And then I hear it. A voice.
“I’m here,” it says.
I look at Beau, just as she aims her gun to the stairs, and she starts moving toward them, quietly but efficiently. I inhale when I see a figure at the top, and Beau pauses from taking the first step, her foot hovering in mid-air. “Beau?” Amber sounds shocked, coming out of the dusk and into the light. “And Rose?” She comes down two steps and looks between us. “What are you doing here?”
“What areyoudoing here?” Beau retorts, her gun unmoving, aimed.
“How did you find me?” Amber comes down the stairs, her face a map of confusion. “I thought you were someone else.”
“Who?” Beau backs up, maintaining her distance, and I stick to her side like glue.
Amber reaches the bottom and glances around, nervous and twitchy. She looks bedraggled and tired, the usual power suit replaced with a tracksuit and some Uggs. Her hair is piled high. No makeup. “I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t know who it is.”
I don’t like this at all. She looks fucking shifty, edgy. Who was she expecting?
“How did you know I was here?” she asks Beau, going to the window and looking down onto Miami.
“My dad offered to buy me this place.”
She laughs, but it’s not in humor. “He boughtmethis place.” Amber faces us, noticing for the first time the vest I’m wearing. She tilts her head, moving closer, her eyes on my stomach. “Are you...”
I keep my mouth firmly shut, which is probably the worst thing I could do.
“You’re pregnant?” Amber looks plain disgusted. It doesn’t bode well.
“We’re not here about me.”
“Oh, well, it’s all very cozy between you two, isn’t it? My stepdaughter and my ex’s new wife.”
“Stepdaughter?” Beau splutters.
“Ex?” I ask. She was never Danny’s in the first place to become an ex.
“Yes, ex.” Amber’s edginess is suddenly gone for dust, and supremacy is back. Oh no. She is underestimating Beau. Silly woman. She casts a looks Beau’s way. “Didn’t you know Tom had proposed? Obviously I accepted. It’s why he wanted to meet you for dinner, Beau. To tell you.”
“I thought you’d split up.”
“Well, we had, no thanks to you.” Amber’s eyes turn onto me. “Thank you for pouring poison into Tom’s ear.”
“Poison?” I blurt. “You mean the truth, don’t you?”
Her hand lands on her chest. “I loved Tom dearly. Is that why you’re here, Beau? To stake a claim on everything that’s now... well, mine?”
Fucking hell, she’s a beast of a woman. “I think we should be leaving,” I declare, tugging on Beau’s arm. “Beau, come on.”
“Yes, run along. And enjoy the BMW.” Amber smiles, and it is slap worthy. “You’re welcome.”
“Shut up,” I snap, furious on my friend’s behalf.
“Oh.” She laughs. “Danny’s latest whore has something to say, does she? Like your fucking opinion counts?”
I’m not standing here and listening to this bitter, twisted piece of shit devalue my marriage. I look at Beau and hate the raw fury I see. The deep breaths she’s pulling to contain the monster that’s trying to break free. Because, apparently, Amber knows something about The Bear. “Beau, remember why we’re h—” The screens in the office catch my eye. Or rather, someone on them. I move in closer, seeing someone in the parking garage. A man. He goes to the elevator, reaches for the panel, and the doors behind us start closing.
“Beau, is that your ex?” I ask, forcing her from her frenzied trance with just the mention of Ollie. She frowns at the screens. I don’t need confirmation. Especially when Ollie looks back, giving the camera his face. What the hell is he doing here?
I turn back to Amber.
But she’s gone.