Page 149 of When Hearts Awaken

Elias

Camden Murphy. Currently single. Went back to school after quitting ballet. Lives in Brooklyn but works in Manhattan as a financial analyst.

He sends me an address.

Elias

A little bird tells me he’s currently eating lunch with his boss here.

I curl my hand into a fist, grinding my teeth together.

“Charles? What’s wrong?” Liam asks.

I look at him and take in his whole bad boy getup. “Want to go on a field trip with me?” I tell him about Camden and what he did to Taylor back then.

Liam’s eyes take on a dangerous glint. “Let’s go.”

You fucking motherfucker, I’m coming to get you.

Twenty minutes later, Liam and I walk into Giuliani’s in the Financial District. I spot the asshole right away based on a photo Elias sent me. Camden is laughing with an older man—his boss, Gerard Matthews from Matthews Investments, a small as fuck boutique firm I can put out of business in my sleep.

Liam and I yank out the two open chairs at their table before taking a seat.

“What on earth?” Camden asks, looking bewildered. “Do we know you?”

I hold up my hand and flag a waiter to bring over two whiskeys for Liam and me.

Turning toward Gerard, I smile. “Gerard, how is business treating you? Tim Riordan still letting you play with his money?” Based on my quick check on the way over here, Riordan, a mid-level millionaire, is their main client.

Gerard’s eyes widen, and he lets out a nervous laugh. “Charles Vaughn, I don’t think we’ve met before. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

A waiter comes by with our drinks and I take a sip, watching as Liam does the same.

I shrug. “Just a friendly visit to remind you to do a better background check before hiring people.”

“What do you mean?”

Arching my brow, I motion to the asshole next to me, not even bothering to look at him. “Do you know there’s a lot to be said about one’s character, or lack thereof, when a man abandons his girlfriend after she was brutally raped? And then he had the gall to blame her for it?”

I hear Camden’s breath hitching.

Keeping my eyes on Gerard, I swirl my whiskey in front of me. “I wonder how Tim would feel to know his money is being handled by a firm that employs such dubious characters.”

Gerard swallows, a muscle twitching on his forehead. His gaze darts to Camden, then to me, and his expression hardens. “My firm would never knowingly employ such people.”

I smile and sit back. “Glad to hear it.” I raise my glass and watch his hand tremble as he clinks his against it. We take a sip of our drinks. “I think we’re on the same page. Now, do you mind excusing us? We have some unfinished business with Camden over here.”

He nods, quickly pushes out his chair, and takes out his credit card. I shake my head. “On my tab, because you answered correctly today.”

Gerard expels a nervous breath before he addresses Camden. “Don’t bother coming back to work.” He turns around and leaves.

A small thrill sifts through me as I turn to the sputtering idiot.

“I don’t care who the fuck you are. That’s illegal, what you did there. He had no grounds to term—” Camden abruptly silences when I haul his chair over and set him next to me.

“Youhurtmy woman. You betrayed her at the darkest time of her life. What I did was the bare minimum of what you deserve.” I can barely keep the fury out of my voice.

I lean into him and whisper, “Now, you’re going to pack your bags and move out of this state. Your name is as good as animal shit in the financial circles in this city. You’ll never get a job here. And you’re going to write Taylor a nice apology or else I’ll blacklist you everywhere else in the country.”

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