Lila remained silent.
“Since you can’t seem to form a coherent thought, let me explain it to you. That asshole you’re fuckin’ just met with a company called Glenmore because Lockwood is bleeding cash. And guess what? It’s one of my subsidiaries. See, baby girl, since nobody wants to take a chance on Colby and Lockwood Racing, I hold the key to their futures.”
Lila’s blood turned cold. She closed her eyes and counted to three before opening them again. She hoped this was all part of a bad dream. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. She could still hear Carrington’s heavy breathing on the other end of the line.
There was no more fight in her. “Why are you doing this?”
“You know why.”
“No, honestly, I don’t. You’re married, and even if you weren’t, you don’t love me and never did. You know I never loved you either. We had an arrangement.”
“Why do you act like you care that I was married?”
“Because it mattered! I never would have dated you if I had known you had a wife and kids.”
“So now you’re saying we dated? Which is it? Was it an arrangement, or were we dating?”
Lila’s head was pounding. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter.” Carrington was zapping her energy. “What do you want?”
“I want what’s mine.”
“I was never yours.”
“You’ll always be mine. I paid for you, and if you want Glenmore to sign those damn papers, you’ll pack up your shit and move back into our place within the next forty-eight hours.”
“I can’t do that! Colby races for the Cup in less than two weeks.”
“Does she? I mean . . . she might, depending on your response.”
The silence between them seemed to last forever.
“Forty-eight hours and not a second longer.” His voice changed from the sound of pure evil to light and cheery. “Oh...and wear that canary yellow lingerie set I bought you. I always liked the way it looked against your chocolate skin.”
The line went dead.
Lila sat stunned. She was still in a state of shock that Carrington would do something like this. Then again, he was a bastard, so was she really surprised he would be such a dick? How was she supposed to handle this? She couldn’t let Lockwood lose the sponsorship, and she couldn’t move back to be with him.
“Ugh!” she screamed aloud. Was she ever going to be able to shake off her past and all her mistakes?
This was an ugly situation, and Lila had no idea how to escape it. However, she had forty-eight hours to figure something out.
Head in her hands, Lila made her decision. She knew what she had to do, but first, she needed to talk to Brian. It was going to be a painful conversation, and she was disgusted with herself that she even had to have it, but it was necessary. She didn’t waste any time getting showered and dressed.
It was still early when Lila entered the kitchen and found her mother sitting at the table, sipping on a cup of coffee and scrolling through her phone. She glanced up when Lila walked into the room. They made eye contact, but neither spoke.
Lila was the first to break the silence. “Look?—”
“I’ll be out of your hair soon. I’m making plans to leave.” Faye continued to stare at her phone.
As much as Lila’s mother worked a nerve, she did want a healthier relationship with her. “I know I said some awful things last night, and I wish I hadn’t lashed out.”
Faye refused to look at her. “You don’t mean that.”
Lila rolled her head around her shoulders. “I do. I want us to be able to talk without all the anger and resentment.”
“I’m not angry or resentful.”
“Aren’t you?”