“And what did she say?”

“Nothing! Well, she told me she had it under control, and there was hardly any fight in her. God, she’s boring. I don’t understand why you’re all fascinated with her. You. Zachary. Forrest.” She shakes her head. “She’s a little nothing.”

Jealous. Pilar is so jealous she can hardly see straight.

“Sounds like you got your digs in.” It grates that I have to play along. “I notice you keep mentioning our fearless leader’s name so casually,” I drawl, hoping she thinks I’m teasing her and not fishing for information.

But I am fishing.

“I’ve spent an awful lot of time with Forrest lately,” she says coyly. “He’s a lovely man.”

“I’m sure.” Old enough to be her father, too, but that’s not stopping her. “Sleeping with him to climb your way to the very top?”

“Oh, stop.” She laughs a little too loudly, her discomfort a little too obvious. “I would never do that.”

“Uh-huh.” I approach her desk, my gaze never leaving hers. “Tell me the truth, Pilar. Are you fucking Fowler?”

Her eyes widen and she rests her hand at the center of her chest. “Are you accusing me of having an affair with Forrest?”

“I am.”

She bursts out laughing. “I can neither confirm nor deny your suspicion.”

“Give me a break.”

“I can’t give up all my secrets, you know.”

“You used to,” I remind her.

“So did you,” she throws back in my face. “But that’s all changed, hasn’t it? Now you’ve cut all ties between us and walked away. If you can’t help me, then I need to help myself, right?”

I can’t even deal with this woman. I decide to change the subject, throw her off. “What about Lawrence?”

Her brows rise. “What about him?”

“Why did you fuck around with him?”

“He was nothing. A distraction.” She waves a hand, dismissing him. “You said you wanted to seduce Violet and I wanted in on the action. I couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

I ignore her teasing tone. I don’t find anything about this funny. “Were you already fucking Forrest when we had that conversation?”

She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t have to. The coy smile that curls her lips is my answer.

“You never told me,” I say stiffly. I’m shocked—and surprisingly hurt, which I know is stupid, but I can’t help it. We’ve shared so many things, so many ups and downs, that the fact that she deliberately chose not to tell me that she was having an affair with Forrest Fowler bothers me.

Yet I’m lying to her about Violet, so I have no room to judge.

“There’s nothing to tell.” She’s holding it all in, I can tell. She’s not going to give me anything, not that I can blame her. We’re lying to each other. I may have called off this game, but we’re still playing and it’s getting dirty.

When I don’t say anything she starts to laugh. “Darling, are you jealous?” She looks thrilled at the possibility.

Fuck no. Irritated, yes. “If you’d told me what you were up to all along, I might’ve done things differently.”

But then I might not have gone after Violet so hotly. I can’t regret that.

“Everything is falling into place perfectly. Don’t second-guess your choices. And don’t question mine.” She beams at me. “I’ll get what I want and you’ll get what you want. Trust me.”

I don’t trust her. And I’m worried that she won’t get what she wants.

Not sure if I will, either.

Minutes after I return to my office Violet is striding in, her expression fierce. Sexy. She stops in the middle of my office, her hands on her hips, her head tilted to the side. She looks like she wants to tear me apart. “Why the hell were you in Pilar’s office?”

I lean back in my chair, startled. Irritated. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you got into an argument with Pilar?”

“When was I supposed to tell you that?”

“Oh, come on.” I sit forward, resting my forearms on the edge of my desk. “You have no problem emailing me that you want me at any given time of the day.”

Her cheeks redden and her stance wilts a bit. “Keep your voice down,” she practically hisses.

I smile. “You started it.” Arguing with her is going to lead to sex. I can feel it.

Then again, everything Violet and I seem to do leads to sex.

With a huff, she turns and goes to the door and for the briefest, scariest moment, I think she’s going to walk out and never look back. Ever again.

But she doesn’t. She goes to the door and shuts it, then carefully turns the lock before she faces me once more.

“She came into my office this morning after she spied on my conversation with my sister.” Violet lifts her chin. “Then she tried to imply that I can’t handle the responsibilities I’ve been given.”

Nervy bitch. “What did you tell her?”

She shrugs. “I didn’t really say anything except that I have it handled, and I asked her to leave my office. I wasn’t going to lower myself to her level and sling insults. My father raised me right.”

Huh. Not going to touch that one, considering Pilar is possibly messing around with Violet’s “raise her right” father.