Page 9 of Final Cost

I cut him off because there’s only one thing I give a shit about at the moment. “My girlfriend Tamsyn will also need an attorney if the police want to talk to her, which I assume they will,” I say, voicing one of my biggest concerns. I do not want her badgered or harassed. I want her protected. “Is there someone else at the firm who can represent her if push comes to shove?”

Roman sits up straight and raises his hand before Gray can answer. His look of bright innocence doesn’t fool me for a second. “I thought she was yourformergirlfriend…?”

Now is not the time for this clown and his needling. He’s spent a healthy portion of the last several days telling me I made the worst mistake of my life by letting Tamsyn go. I don’t want to hear it again now. “Shut the fuck up or get the fuck out.”

Having proved his point, Roman represses a smirk with difficulty, lowers his hand and eases back against the cushions.

“I have another partner for Tamsyn, sure.” Gray says. Thoughtful pause. “Forgive me for asking, but are you sure you know her well enough to know thatshedidn’t —”

That’s more than enough to get me flared up again. I lean in and point my finger across the desk at his face. “Listen to me,” I say around gritted teeth. “She hadnothingto do with Ravenna’s death. She is above suspicion, so let’s get that straight. I want to make sure that she stays out of trouble —”

The sudden sound of a car outside the window behind me snaps me out of what was shaping up to be quite a tirade. I quickly look around, knocking over my desk clock in the process, and see the SUV pull up.

Thank fuck. It’sher.

Doors open. Tamsyn gets out.

I freeze, my heart lurching into overdrive.

She’s wearing one of her little summer dresses, something blue that skims her shoulders and makes me remember our time together in Monte Carlo. She’s pulled her sandy curls back into a ponytail. Her face is downturned and resolute behind her sunglasses as she grabs her purse and waits for Hank to retrieve her luggage from the trunk. Then she glances up at the house and heads toward the front door with all the enthusiasm of a dolphin swimming with a pod of orcas.

Oh, and the little necklace I gave her with the car charm? It’s gone. I assume she ripped it off her neck, spat on it and flushed it down the toilet at the first opportunity so she’d have no physical remnants of me. My mood sours even further.

I stand and crane my neck to keep her in sight for as long as possible, beyond caring about the audience behind me or whether she sees me watching her. Beyond pride or embarrassment. That’s how glad I am that she’s here—I can’t breathe with it. Yet I also feel as though I can finally breathe now that I’ve laid eyes on her again. As though my lungs only inflate fully when she’s somewhere nearby, and she carries all the keys and secrets to my existence in her purse with her.

My relief is so overpowering that I almost slip up and say what I’m thinking aloud:

Thank God she’s back. Thank God she came back.

I’m also glad she made things easy on me and came back voluntarily. I’m not sure what I would have done otherwise—that Seal Team Six threat wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as it should have been—but I would have done it. Trust me when I say that.

Someone loudly clears their throat behind me. I turn away from the window, cheeks burning. “We need to wrap up this meeting. Are we done here?”

“We’re done,” Gray says, watching me with open speculation as he also stands and reaches across the desk to shake my hand. “We’ll stay in touch. And I’ll call Detective Smith to let her know I’m on the case and she shouldn’t have any more impromptu discussions with you without me.”

“And the lawyer for Tamsyn,” I remind him.

“Relax,” he says, shooting a startled sidelong glance at Roman. Neither of them seems to be a big fan of my vehemence where Tamsyn’s concerned, but I don’t give a fuck. “I told you. It’s under control.Relax.”

“Good man,” I say, nodding.

He leaves. I’m on the verge of following him and trying to intercept Tamsyn before she goes upstairs and retreats into her bedroom when Roman stands and comes over to stare me down with the kind of unblinking no nonsense look that Dad used to shoot us when we got into shenanigans. Like the time he caught the two of us and our partner in crime, Daniel, arriving back home after taking his Ferrari for an unauthorized spin.

I stiffen and wait.

“Do us all a favor, Lucien,” Roman says. “Get her back. You’re a mess without her.”

Heat rushes up my neck and over my cheeks until it burns the tips of my ears. I may be a mess without her, but it’s rude of him to notice and unforgiveable for him to mention it. I open my mouth to issue some sort of denial, but he cuts me off my clapping his hands to either side of my face. Hard.

“Spare me the denials,” he says with a flinty smile. “Neither one of us believe them.”

He walks off. I’ve never been so happy to see the back of anyone in my life. I have a couple seconds alone to get my thought together before Hank comes in trailed by Ted Winwood, another member of my security team, and Daniel Evans, my estate manager, lifelong friend and Ferrari-stealing accomplice.Hegrew up here at Ackerley and took over his father’s duties when he died.

I focus on Hank first. “Thanks for grabbing Tamsyn for me,” I say. “How is she?”

“You heard her on the phone,” he says with a rueful laugh. “She’s pissed. God help you.”

“Indeed.” I turn to Winwood because I want to get right to the point. “I want to know how Ravenna got onto the property the other night when she set the fire. What have you found out?”

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