Page 2 of Playing With Secrets
I laugh to myself because I must have gotten under hisskin. It’s a good thing because it gives me the upper hand in our war for Dorothy’s love. Too bad for him I have a ton of leverage to keep him away from her.
“It’ll be brief. We can talk as we go to the lobby.” I sidestep to leave, half facing the door and her. “I’ll have Hailey check on you later. She can bring you anything you need from work. If it’s something personal you need, text my assistant. I’ll send you her contact information as soon as I get in my car.”
“That’s unnecessary. I can take care of myself.” Dorothy stands in her living room, not joining us near the front door.
“Nonsense. I have people I pay good money to for this exact thing.” I flash her a goodbye smile and rush to Jamison.
He’s already on his way out. It seems he doesn’t want to wait for me.
When will he ever learn?
He’s almost to the stairwell when I close her door. “Jamison, I highly suggest you wait. We have something to discuss.”
“No, we don’t. I already know what you’re going to say.” He trudges through the hallway and disappears down the stairs.
I increase my stride in order to reach him. “Test me and you’ll get a lesson you don’t want.”
He stops on the stairs as I enter and twists my way, pointing his finger. “Your threats have me for now, but they won’t have me for long. I plan on destroying you.”
I roll my eyes and continue to descend. “You know, I was reconsidering our agreement over the weekend. I thought maybe we could do this amicably. But you have a different agenda. You texted her all weekend, demanding to meet with her.
“And now that I found you in her loft, I’ve taken that idiotic thought and thrown it out the window. You have no intentions of respecting me, so I’ll have to put something into motion.”
He clenches his teeth and advances on me, taking two stairs at a time until he’s one below me. “You already spread the rumor about Melanie and me, so I’m not surprised you’re ready to do it again.
“But you can trust me on this. I’m not giving up on my relationship with Dori. She still loves me and I still love her, so take that and be on your way.”
Dorothy loving him is news to me. I knew he loved her, but I didn’t know she felt that way about him. I’ve had my suspicions, but she’s never come out and said those words.
“Live in your fantasy all you want, Jamison. At the end of the day, we both know she doesn’t feel that way for you. If she did, she wouldn’t keep coming back to me and trying to work it out.”
He glares my way but says nothing.
“Let that sink in because it’s not your bed she slept in all weekend.” I tip my head in glory.
He huffs away from me, but I have one more thing since he doesn’t seem to care about the consequences. “It would be a shame if the beta launch for our app went poorly. Cut ties with her or else it’ll be in jeopardy.”
He stops when he reaches the lobby but doesn’t face me. “You need the launch to go well just as much as I do.”
“I do, but I’m willing to cut my losses. I don’t need you as much as you need me. There are a million developers, and I have enough information about your software. I could easily have someone else come up with something similar.” I stride by him and wave goodbye.
He hesitates for a moment and then relents. “I’ll back off, but she’s a smart woman. You may think you’re winning, but she’ll eventually leave you. It could be a month from now or five years. Either way, you won’t win in the end.”
I shrug and open the front door to her building. My driver jumps out and opens the car door for me.
It wasn’t the interaction I was hoping for with Dorothy,but at least I made sure they weren’t together. I slide into the back seat and watch Jamison stomp away until I can no longer see him.
I think he got the point. If he goes near her place again, I’ll sabotage our launch even if it is bad for my business.
He’s already had one failed marker. If he has more, the terms of our contract state we can seek other options. We won’t get the money back we’ve paid him, but he won’t get the billion dollars he wants so much.
After that, I’ll make sure his company gets smeared in the media. I have the connections to do it and it would ruin him. The problem with that is Dorothy would never forgive me.
This party is the last place I want to be, but Ava demanded it, so here I am. I knock on the door to her suite and glance at my watch while I wait.
Spending five hours on a plane was bad enough. Now I have to endure a night out with her.
Only two hours of this bullshit and I can get back to my real interest, Dorothy. I pull my phone out of my pocket right as Ava answers the door.
