Eleanor’s car in gear, and headed to Pinewood Hills.
When she pulled into the drive, Theo ran out to greet her. He opened her car door, hauled her out, and kissed her lips tenderly, the feel of them erasing any doubt she’d ever had about her feelings for him. It felt so right to be back in his arms.
Theo pulled back and looked down at her. “Hi,” he said with a wide grin. “I missed you.”
It was the first time she’d ever been told that by someone she was dating, and while it was such a normal thing for people to say, it meant the world to her. She smiled up at him. “I missed you too.”
Then a white pop of light blinded her. She heard the purr of a car engine but couldn’t see who it was driving up the track and coming to a stop in front of them. Her heart racing, Lila blinked enough to make out a sleek, dark Tesla, the driver’s side door opening and long, thin legs emerging from within.
“We’re still married, Theo,” the owner of the legs said, as the high heels attached to them ground their way toward them.
Lila squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again to find the woman from the photos she’d seen online—Alexa Fontaine—in the flesh. Her dark hair fell in loose shiny waves down the back of her belted coat, and her powder-perfect face was set in a scowl behind her enormous black Prada glasses. Alexa tilted the shades enough for her eyes to clamp down on Lila, appraising her. Then she pushed them back into place with a dismissive and disgusted shake of the head.
“Give me a break, Alexa,” Theo said, striding up to her.
She pursed her lips and pushed her glasses onto her head, just to show off an eye roll. “You look like a train wreck. You could do with a shave,” she spat. Another white pop went off, and Lila realized it was coming from somewhere amongst the trees behind the cabin. “I’m going to ruin you until the press leaves me alone. It’s my goal in life to make sure there is enough evidence out there to prove that you and you alone ruined our marriage.”
“Fine,” Theo said. “They can write whatever they want about me—I don’t care anymore.”
“The press will have a field day with the angle, ‘Theo Perry has gone off the rails and is now shacked up in the sticks, cheating on his wife with a local hillbilly.’”
“Hey, you stop right there,” Theo said, sticking up for Lila. The camera went off again from the tree line.
Alexa ignored him and turned to Lila. “If you think you can squeeze any money out of him to get yourself out of your…” She waved her manicured hands around in the air. “Circumstances, you’re wrong. He’s dead broke.”
“Alexa, what’s going on here?” Smash asked from the porch before Lila could say anything.
Alexa cackled. “Oh, there you go,” she said to Lila. “A sound investor. If money’s what you want, Smash will give it to you—even if he doesn’t have it.”
“You just sound bitter,” Theo said. “This isn’t the person I met when we first started dating.”
Alexa didn’t even flinch. “Likewise,” she snapped. “And no, I’m not. You’ve made me the laughing stock of our social circles. Did you know there was an article in Music Mag about my lack of judgment, and how I’m singlehandedly ruining our family empire by the men I choose? They said I was involved and went so far as to say they suspected I’d steal from my own family next!” Her puffy lips began to wobble. “I started seeing someone and on our third date, he cancelled. He said he’d heard about my background. And he couldn’t risk anyone interfering in his family’s fortune.”
“Then divorce me,” Theo said. “From what you’re saying, making me look bad is only going to reflect worse on you. Be the hero and divorce me, and then tell everyone your side.”
“Not until you go to the press and explain to them that you stole money from your own company without my knowing, and I had nothing to do with any of this. Until then, I will make your life as miserable as you’ve made mine.”
“He didn’t steal anything, Alexa,” Smash said, coming down the front steps. “It was—”
“All a misunderstanding,” Theo cut in, before Smash could incriminate himself. “Dad took funds from the company as a year-end dividend and forgot to enter it