Chapter 3

It was four in the morning when the car pulled up outside the Carrow house.

The driver got out to grab my suitcase.

"You can just leave it there," I said.

He hesitated. "Ms. Hollis, Mr. Whitaker told me to watch you go inside."

My hand stopped on the door.

Of course he did. Pierce couldn't even be bothered to fake it. He really thought I'd run. He was worried his deal would fall through.

I didn't want to make this the driver's problem.

"Don't worry about it," I said, and climbed out.

It was the tail end of fall, and the wind went straight through my thin dress. Goose bumps crawled up my bare legs.

The driver set the suitcase down beside me. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to stand there and watch.

"I'll head out, then, Ms. Hollis."

His taillights faded down the road.

I stood alone outside a stranger's house with no idea what came next.

Pierce had decided I should be dropped off here. He probably hadn't thought about what happened after that. Or he didn't think it was his job to.

I took out my phone to get an Uber.

I'd barely unlocked it when headlights swung up the drive behind me. A black sedan rolled closer, and I stepped aside without thinking.

It stopped. A tall man got out, suit jacket hooked over one arm. Cool, tired eyes. He looked like he'd just come from a long client dinner.

I knew him.

Rhys Carrow. The one man in the business who could actually give Pierce a headache.

Their firms had been fighting over deals and poaching each other's clients for years. Everybody in the industry knew that if you put Whitaker and Carrow in the same room, somebody was leaving angry.

But I barely knew Rhys. We'd met maybe a handful of times.

So he didn't place me right away. He studied my face for a few seconds, and a faint crease formed between his brows.

It took him a moment longer to dig up the name.

"Maren... Hollis?"

I nodded. "Mr. Carrow. Pierce said you wanted me."

He glanced at the suitcase, and the crease got deeper, like I'd just handed him a problem he didn't want.

Then he swore under his breath.

"He actually did it."

I stared at him.

He'd already looked away. There was none of the interest Pierce had talked about. Nothing like a man who'd finally gotten the woman he wanted. If anything, he looked annoyed.

That was when I realized this wasn't what I'd thought.

"Mr. Carrow."

He stopped.

"That contract," I said. "Were you really going to trade it for me?"

He was quiet for a second, as if he'd only just remembered.

"You've got it wrong."

I went still.

He looked at me. "I'm not interested in you."

That one sentence left me rooted to the spot.

I should have been relieved. Instead, somehow, it was even more humiliating. Pierce had given me away to a man who didn't even want me.

"Then why did you..."

"It was a throwaway line," Rhys said evenly. "I didn't think he'd say yes."

For a second, I couldn't breathe.

He could see I didn't understand. He didn't bother to soften it.

"Celeste has never believed Pierce actually wants to marry her. She thinks he keeps too many women around. So I tested him for her."

Celeste. His stepsister. I'd forgotten the two of them had grown up under the same roof.

I stood there and couldn't say a word.

So that was it.

Rhys hadn't put the Harbor Yards contract on the table because he wanted me. He hadn't even expected me to show up. He just wanted to see whether Pierce would get rid of a woman he'd had for four years, for Celeste's sake.

And Pierce had said yes. Instantly. Without a second's hesitation.

So now everyone could relax. Pierce really did love Celeste. Enough to hand over the woman who'd been in his bed for four years.

Something in my chest went hollow.

Everything that had happened to me tonight was just a way to prove how much he loved somebody else.