Page 119 of The Love Destroyers

“When she gets here, I’ll bring her straight back, but if you could keep her in this room, I’d appreciate it.”

I smile at her. “You’ve got it. And no skunks. Nicole got a lecture from me and the owners last time.”

She smiles at me, then surprises me by handing me a sourball candy from the pocket of her apron.

I raise my eyebrows in question. “These aremyemergency candy,” she says. “They remind me that I don’t exist to please other people. Or at least they’re supposed to.”

“Thank you,” I say, surprised by another surge of emotion clogging my throat. Damn. It’s as if all of my emotions have been freed at once.

She smiles again and leaves, and I pop the candy.

She’s back five minutes later with Ellie, Otis, and two glasses of beer on a serving tray.

Ellie gasps, then says, “It’syou,” and grabs one of the glasses off the tray and instantly pours it over me.

Sophie gapes at us, probably surprised things have gone wrongthisquickly.

“Did you get that on camera?” Ellie asks Otis, still glaring at me. He nods like a bobble head, her phone raised.

The beer is seeping into my hair, my dress, my bra. But I don’t get up. If I did, I’d be giving her the reaction she wants, and I need to remain in control of this interaction. So I just pick up the napkin at my place setting and calmly wipe my face before asking, “Are you done with your tantrum?”

“Should I call the police?” Sophie asks, pulling her tray away from Ellie with a scowl as Ellie reaches for the other glass.

“Yes!” Ellie shouts. “Call them. There’s a restraining order against her.”

“Uh…”

“There isn’t,” I say pleasantly. “There’s nothing keeping me from being in the same room as you. Aren’t we lucky?”

Sophie looks confused. Her cousin seems nervous but is still filming with Ellie’s phone while sweat slicks his brow.

Ellie straightens her perfectly straight dress. Beer sops down my back, all the way down to my underwear, my hair soaked and sticking to me. But I keep my cool, even expression. This is it. This is the big show.

It may all be over soon. Finally.

The thought doesn’t fill me with as much relief as it should, but I’m in no mood to dwell on that.

“I’m leaving,” Ellie says, but she doesn’t move. Neither do Sophie or Otis. It’s like we’re in a big standoff, but only two people have any idea what’s going on.

“You shouldn’t,” I tell Ellie. “If you leave now, Jeffrey’s going to destroy you the same way he destroyed me.”

She laughs, glancing at the camera Otis is carrying. Her next laugh is completely for the camera. “Can you believe this?” she asks the screen. “his woman is crazy. She ambushed me. She’s completely obsessed with me and my boyfriend.”

“He was my boyfriend, Ellie,” I say, seeking out her gaze. “For two years. He said we had to keep it secret because it would be unprofessional for other people to know, and I was okay with that. I didn’t want everyone to know. But then I noticed something was wrong with the books. He was charging for more hours than he’d given people. Embezzling. I thought it was an honest mistake, but after I talked to him about it, he assigned me to your divorce case. He made sure that I found out you were sleeping together so he could sabotage me and destroy my reputation. He made sure no one would believe me.”

Sophie gasps and drops the second beer. It explodes with shattered glass and foam and drops of beer everywhere. I don’t care about the mess—I’m already wet—but Ellie acts as if she’s been hit with a literal bomb.

“This iscashmere,” she shouts at Sophie, climbing up onto the chair as if the floor has turned liquid.

“I’m sorry,” Sophie says in a flat tone. “So sorry.” She plucks up the big pieces of glass and throws them away in the trashcan. Then she reaches forward and grabs Otis’s arm. “But we need to get out of here and get some cleaning supplies. We’re obviously going to come back, but it’s really important to get going on the cleanup job. So have a great conversation, and yeah, we’ll be back.”

Otis’s eyes look wild, but at Sophie’s urging, he sets the phone down and starts to back out of the room, stepping around the mess.

“If you leave this room, you’re fired,” Ellie snaps at him.

He looks like he’s going to relent, but Sophie is surprisingly strong and tugs him out.

Swearing, Ellie presses something on her phone and says, “It’s still recording, Emma. Give me something else so I can show the world how nuts you are.”

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