Chapter 16: Three Conditions

Blaine stared up at Jonas through the rain.

"Hartwell," he said. "What are you doing in her house?"

"Standing where you can't," Jonas said.

His voice was quiet, and the porch went colder for it.

"Get up, Pemberton. Walk to the gate. If you come back to it, Conroy Aldrich won't be the one who puts you on the ground."

Blaine got up.

His knees were black with mud and his hands hung at his sides.

"She was mine," he said, to nobody in particular.

"She never was," Jonas said. "That's the problem you had."

Blaine looked at Leigh one last time.

Then he turned and walked out into the downpour, and the gate closed behind him.

Leigh stepped back inside and shut the door on the rain.

Jonas shook out the umbrella, and she saw the rain running off his sleeve onto the marble floor.

"You were in my grandfather's house at eleven at night," she said.

"Howard invited me to dinner."

"You weren't at the dinner."

"I was in the study, being interrogated."

She laughed before she could stop herself.

The hall was empty now. Conroy had gone upstairs, and the housekeeper had gone to bed.

He pulled out a handkerchief and held it out to her.

"Your face is wet."

She took it and dried her cheek, and then she looked up at him and asked the question that had been sitting in her chest for weeks.

"What do you want from me, Jonas?"

"Nothing."

"Everyone wants something. You want a seat on the Aldrich board, or you want a shield against the families who keep sending their daughters at you."

His face did not change.

"If that is what you think, you should hear my offer before you decide," he said.

"Offer."

"Talia is not finished. She lost the gala and the money and Pemberton Group in two days, and she has nothing left to lose."

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