Ruthless Rival (Cruel Castaways #1)(13)

“Ah.” I clucked my tongue. “Because anyone else in my position would take a settlement and call it a day. I want to drag him through the mud. Make him suffer. Bonus points: He’d help me become partner. Seal the deal.”

Arsène stared at me like I was insane. Which, admittedly, wasn’t a stretch. I was making very little sense. “Fifty grand says he recognizes you.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Hundred says he doesn’t. I’ll pick up my check Monday.”

There was no way in hell Conrad Roth would know who I was. I’d slipped off his radar shortly after graduating from the Andrew Dexter Academy and changed my legal name, address, and phone number. Nicholai Ivanov had gone MIA weeks after graduation and was presumed dead by the handful of people who gave two shits about him. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Roth had paid for my education up until college—though this was hardly a charitable act—and I’d used the knowledge I’d gathered as weapons against him afterward.

After all, he hadn’t been shy about haunting me even when I’d lived a state away.

“Look, Conrad Roth will recognize you. There are no ifs about it.” Arsène flashed his wolflike white teeth. He hated illogical things. Revenge was one of the least rational things in the world. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it only made things worse.

“And?” I quirked an eyebrow. “Who cares?”

“Your career,” Arsène deadpanned. “Your career cares. I see your deductive reasoning has gone out the window. You could be disbarred if he files a complaint. Is this pissing match worth losing your career over?”

“First of all, it’s not that easy to get someone disbarred. I didn’t get my JD from Costco.” I tossed a piece of edamame into my mouth. “Second, even if he recognizes me—which he won’t—he wouldn’t dare. I have too much leverage on him. No one knows what he did to me.”

“Even if all of those things are true”—Arsène drew a circle with his chopsticks in the air—“you still won’t be able to handle this case with clarity, focus, or an ounce of the sanity you are obviously losing in quantities each passing minute. You lack all three where the Roths are concerned.”

“It’s time they pay for what they did,” I hissed.

One of the women who’d served us swaggered over to us, hips dangling like a pendulum, and slid the two phone numbers across the bar, along with complimentary beers. “Take your pick, boys.” She winked.

“They?” Arsène lifted a dark, thick eyebrow. “We’re talking plural now?”

He stuffed one of the phone numbers in his pocket, even though I knew he wouldn’t call. Between the three of us, Riggs was the one most likely to tumble into bed with someone outside his tax bracket, followed by me, with Arsène lagging far behind. He was a connoisseur of upper-crust, ultrasuccessful women and was very particular about everything: how they tasted, how they smelled, what they wore. If I had to put my money on who was a psychopath between us three, I would place my bet on him.

“You’re grasping.” I walked over to the trash can and disposed of my half-eaten poke.

“And you’re in denial.” Arsène followed behind me. “You’re holding a grudge against a fourteen-year-old girl, Christian. Not your best look.”

“She is not fourteen anymore.” I slammed my palms against the glass door and marched into the dead winter night, sleek sheets of rain coming down on me from the sky. The roar of the city reminded me that I was under the same piece of sky as her and probably only a few streets away.

So close and yet so far.

She might have forgotten me, but she was about to be introduced to a new version of the boy she’d liked to toy with.

Arya Roth was all grown up now, and she was about to pay for what she’d done.





CHAPTER SIX


CHRISTIAN

Past

She came back again, and again, and a-mother-freaking-gain.

We spent most of that summer break in Mount Hebron Memorial, jumping between gravestones like they were puddles.

The day after our first encounter, she brought a book downstairs called The Secret Garden, and we read it, sweaty temples stuck together as we each held one side of the book. We each read a page on our turn, and I could tell we were trying to impress each other.

The next day, I brought Sherlock Holmes from the local library, and we read it in intervals, when I wasn’t yelling at her to stop with the doggy ears because I was paranoid about paying the library fee.

We sat on Harry Frasier’s grave and read. Sometimes we talked to her brother, Aaron, like he was there with us. We even gave him a personality and everything. He was the party pooper who trailed behind and never wanted to do anything. The cemetery became our own secret garden, with treasures and mysteries to unravel. Every nook and corner was explored, and we knew its residents’ names by heart.

One time, the groundskeeper found us playing hide-and-seek. We both ran like our asses were on fire. He gave us a good chase, spewing profanity and waving his fist in the air. When we got to the wrought iron gate, I gave Arya a leg up so she could escape before hopping over myself. The groundskeeper almost caught me, but Arya grabbed my hand and fled before he snatched my shirt through the rails of the gate. That was the last time we went there.