Page 14 of Fall Into Me

My fork clanged to my plate, and all three pairs of eyes were on me.

Fane held my gaze with an unflinching intensity that made my stomach coil. My entire body chilled. Ice formed in places that had just moments before been the consistency of molten lava. “You’re working for your dad?”

“Yes,” he said, and I know that my parents wouldn’t have noticed, but I saw the way his jaw clenched. I saw the way the muscle twitched and how his hand tightened around the fork in his hand.

I remembered the night he told me about him. If there was one thing I knew wouldn’t have changed about the man in front of me, it was the hate he held like an oath for his father.

It hit me then with startling clarity that I actuallydidn’tknow anything. I had no idea who the man across from me now was. Not anymore.

I let my disgust at the idea of it all color my face. Didn’t even attempt to hide it.

“He’s in development,” Fane went on. “Recently, there’s been a few investment opportunities in Darling. I just moved into a project manager role, so I’ve got a team of contractors here to scout the area.”

“Scout the area?” I frowned at him. “Scout it for what?”

“Development.” He didn’t even look at me as he took a bite of his food.

My hand itched to fling up from under the table and flip him off, but as it stood, the tension between us was so taut any unknowing civilian could clothesline themselves on it and do some serious damage.

Subtlety had never been my strong suit, and I knew I was doing a very poor job of it right now because of the two alarmed looks from my parents. I should have received a medal of some kind for the effort it took to smoosh my face into something pleasant.

I fluttered my eyelashes at him so aggressively that I hoped it made him nauseous. He looked up at me from under his full lashes and heavy brows with an expression that made my stomach twist painfully.

I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t recognizehim.

“He’s been keeping tabs on a lot of small towns that are a relatively easy drive from major cities that could be done up as weekend getaways for city folks to get their small-town fix. His main focus has been Blazewood, Banks City, and Sterling.”

“Those are all West Coast cities.”

“Yep.”

“But Darling is nowhere near those cities.”

“He’s monitoring hundreds of small towns and their potential for growth.”

“That sounds stupid. You can’t just turn a small town into a city getaway,” I scoffed, pushing my plate away from me now that my appetite had left the building, much like I wish I had.

“They can, and they do.” Fane took another bite of his steak and chewed it slowly. It pissed me off. “It’s already been done to a dozen small towns. The desk work starts in Artington—analyzing the town’s economy, businesses, and potential.” His eyes flicked to mine for a split second then away, like he couldn’t stand to even look at me while he did more damage than he’d already done. “Then we move on-site. Main streets, key real estate, infrastructure. Figure out what can be improved, and see what’s missing. Create investment opportunities, introduce accommodations, spas, seasonal activities. Everything peoplecould want when they’re playing at living the small-town dream.”

Not only was it the most words I’d probably ever heard him say in one sitting, but my brain just wasn’t working. He was churning out these words like they were a script, and for a second, it felt like he hated the way they sounded coming out of his mouth.

“We? Who the fuck is we?” My chest was rising too fast for anything casual, and my finger slid up the bridge of my nose rather aggressively.

“Calista!” my mom shouted at the same time as my dad said, “You’re not too old for a time out in this house, missy!” But I was still looking at Fane.

“‘We’ is the business,” he replied so calmly it actually gave me a heart palpitation.

“Mackenzie Co.?”

He just nodded like everything we were talking about exhausted him.

“You can’t just go in andchangetowns that don’t need changing. Those are people’s homes. People’s livelihoods. People’s history.”

I was seething. Heknewwhat this town meant to me. It wasn’t enough that he didn’t want to live here. He had his heart set on bulldozing the whole thing.

“We don’t ruin anything. A lot of what we do improves the things that already exist. We inject a bit of money into the small-town economy and bring in tourism. Expand the population. It keeps the towns alive.”

“Oh my god,” I breathed. “You actually believe the words that are coming out of your mouth, don’t you?”

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