I turn my head and there she is. By the look on her face, she's shocked to see me. It wasn't easy to get up here — I'd had to bribe the concierge with a few hundred dollars.

"Griffin." She rushes up to me, but the seething anger radiating off my body stops her from touching me. "I'm sorry."

Her voice is clogged with emotion and tears, and for a flash, I want to take her into my arms to soothe her. But only for a second. I don't respond. All of a sudden, I'm exhausted. Similar to how I felt in the hospital when I was recovering.

Only now the pain isn't in my bones or muscles. It's in my heart.

"Let's go inside and talk. Please?"

I follow her into the condo and my eyes take it all in. The expensive, modern leather furniture. The all-white kitchen. The pair of red designer heels that had been kicked off near the sofa. As Juliette sets her purse on a table, I peer out the window at the beach and a boardwalk below.

"Where's Vee?" I don't tell her that I'm relieved Vee's not here. That would make things all the more awkward. And I don't want her busting in on me and Juliette. Not now.

I hear Juliette sigh. "She was sentenced to two-weeks in jail today. The judge knocked her charge down to a misdemeanor but wanted to give her a little punishment."

Oh Christ. It just gets worse. I pinch the bridge of my nose.

Turning slowly, I stare at Juliette in silence. Her eyes are getting bigger and more watery as the seconds pass. Words can't begin to describe how angry, how disappointed, how fucking jealous I am. I've never been jealous in my life, not until right now.

And what Sebastian told me about Juliette right before I left his house still makes me want to puke.

"Nice place. Is he paying for it?" I shouldn't be this mean to her. But she all but lied to me earlier. She took off her clothes and kissed me and told me she loved me — all without telling me that she's being maintained by Sebastian Engel. Who apparently adores her.

He adores my girlfriend. My fiancee' And there's not one damned thing I can do about any of it because I need the asshole to save the life of the one other person I love.

This is fucking devastating.

Juliette swallows, and when she doesn't answer, I lean against the floor-to-ceiling window and shut my eyes.

"Had you told me earlier—" I begin, but she interrupts me.

"I'll be honest. He helped this month. Just this month." Her voice trembles.

My eyes snap open and I walk to her. She backs up a few paces, then sinks on the sofa.

"It's not what you think," she whispers.

"What. Should. I. Think?" I sink next to her. "Tell me. Do you enjoy when he spends money on you?

She takes a deep, long inhale. Her gaze lands on me and it's as if her sadness, her remorse, has evaporated into the air. "Why are you so angry? I thought you were dead until today. Dead, Griffin."

"So you did what you had to do, right?"

She stands up and begins pacing. "Yes. Actually, I did. You know why? Ash needed money or else he'd die. Ash needed a stem cell treatment and Sebastian pulled strings to get him higher up on the waiting list at the hospital in Jacksonville."

Oh Christ. I hadn't even thought about that possibility. "My money wasn't enough?"

"No," she snarls. "What you left gets you jack in a cancer ward."

"Why didn't you tell me about Sebastian this afternoon?"

"Griffin—"

"You could've told me today and I would've understood. Honestly, I'd read about your arrest when I went online at the hospital. I came back to Miami thinking you were an escort, that Victoria had hired you. Were you lying when you said the charge was dropped?"

"Griffin—"

I stand up and now we're both pacing the hardwood floor like caged wolves. "No. Don't interrupt me. If you'd told me today, I'd forgive you. But you let me touch you and kiss you and fuck you without telling me you've been screwing the very man who I need. The one person who can help me get Zoe back home. You fucked Sebastian to save your brother's life."

Her face is flushed pink and she stops in front of me, blocking my path. Her small hands are balled into fists, and she has that same look on her face that she did when she tried to slap me earlier today. God, that happened today. Already it feels like a lifetime ago.

"I haven't fucked him."

I grab her arm. "You expect me to believe that?"

She leans into me, her green eyes blazing. "If you don't, that's your damn problem."

My fingers are still around her bicep and we're glaring at each other. "Do you get how I feel betrayed?"

"You're the one who put me in this position. Who put us in this position," she hisses and wrenches her arm out of my grip. "Do you think I wanted to be a sugar baby to an old, skeevy doctor? I'm the one who feels betrayed because you chose money and drugs over me. Over us."

She's right, of course. But since I'm pissed at her I won't tell her that. I'm angry at the entire situation, most of all, myself. "Do you realize how this could fuck things up?"

"Jesus, why do you have to be so dramatic? I was going to his house tonight to break it off. That's why I was there. I'd planned on telling you afterward. How would I know that the man you were going to do a drug deal with is the guy I've been...been..." her voice trails off and she rifles through a stack of papers atop a bookcase, shaking her head. "I can't believe that my sugar daddy is bigger drug dealer than my actual boyfriend. Jesus Christ."

I wince at her sarcastic use of the words sugar daddy. "You've been what? Tell me everything about him."

"What good is that going to do?" She whips a paper from the stack and comes over to me, tossing it in my lap. "That's the correction in the paper. Read it."

I glance at the folded newspaper. In a story printed on Page 1B of Sunday's Miami Herald, we erroneously reported that 18-year-old Juliette Phillips was arrested. The Miami Police provided incorrect information. Phillips was not arrested or charged. We regret the error.

Nodding, I set the paper on the table. "Thank you. I feel a little better. I guess. I still want to know what you've done with Sebastian."

"I go with him to events. That's all. I'm arm candy." She pauses. "I hate it. It's boring and it sucks."

"And he does what? Buy you shit? Takes you out to restaurants?"

Her shrug screams boredom and annoyance. "Yeah. That. Gives me money for clothes and stuff. And he knows the head of the cancer center up in Jacksonville and that's helped Ash. He's really connected in the health care world. Ash is getting his stem cell treatment in a couple of weeks. He'd been so far down on the waiting list."

I can't argue with that. I'd do the same thing if I were in her position. "You haven't fucked him?"

"No. I haven't wanted to fuck him."

"Then what? Did you suck his dick?"

That's when she holds her head high and stares at me. "I can't believe you're asking these questions. I haven't even seen his dick. We kissed once, for a couple of minutes. Is that the detail you want? We kissed. It happened a few days ago. Friday. At his house."

My stomach folds in on itself and I shake my head.

"I thought of you every second." Her voice is filled with regret.

Even the thought of that prick touching her with his little finger makes me want to kill him. I pace for a full minute in silence.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"You and me both." I walk into the kitchen and open a cabinet.

She stands up. "I told him I had a boyfriend who died. I'll explain the situation about you coming back. He knows your family and will probably be understanding. He's creepy and all but I can't see him wanting to be with me now that you're back. What are you looking for?"

"Alcohol."

"Victoria keeps it in the cabinet next to the fridge. The glasses are on the shelf to the right."

I open it and take out a bottle of Absolut, then a glass. I pour myself three fingers of vodka and take a gulp.

"Griffin, please. We'll get through this." She comes into the kitchen as I'm taking a second sip.

"Did he tell you that he had a girlfriend some years ago?"

She shrugs and leans against the counter. "Yeah, he mentioned something about a woman who died. Someone he'd supported."

Finishing the vodka on the third sip, I look at her with hard eyes. "I fucked her. During the time she was sleeping with him. I found this out tonight."

The disgusted look on her face matches how I feel inside.

I pour myself another splash of vodka. "She died when she was on her way to see me."

She grimaces. "Jesus. Everything about this situation makes me ill. But, so what? How is this relevant to me? To us? He's a reasonable man. I'm going to tell him about us and that'll be the end."

She slips her arms around my waist and I don't know whether to hug her or leave. To be repulsed or ashamed that I've driven her to this.

I wasn't going to tell her what he'd said to me as he was walking me out of his mansion. But she deserves to know, just like she deserves to be in on all of my planning and scheming in the coming weeks.

There are no secrets now.

"He's not a reasonable man, Juliette. After you left, he told me that he wants to ask you to marry him."

* * *

I keep holding on to Griffin, otherwise I'll crumple to the floor.

"He told you what?"

"Yep. And he looked pretty fucking gleeful about it."

"I'm going to explain everything to him. There's no way I'll marry him. Not a chance in hell."

"We need to think this through."

"What?"

"It kills me to say this, but I think you should keep doing what you're doing until I can get Zoe back. It will only be a few weeks. He said he could get the product soon."

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"I want my sister back."

Whatever happened to Griffin in Amsterdam obviously affected his thought process. "And you're willing to sacrifice me to this lunatic who wants to marry me?"

"You won't get married in two or three weeks. Just play along."

"I can't believe you. I can't believe you'd let me go this easily."

"You're the one who sacrificed for your brother. I'm afraid you're going to have to sacrifice for Zoe, too. I can't take the risk of him getting pissed at me and not giving me what I need."

I follow him into the living room, my arms folded across my chest. "He's using me. He wants to show off a teenage girl, or whatever other sick reason he has for wanting me around. And now you're using me to keep him happy until you can get Zoe back. You're basically telling me to whore myself."

He licks his lips, and I don't understand how he's being so cold about all this. "I didn't say I like the situation. I hate it. But in my business, I've had to do a lot of things I didn't like. I'm afraid we're going to have to suck it up."

My jaw drops. "We?"

"You wanted to know all about my business, Juliette. Well, here it is. Now you're a part of it." His jaw ticks, and he's jiggling his knee. He's also not looking directly at me, which means he's either nervous or pissed. I'm thinking pissed.

"Get out." I'm fuming. "I can't believe you're suggesting this. I can't understand why you don't want to protect me from someone who's obviously dangerous and probably crazy. Leave. Now."

"Wait a minute." His tone is razor-sharp. "I do want to protect you. I love you more than my own life, for Christ's sakes. This is killing me, thinking about you being with him even for a second. The image of him touching you makes my skin crawl."

"You and me both," I mutter. I don't want to admit that for a few seconds the other night, I didn't hate being touched by Sebastian. Now that Griffin is back, now that I know everything, I feel all the more guilty.

And all the more disgusted.

"We don't have any other choice. I'm not getting in a fight with him over you. Normally I would. Normally I'd probably fucking kill him. But not while Zoe's life is at stake. I want you to lay nice and low for a couple of weeks, go out in public with him, deflect when he wants to fuck you."

I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. "You can't tell me what to do, or how to handle this situation, my situation, with Sebastian."

"Do you want to fuck him? Be honest with me." His eyes flash anger.

I wince. "I can't believe you just asked me that. No. Of course not."

We glare at each other.

"You're going to pretend like tonight never happened with him. Got it?"

"No. I'm going to do whatever the fuck I want since my fiancé isn't willing to stand up for me. I'm going to tell Sebastian the truth. I want out of this situation with him. Got it?"

We're staring at each other and it dawns on me that this is our first true fight. The one we'd had months ago, pfft. It was nothing compared to this.

I study his hard, angular face, made more so because of how much weight he's lost. His lips are still full. His eyes are still those of a beautiful cat.

And still, I love him. Even in my anger I want to touch him. Does he feel the same about me? The muscles in his jaw bunch.

The buzzing of a text on my phone breaks the tension. I move away to check my cell that's sitting on the coffee table.

I groan. It's exactly who I didn't want to talk to.

Sebastian.

"It's him, isn't it?' Griffin says in a low voice.

"Yep."

I pick up the phone.

I begin to type.

In a flash, Griffin's at my side. He grabs the phone from me and erases the text.

"What the hell?"

Griffin's eyes scan he text. "Thank God he's not downstairs." He hands me the phone. "You're going to tell him you're upset over the situation with Victoria and are comforting her family."

I blink several times. "Why do I need to lie? Why can't I just tell him I'll call tomorrow?"

He closes his eyes and inhales. When he opens them, his gaze is more tender, more loving. Reaching for my face, he cups my jaw.

"Angel. Do you want me to leave? I will. Say it and I will, right now. Just know that I love you. And I love Zoe. And I've failed both of you and am trying to salvage everything."

Oh God. Now that he's put it that way, I feel like a huge bitch. The realization we're in an impossible situation slowly seeps into my awareness.

"I love you so much, Juliette Phillips."

The soft tone in his voice makes tears spring to my eyes. I shake my head and step closer to him.

"I asked you to leave in anger. I don't want you to leave. Of course I want you to stay."

Sparks fly through my body when he slides his hands over my jaw, so his fingertips are in my hair.

"I don't want Sebastian coming here and finding us together."

I swallow and nod weakly. It hadn't occurred to me that Sebastian might come looking for me. Wouldn't that be awful?

Griffin leans down and brushes a soft kiss on my lips. There's so much love in that kiss I have to break away so I can shudder in a breath.

"I love you," I whisper.

"Juliette." His voice is hoarse as he puts his forehead to mine. "More than anything, I want to hold you tonight while we sleep. You don't know how long I've been thinking about doing that."

I mash my face into his chest, wiping my tears on his nice button-down shirt.

He strokes my hair softly. "And we need to have a long talk about what we're going to do. I'm afraid we're not going to be able to spend many nights together for a while."

____