him.

Oh, she wouldn’t have paid. But she wanted to know how hard he was going to work.

And now she knew. He either wanted nothing or everything.

She would bet on everything.

Ethan followed her out, holding her hand silently on the subway ride to their building. They rode the elevator up, Mackenzie’s arms crossed tight in front of her. She went straight through to her bedroom after he opened the front door, not looking at him.

Ethan followed her, blocking her from shutting the door with his foot.

“Go away,” she said in a harsh voice.

He pushed the door in, grabbing her arms, and pulling her in close. He wrapped his arms around her, not saying a word.

She whispered, “Please go away.”

“No.”

He held her close as she cried, as her tears fell, soaking his shirt. He simply held her and ran his hand down her hair, over and over.

Mackenzie finally whispered, “You need to warn your grandma. And maybe your mother.”

She felt him smile. “They know what a con man looks like.”

“Then why does your mother still fall for your smile?”

“She’s my mother. And you don’t need to worry. The O’Connors have dealt with con men before.”

She lifted her head, finally looking him in the eye. “Not like him.”

“I’ll let them know he is a threat.”

She nodded, wiping her face.

He said, “You have a sister?”

She looked down at the carpet. “Who knows. Maybe he made it up, to get to me. It worked.”

She didn’t know what to do about a sister. A three-year-old sister. And her father married? She would have said that would never happen. What was marriage and family to a man who cared only for money?

“What made you leave? What did he do?”

A half-laugh, half-sob escaped. “He did nothing. Nothing when he should have done something.”

Ethan sat down on the bed, pulling her down to sit beside him, silently watching her. She knew what he was doing, drawing her out with his silence, but she couldn’t seem to stop the words.

“I was with him, on his compound. And my mother died.” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t find out until months later. He never told me. Not when she was sick, not when she died, not when they held her funeral.”

“Why?”

“Because he didn’t care. And he didn’t think I would either.” Mackenzie blinked a few times, not wanting to cry again. “I cared. She was my mother.”

He nodded.

“I decided I would go back home, visit her, visit my grandparents. I was tired of the compound, tired of the suckers. And he said, ‘Oh, she died.’ Like. . . like–” She waved her hand in the air. “Like they were out of peanut butter at the store and he hadn’t thought it worth the bother of mentioning.”

“I’m sorry.”

“He didn’t care that I might need to say goodbye to my mother. I was raking in the cash for him and he didn’t want to let that go. I meant money to him. Just like everyone else there. Just a big dollar sign.”

Ethan took her hand, running his thumb up and down, trying to soothe her hurt.

She said, “I’d learned to see people, see what they really wanted. So I looked at him. And all he wanted was money. He didn’t want a daughter.”

“His loss. His problem. Not yours.”

She shrugged. “I went back home, tried to see my grandparents, but they looked at me like I was just like him. Cold and heartless. They said my mother had called and sent letters, wanting to see me before she died. They didn’t believe I’d never received them.” She shook her head. “They wouldn’t forgive me for letting my mother die heartbroken and alone. I lost all my family trying to get him to love me. Lost everyone who’d already loved me.”

He shook his head. “They were grieving. Have you tried contacting them since?”

“Once. Nothing had changed.” She laughed, a hopeless tear-stained choke. “They saw a woman even colder than they remembered.”

“I don’t believe they thought you cold and heartless.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t? I’ve been called ice queen enough times to know most people see me like that.”

“I never saw cold. I saw. . . closed, maybe. A fortress protected by a moat and a drawbridge, with a no entrance sign chiseled into the stone.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “No wonder you couldn’t leave me alone. What a challenge for you.”

“I knew there must be something inside worthwhile to protect.”

She looked down at their intertwined hands. “Maybe.”

Ethan said, “No. I was pretty sure then. And now I’m certain.”

Mackenzie smiled slightly. “You’re the only one who can break my composure, so maybe that’s the difference.”

He sat back, satisfied at her confession. “Will your father stick around? Try and get to you again?”

She nodded. “If he tries contacting you, don’t talk to him. Give him nothing that he can use. Don’t let him into the OC.”

He nodded. “I only have one more question. How good were you at wringing? If you wanted everything from me, could you get it?”

She looked into his clear green eyes. “You’d be a tough nut to crack.”

But she knew what he wanted. He wanted to find that woman who was worth half his fortune. Who he could be sure of and who would make him sure of himself.

She was her father’s daughter, no matter how much she wished otherwise. She knew what Ethan wanted, how much he wanted it. She could get everything from him.

But she was pretty sure it would take everything she had.

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Could you crack me?”

She was smiling when she said, “I could crack you.”

He pulled her closer, tucking her head under his chin. “I’d like to see you try.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“I would. I’d like to see who’d come out on top.”

“You remember WarGames? No one left to be on top. The only way to keep from losing is not to play.”

“We’re not talking about annihilation here.”

“That’s because you’ve never lost before. You don’t know what it really feels like.”

He ran his hand down her back. “I hate your father.”

She listened to his heart beat, the anger in his voice. Felt his strong arms around her and thought for a moment she might hate her father for the exact same reason Ethan did. For taking away her desire to play with everything she had.

But she said, “Seems fair. I hate your mother.”

He chuckled. “Let’s do something both of them will hate.”

She smiled up at him. “I’ll play that game with you.”

He toppled them to the bed and said, “Good. We can see who comes out on top.”



Ethan had been quietly fuming the last few days and hadn’t been sleeping well. He decided he might as well get out of bed and let Mackenzie sleep. While he did enjoy waking her up, she hadn’t had a full night’s rest since her father’s ambush.

He headed for the gym. A quick workout before work would help get whatever was bothering him out.

It wasn’t buried too deep, a fact he realized as he headed straight for the punching bag.

He took a long, slow breath. He methodically wrapped his hands, pulled on his gloves, and then he wailed into the bag.

Right into Luke Holden’s smiling face.

He thought of Mackenzie that night. Pale-faced, teary-eyed. Broken.

And how she’d been ever since. A little closed. A little wary.

Of Ethan.

Ethan smashed his fists into the punching bag again and again and again.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

He’d never hated anyone before.

He’d never loved anyone before.

He stopped, stood still while the punching bag swung and his breath bellowed.

What was he thinking? He loved everyone. Loved people’s foibles, their idiosyncrasies. Loved brightening their day, getting them to step outside themselves for just one minute. He loved giving people a reason to remember that one moment in that one day because most days were lost. Unremembered. Unworthy of being remembered.

And Mackenzie wasn’t wrong that usually those people then gave him whatever he wanted. He prided himself that what he wanted wasn’t harmful. He wasn’t like her father, dammit.

He punched the bag again, but his heart wasn’t in it, and he wandered away, ripping the gloves and wraps off his hands, and leaning against the mirrored wall.

Was he like her father?

He closed his eyes as he remembered the trail of tabloid articles his last breakup had spawned.

He thought of using Mackenzie as a buffer to keep other women away from him. Always using someone to get what he wanted.

F*cking hell.

Ethan smashed his ungloved fist into the mirror, the glass shattering and ripping into his skin. His blood squirted onto the mirror and he stared at it. He looked at his hand, watched blood drip down his fingers and onto the floor.

He grabbed a thick, white hand towel, wrapping it around his hand, focusing on the pain so he wouldn’t have to think about all the people he’d hurt. All the women he’d left pale-faced and teary-eyed.

He pictured Mackenzie broken and crying over him. When their six weeks was up and he put her on a plane back home. Another woman left to wonder what had happened when the problem was, and always had been, him.

Because even though he started all his relationships clear that it was only for fun, only for a little while, it never stayed that way. Even this time, when they’d signed a contract.

His relationship with Mackenzie hadn’t stayed a business relationship. It hadn’t stayed uncomplicated. He couldn’t leave things well enough alone and they’d become a couple. He just couldn’t seem to be around anyone without trying to get under their skin.

Ethan looked into the jagged mirror, at his cracked reflection, and realized. . .

He hadn’t gotten under Mackenzie’s skin. She wasn’t the one whose favorite part of the day was walking through the door after work. Who made notes about funny things that happened when they weren’t together.

She wasn’t the one who planned activities just to see him smile. Who couldn’t imagine life now without him. Laughing, competing, fighting, loving.

Mackenzie wasn’t going to be the one broken and crying when he left.

He just couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see Mackenzie ever crying over him.

He’d put her on a plane and she would say something snarky about the half million dollars and leave him.

And fly home. And start her new boring life.

Without ever crying over him.

Without ever realizing that he was at home, wandering around his now lifeless apartment lost and alone, because she’d left him.

Because he’d loved her and she’d left him.

F*cking hell again.

He didn’t just love Mackenzie Wyatt. He was in love with her.



A knock at the door surprised Mackenzie. Ethan had gone to work before she woke up, leaving her to wander around his apartment. She’d hid a few more candy bars, wondering if she did have some kind of squirreling thing, because she was having a lot of fun trying to find hiding places.

She was in the middle of screwing the air vent cover back on and she got up to look through the peephole. She stared glumly at his mother.

Mackenzie opened the door slowly. “He’s not here.”

“I know. I’ve come to speak to you.”

Mackenzie stepped back, letting her in reluctantly.

Christine walked in, stopping when she saw the vent cover and screwdriver. She turned to look at Mackenzie with one eyebrow raised.

“I was just. . . hiding chocolate.” Christine simply stared at her, waiting, and Mackenzie said with an embarrassed shrug, “He thinks it’s fun to find them.”

Christine clutched her purse and said, “I want you to leave.”

Mackenzie nodded. “I know. But Ethan and I have an agreement. I will leave when it runs up.”

Christine opened her purse and pulled out a check. “I want you to leave now.”

Mackenzie glanced at it, noting just how many zeros could fit on one small check. Her eyebrows raised involuntarily.

“Have you paid all his girlfriends to leave?”

“I’ve never needed to before.”

Mackenzie shook her head. “That’s nowhere near half his fortune.”

Christine blanched. “He told you about that?”

Christine looked at the check, then put it back in her purse and closed it with a snap. “I’ll never get you to leave, will I?”

“No.” Mackenzie let her worry about that for a few seconds, then said, “But I will anyway.” In one week and three days. But who was counting.

“I don’t believe you.”

“He paid me a million dollars to be his fiancé for six weeks. I’ll be gone in a little over a week.”

Mackenzie could see the sneer start on Christine’s face so she said, “He offered me three percent of O’Connor Capital. I talked him into the money.”

Christine’s sneer froze on her face. “He offered you a part of the company? Why would he do that?”

“I guess he wanted to prove to me he was sincere.”

“He couldn’t give you a share without. . . Ellen.”

Mackenzie nearly laughed.

Christine said, “And you’ll leave when this ends?”

Mackenzie nodded. Christine didn’t look like she believed her.

Christine said, “My son is fascinated by you. Challenged by you. And you are not what he needs. He needs a woman who will put him first. Who would forgive him if he falters. He doesn’t need a woman who would destroy everything his family built if he hurt her.”

Mackenzie looked at her, thinking. Surprised that this was why Christine didn’t like her.

“Well. I think you underestimate your son. I don’t think he has ever faltered, will ever falter. But you’re right that if he ever hurt me I would destroy him. Probably gut him and leave him on the floor bleeding.”

His mother grabbed her pearls, her face going white.

And Mackenzie said, “But he could only hurt me if I loved him. If he loved me. We don’t.”

“Then why are you sleeping with him? Is that part of your agreement? Is that what the million dollars is for?”

Mackenzie jerked her head back as if she’d been slapped. Then took a deep breath.

Christine held up her hand to stop Mackenzie from saying anything. “I think you’re a liar. I simply can’t decide if you’re lying to him, to me, or to yourself.”

Christine turned to leave and Mackenzie bit her tongue hard enough to taste blood.

Christine closed the front door softly behind her and Mackenzie picked up the screwdriver and threw it across the room.