Henderson yanked his arm free like he had somewhere to be, snatched a chair from the neighboring table, and dropped himself into it. The smell hit me before he even settled. Alcohol, heavy and stale, like it had soaked into his skin.
"I guess you left your bodyguard behind and upgraded. Is all of that really necessary? You should have told them I have access to you." He sneered and looked around the table. "You move out to some small town and suddenly you're too good for the people who actually built you."
I placed my hand subtly over my nose and kept my voice even.
"Watch your tone when you're speaking to me. Whatever disdain you have for a place you don't even have to live in says more about you than it does about me. I made it clear earlier today that I am no longer your concern."
He laughed, and it came out unhinged, the kind of laugh that crawled under your skin. My stomach turned as his breath pushed across the table.
He slammed his hand down and leaned in.
"It's not that simple. You think I don't have contracts in place to keep you in line? I have been more than patient with you. Now that's over. You go back to wherever you've been hiding, send that man on his way, and we get back to work."
I looked at him clearly for the first time. Not the manager who had taken a chance on me, not the professional who had opened doors. I was looking at a leach who had mistaken my compliance for submission.
I laughed.
The confusion on his face was immediate. He wasn't used to that response from me.
"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" I said.
He opened his mouth and I held up one hand to stop him.
"That was rhetorical. You don't run a single thing where I'm concerned. I reviewed every addendum you tried to slip through. I had a lawyer look over everything you ever handed me before I signed. We adjusted accordingly. You don't own anything. Not a single thing." I leaned forward slightly. "I am not property. Stay away from me, or this is going to become a very real problem."
I stood, reached into my purse, and laid a few hundreds on the table. I smiled at Desirae and thanked her for dinner. Then I stepped around the table, my security already on their feet and moving ahead of me toward the exit.
The entire ride back to the bungalow, I turned the evening over in my mind. I had handled it. I had kept my composure andsaid everything that needed to be said. But something about the way Henderson had looked at me, the wildness in his eyes, the smell of him, the certainty in his voice, settled in my chest in a way that wouldn't let go.
Before I had even finished the thought, the car slowed in front of the bungalow and Duke was already outside.
The moment the door opened, I stepped out and walked straight into his arms. He lifted me off the ground without a word, reading everything I hadn't said yet just from the way I held on.
He thanked the driver, pressed a tip into his hand, then carried me inside and locked the door behind us. He walked us to the couch and sat down with me still in his lap.
"What happened, love?" he asked.
He placed his hand beneath my chin and turned my face toward his.
"Everything. Dinner was going well until Henderson showed up. Right before he got there, Desirae had been warning me to stay away from him, telling me he had been acting strangely about me the whole time I was gone. Then he walked in and showed me exactly who he really is."
Duke leaned forward and reached for his phone.
I covered his hand with mine.
"My security handled it when he first approached. I told them to stand down because he never touched me. It was just words. But I saw him tonight, the real him. I'm ready to go home. I'm done here."
Duke's jaw tightened. He pulled me into his chest and held me without saying anything for a long moment, his arms tight around me.
I had never wanted to be back in Rose Haven as badly as I did right then. This place was no longer my home, and I had finally made peace with that.
The next morning, Duke and I met with a realtor to move forward on listing the house. After that, I made a trip to the bank to transfer my accounts to a local branch in Straton Bay. By evening, we were boarding the private jet.
Home. I was finally going home.
ONE WEEK LATER…
We'd been backin Rose Haven for a week and I decided to throw a block party for the community. Solana needed it, the Thorns needed it, the town needed it, and honestly, I needed it too. It had been feeling like if it wasn't one thing it was another.