There came many seconds of confused silence, then the guard asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Now go away. I can handle her myself, and I don’t need your services.”
Layla cocked her head and gave him a censorious look. “You could be a little nicer. He’s only trying to help.” She called out to the security guard, “I’m so sorry for any trouble I caused you. Thank you for doing your job so well. Mr. Sinclair really appreciates it.”
“No problem. Let me know if you need anything,” the man on the other side of the door responded.
“We will. Thanks again,” Layla replied. She turned back to Nathan with a smile. “Pittsburghers are so friendly. I’m really loving it here.”
Nathan Sinclair narrowed his eyes at her, putting her in mind of Clint Eastwood in those westerns her father used to watch. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, Pittsburgh is great.”
“I mean about the security guard. I could have handled that situation without your interference.”
Layla couldn’t believe he was even arguing this point. “Thank you is the least we could say. He came all the way up here.”
“Yes, because protecting me is what he gets paid to do. You don’t have to thank people for doing their jobs.”
“No, you don’t have to,” Layla said. “But it’s a nice thing to do.”
He folded his arms, his face becoming a work of stone. “You’re still doing that, I see.”
“Doing what?” she asked.
“Pretending to be nice. You’re still keeping up with the good girl act.”
“It’s not an act as far as I know…” Layla took a tentative step toward the desk. “…but was I mean to you? Is that why you don’t like me?”
“No, I dislike you for other reasons,” he said. He picked up the receipt again. “This is money my father, the late Nathan Sinclair Sr., paid your father because he was threatening to sue our family.”
“Threatening to sue you for what?” Layla asked.
“Those stairs you fell down were at our house. He said you would go to the press and say you were pushed if we didn’t pay him.”
Layla clutched a hand to her heart, hearing this. She wished she could say she was surprised. But her father had always had loose moral codes when it came to feeding his gambling habit. She could easily see him blackmailing Nathan Sinclair Sr. for a large amount of money, then gambling it all away on the New Orleans riverboats. She’d managed to eventually move out and make a fresh start in Dallas after her accident. But even after she moved, her father’s many debts continued to haunt her. And three months after his funeral, she was still cleaning up his messes.
“I’ll pay you back,” she told him.
“What?” he said. His hard expression shifted from anger to curiosity. “How?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “In installments?”
Now he laughed, but it was a mean, dark sound, steeped in frank disbelief, which pissed Layla off. “I will pay you back. It might take a while, but I will. I’m sorry my father blackmailed yours.”
He just shook his head, his eyes laced with disgust. “Like I said, still pretending. You’re such a sweet girl, so good. That’s what you’ve always wanted everyone to believe, isn’t it?”
She stepped closer to his desk, her chin going up. “Listen,” she said. “I told you I don’t remember you.”
“Convenient,” he said, snarled really.
“It’s the truth,” she said, voice raised. “So either tell me how we know each other and why you’re so angry at me or zip it.”
Layla couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. To a certain extent, he was right about her. She tried her best to be nice, to be polite, to be all the things her father hadn’t been. She had even gone into a helping profession. But there was something about Nathan Sinclair that upset her equilibrium. She didn’t want to be nice to him. In fact, he irked her so bad, her palms itched to slap him.
Seconds ticked by as they took each other’s measure. Him challenging her with his stare, her refusing to back down by lowering her eyes.
She thought she’d won the stare-off when he turned away from her. But then he grabbed a file folder out of one of his desk drawers, dropped the receipt into it, and said, “Fine, I’ll expect you the second Friday of next month with the first installment.”
She blinked. “You want me to deliver the check here?”
He held out his hand. “Right into my palm.”
“I mean, couldn’t I just deposit it into a bank account or something? Or maybe mail you the check?” The same instinct that had told her to run was now telling her she did not want to confront this man again. That she should do whatever it took to keep her distance.
He sat back down and steepled his hands in front of him.
“I like to look into my enemy’s eyes when it comes to payback—even if in this case, my enemy is literally paying my family back. You’ll come here, to this office, and hand me each check directly until you’re done paying back every cent. Those are my terms. Either take them or you can—how did you put it? Zip it.”
His tone was soft, but his eyes brooked no argument, and Layla knew he wouldn’t be convinced to modify his so-called terms. His face was beautiful, but she could now see there was something very cruel inside of him. For some reason, he wanted to watch her suffer under the burden of repaying her father’s debt.
“Fine,” she said. She schooled her face into a emotionless stare. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing the anxiety now churning in her stomach as she tried to figure out how to pay him back as quickly as possible. “I’ll see you in June.”
“Fine,” he said. “You may go now.”
With that, he took his laser gaze off of her and turned it to his computer.
“Thank you for meeting with me and for not handing me over to security,” she said, because it was the polite thing to say. And she was determined to remain polite even if Nathan Sinclair couldn’t appreciate such niceties.
He didn’t answer, just typed on his keyboard, signaling he had already dismissed her before she was even out the door.
“Bye,” she said, feeling silly now, but unable to stop herself from issuing one more small courtesy.
Again, he didn’t answer. So she left, already piecing together a plan to get more hours at her physical therapy center. She’d work double shifts every day if it meant paying back that blackmail money sooner rather than later. Even though she still had a lot more questions, she had never wanted to be done with anything the way she wanted to be done with Nathan Sinclair.