“No, but I’ll add that you discard your partners when you get what you want from them and they no longer please you,” she retorted.
“Where’d you hear that?”
Amery looked at him. “Deacon. He repeatedly expressed surprise that your current flavor of the month—me—had lasted an entire summer.”
“Deacon wasn’t speaking of my lovers, Amery; he meant that in the rope partner sense.”
“That’s comforting. Does Knox, closest thing you’ve got to a friend, know that you’re a closeted billionaire?”
“Yes.”
“Deacon?”
“Yes.”
“Your sister told me Naomi knew too.”
“Why do you think she stuck around as long as she did?” he said testily.
“You led me to believe she was some poor waif who used you and needed more kink than you could provide. I had no idea she was an international businesswoman you met at a social club.”
“She wasn’t an international businesswoman when I had her bound. And how did the subject of Naomi come up?”
“I figured out the meeting with the Okada VP was a setup when the exotic Asian woman started asking me personal things. I thought she might be your ex trying to get to you, given the hush-hush nature of the project and the last-minute meeting. Plus, the woman wore sunglasses until I asked her to take them off. When I saw her eyes I knew.”
“That’s the only way you’d know, because my connection to Okada is not common knowledge. And yes, that is intentional.”
“In this day and age where information can be at your fingertips in a nanosecond . . . why doesn’t everyone on the planet know who you are?”
“Who’d care? I’m not a celebrity.”
“So there’d be no interest in a story about Denver’s hidden Japanese billionaire?” she taunted.
That’s when he cracked. “You plan to out me in the Denver Post? Or is this just the threat of exposing me where the real money is?” he snapped. “Think I’ll pay you to keep quiet about my family ties and my kink? Think again.”
Once again she felt as if he’d kicked her in the teeth. Once again she looked at the man in front of her, the man she thought she’d loved and she saw a stranger. “You actually believe I’d try and extort money from you? Wow. I’ve already been lumped in with Naomi as a total backstabbing bitch. Now that I know what you really think of me, I’ll go.”
Ronin laughed harshly and it was an ugly sound. “You’re leaving now? Bullshit.”
“I’ve said everything I needed to.”
“Except for one very important thing.”
Yes, I fell in love with you. Yes, I’m going to suffer for that for the rest of my life. “What?”
“Did Okada offer you the project today?”
“That would get you off the hook, wouldn’t it? You had your fun and games with me and you’re throwing me a bone to alleviate your guilt.”
“That’s not an answer.”
How’s it feel, asshole?
“It doesn’t matter what my sister said to you. One phone call to my grandfather and you’ll have the Okada project.” He angled forward. “Because yes, I do have that much power. I’m just selective on when I choose to use it.”
“Save yourself a phone call and don’t waste your power on me. There’s no way I’d ever take the job after this. No fucking way.”
“That right? A struggling company like yours turning down a contract worth several million dollars? One job with Okada could put you on the map for the rest of your career.”
“I don’t care.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
She hated being called stupid. “You don’t know me at all if you think I’ll stand here and take your insults just because you have—”
“Money?” he supplied. “That’s what it always boils down to, which is why I never goddamn talk about money.” Ronin stared at her, the anger pulsing off him. “So you really want to punish yourself by saying no? You’d be losing a lot.”
“If not for us hooking up, Hardwick Designs wouldn’t be on Okada’s radar at all. So I haven’t lost anything, because I never truly had it.”
“I thought you were a smart businesswoman.” He looked at her as impassively as a bug. “Apparently I was wrong.”
That stung. “Apparently I was too. About a lot of things.”
“You don’t know what’s really going on. You only have half of the story.”
“Doesn’t matter. I never knew what was going on with you and that’s the way I’ll leave it—as clueless about who you really are as I was when we met months ago.”
“You know who I am.”
“No, I don’t. Is this where you promise to explain everything to me if I just trust you?”
“Is this where you storm off?” he countered. “And expect me to run after you with apologies and explanations?”
Another direct hit. “When have you ever done that?”
“Every single time we’ve had a problem,” he bit off.
“Wrong. And it’s just another example that we’ve never seen things the same way.”
“That’s because you only see what you want to see.”
Goddammit, she wouldn’t cry in front of this man. She grabbed the door handle.
“You don’t get to walk out on me, Amery.”
“Watch me.”
“I mean it,” he warned. “Don’t you walk out that door.”
Amery turned and looked at him, her heart heavy, her nerves shot, feeling as though part of her world had caved in. But she didn’t cave in. She met his golden-eyed gaze with as much dispassion as she could muster. “Or what? Are you going to tie me up to make me stay?”
Raw vulnerability flashed in his eyes and he flinched as if she’d slapped him.
Don’t fall for it; next he’ll close himself off like he always does.
Then it happened, the mask dropped back into place.
“That’s what I thought. Don’t bother running after me with the excuses you consider apologies or offering more lies masquerading as explanations because we’re done this time. Done.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ronin
The door slammed hard enough to rattle the glass.
Ronin remained frozen in place as if staring at the door would make her walk back through it.
Go after her.
But his feet didn’t move even when everything inside him was screaming at him to chase her down, and yes—tie her up if he had to. She had to listen to him. He had to make her understand. . . .
Why you lied to her? You brought her into this fucked-up family situation without any warning—that is all on you.
He was such a cruel, arrogant bastard. Twisting her words around and forcing her to defend herself because he had no other offensive position.
So go after her.
It wasn’t pride that kept him in place but fear. Debilitating fear. His years of defensive training tamped down anything resembling real emotion as the don’t show fear mantra he’d lived by his entire life echoed in his head until he felt as if it would explode.
Find the eye of the storm and center yourself against it.
Ronin counted to sixty.
No change. His rage still fought to get free.
Again. Look deeper for the calm.
He counted off sixty more clicks on the clock.
Then sixty more.
And sixty more after that.
When he reached the three hundred mark, he’d lost any semblance of control.
Ronin picked up the closest chair and hurled it against the window. Glass shattered and the wall shook from the force of impact. But the explosion of sound quieted the fury that’d overtaken him.