Page 164 of Lush

“You ruined everything! You destroyed my life, and now you’re going to pay for it!”

“I’m sorry, Nina. Truly, I am. I didn’t know. Maybe all of us could have come to an agreement or helped each other out?—”

I took in the room around me as Nina ranted, searching forany clue that might give me an out. My gaze fell on an old family portrait on the wall. The Ashbourne family, all smiles.

“So why stay after the accident?”

Nina froze for just a moment, her eyes flickering to the portrait as if she could see Conrad’s ghost haunting her. She didn’t answer right away.

“Conrad left me millions,” she said at last, her voice almost wistful, but her eyes were hard as stone. “Took it from the company. He left this cabin for me too. But I’m running out of money. I have a lifestyle to maintain.”

My stomach churned.

“And you want to know the best part?” She took a step closer, pointing the gun at me again, the barrel steady against my chest. “I’ve been stealing from the company. Pauline gave me access to all the books. All the accounts. I was pulling money from every angle I could—nobody noticed. Till Reese stopped things. That’s when I demanded my twenty million. So where is it, Laurene?”

Shit, Reese had been right to not pay.

I steadied my breath, looking directly into her eyes. She was broken—there was no question about that. But there was something else beneath her anger. Something raw. Desperate. Maybe, just maybe, I could get through to her.

“Nina,” I said gently. “You’ve been through hell, I know that. But taking me isn’t going to fix anything. It won’t bring Conrad back. It won’t make anything right.”

“You don’t get what you’ve done. What you took from me. He was mine.”

“I didn’t take anything from you.” I shook my head. “Conrad…he loved you. But he was trapped, Nina. Trapped by the same things I was. We were all trapped.”

The gun wavered just slightly in her hands, but the fire in her eyes remained. “And Reese? What about him? He hated Conrad. I’m sure that’s what you two planned, kill him off?”

“No, Nina. That’s not what happened.” I was trying to staycalm, trying to make her understand. “We just wanted Conrad to end the engagement. He took it too far.”

Nina’s face twisted, disbelief flashing across her expression, but she didn’t lower the gun. “Liar.”

I caught the glint of something on the table—a knife resting just inches away.

“On the boat, when I went downstairs, I needed a moment to myself before we told him. When I came out the bathroom, Conrad was there. I thought I could convince him. Conrad said no. That’s the truth.”

“That’s a lie.”

I shifted slightly in my chair, careful not to draw attention to my subtle movements toward the knife.

“He said he wouldn’t lose the life he had.”

Nina’s face twisted, confusion and rage battling for dominance. “You’re a liar. Before we got on the boat, he told me he wanted out. He said we’d be free together. He promised me.”

“Nina—”

“You did something. You and Reese—he wouldn’t have changed his mind. Not unless you forced him to.”

I could see it now—the way she wasbreaking, piece by piece.

“You backed him into a corner, didn’t you?” she accused, stepping closer. The gun shook, but her voice sharpened. “You turned him against me.”

I shook my head. “No, Nina. That’s not?—”

“Shut up!” She slammed her free hand against the wall. The gun jerked with the motion, and for a split second, I thought she was going to pull the trigger. “I know what I heard. I know what he told me. And you—you’re just trying to twist it.”

I swallowed hard. “I think you’re grieving, Nina.”

“So that’s what you’re saying?” Her voice dropped, low and lethal. “That Conrad turned on me?”

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