Fear and guilt fill her eyes. My body tenses in response to it, especially when her bottom lip quivers.
“I have to tell you something,” she whispers.
Something I won’t like. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She flicks her eyes over my shoulder to Tyler and her breath catches. “Naomi came to see me just before we went to London.”
My arms fall away from her. Shock is smacking me in the gut. Naomi? What the f**k is going on? “What?”
Dayton pulls herself to a standing position and leans on the bar. Her hands are still shaking. “She wasn’t happy with the divorce settlement, and she came to ask me for money.”
Tyler snorts. I look at him then back to Dayton. He knew.
“You knew about this?” I question him.
My cousin nods.
I swallow down the rapidly rising anger in my body and turn back to Dayton. “She asked you for money? Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“She didn’t…ask…so much as blackmail me.”
“How much?”
“Two and a half million.”
Two and a half f**king million dollars? “What the f**king hell, Dayton!”
“She gave me four weeks to get it to her, and I have one week left.”
I close my eyes briefly, breathing in, and wait for her to continue.
“When I went home after London, there was a letter waiting, and today, there was one delivered here. She’s keeping tabs on me. She knows Tyler knows and she said if I told you all bets were off.”
“All bets for what? What could she possibly know about you that she could hold over your head?”
She gives me a piece of paper, her head down. “She knows I was a call girl. If I don’t pay, she’s threatening to expose my past and destroy your business.”
I look down at the white sheet in my hand and the words written there.
One week. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? It’s a shame you told Tyler… I’ll let it pass. You’re getting desperate, after all. But if you tell Aaron…the world will meet Mia Lopez.
My chest tightens in anger. No, this is more than anger. This is pure f**king fury.
I knew Naomi was a manipulative bitch, but I never imagined that she would go this far. To drag Dayton into our bullshit is uncalled for and completely unnecessary.
And the fact she never told me…
I look up. She can’t even look at me. I know how she feels. I felt the same way in Paris.
Slowly, she looks up, and her broken brown eyes meet mine. She shrinks back, wrapping her arms around her stomach. I crumple the paper to the floor and turn away. I need to get out of here, get away from her. I need to escape from the knowledge that another secret is coming between us and my vile ex-wife is the center of it yet again.
The door slams behind me with a certain finality. It’s a deafening sound that echoes down the stairwell. The elevator is no good for this...this anger. There’s no outlet.
But not even the harsh pounding of my feet against the stairs can beat this anger out.
I pull out my cell and call the office. Dottie answers almost immediately.
“Find out where Naomi is living. Now.”
My cell is snatched from my hand, and I turn to see Tyler bringing it to his ear. “Ignore that, Dottie. He’s having a bad day.” My cousin pockets the phone and looks at me.
“What the f**k, Ty?”
He grabs my arm and leads me through the lobby. “Going over there when you’re this angry isn’t going to solve anything. What you need, mate, is a drink.”
I don’t want a drink. I want to find out why the woman I love kept such a huge f**king secret from me. Why she’s been dealing with this shit alone when I could have dealt with it weeks ago.
Still, I allow Tyler to lead me to the nearest bar and order two glasses of whisky. I drain mine in one go and nod to the bartender for another. The liquid burns as it goes down, taking away from the anger settling in my chest.
“When did she tell you?” I ask Tyler, staring straight ahead.
“In London. After she came to Jenna’s shoot,” he replies. “She froze every time Naomi’s name was mentioned and I wanted to know why.”
“You pushed her into telling you?”
“Pushed her into telling you, too. She was going to tonight. The letter threw everything off course.”
I swallow, my throat dry despite my constant sipping. I feel utter disbelief. Dayton made it very clear in Paris how much she despises secrets. She berated me endlessly for having kept Naomi from her, and now, in a cruel twist of irony, she’s done the exact same thing.
For the last three weeks, she’s been carrying this around. Through everything we’ve dealt with, she’s kept this f**king secret.
She stood in front of me and asked me to bear my soul to her when she wasn’t doing the same thing. She wanted me to be open when she was unable to do it herself.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” I face Tyler now.
He shrugs a shoulder with a heavy sigh. “She wanted to protect you. She didn’t want you to worry about it. She felt like it was her problem, not yours.”
I rub my hands across my face. It hurts more than it angers me. The fact that Naomi could do this, could blackmail Dayton for her own selfish needs, angers me beyond belief. I feel that fury grasping on to my body, but the hurt from Dayton not being able to tell me overcomes it.
I slump onto the bar, fisting my hair. Suddenly, all too acutely, I feel the pain she must have felt in Paris.
“Fuck,” I breathe heavily. “I can’t believe she’s been coping with this by herself.”
“She’s determined, that’s for sure. I offered to help her out and she pretty much f**king laughed at me. I’ve never known anyone so independent, if you discount Tessa.” Tyler chuckles.
It’s easy to imagine—Dayton laughing at him. She doesn’t take being helped well.
I drink the rest of my drink and stand up. “Come with me.”
Tyler follows me from the bar. “What are you doing?”
I know that the store is down this street. It’s a personal favorite of my mother, one my dad has visited time and time again. Right now, I’m thanking him for having shown me it.
“Mate, you’re f**king mental,” Tyler explodes when we stop in the front of the jewelers.
A small laugh leaves me. “No, I’m just a presumptuous bastard.”
“What the hell are you thinking?”
I look at my cousin. “I’m thinking Naomi already came between us once and I’m not letting it happen again. I’m also thinking Day will kill me when I ask her, but it’s about the only thing that will calm me now. I need to know that, one day, the ring I’m about to purchase will be on that woman’s finger before I can go ahead and deal with the one who never should have had a ring in the first place.”