She was out of the office only a few minutes after she’d walked in initially, taking the same route out. Rina was careful to keep her sunshades on, and her scarf lowered, almost covering the whole of her forehead and keeping her pink hair away from the view. Kayla texted her a location. Fortunately, it wasn’t such a distance from the fashion house.
When Rina got there, she took a deep breath at the glass doors of the diner before stepping in. She remembered the place. Finn had taken her there for a celebratory dinner when she told him she was pregnant. Rina knew Kayla purposely chose that place to remind her of everything she’d lost, everything she wasn’t getting back.
But Rina was determined not to crack. Especially not in the face of Kayla.
Holding her head high, she breezed in, handing her jacket over to someone at the door. Kayla was seated at the spot closest to the window, and even if Rina didn’t think it was a good idea for her to be there, she couldn’t back out now.
“I’m only here because I was in the area,” Rina said as she sauntered closer to Kayla, who looked so relaxed that it made Rina angry. Kayla was dressed in a pair of cargo pants with an expensive camisole. Her makeup was perfect, not one fleck out of place, and her black hair fell in waves around her. Rina was so upset that Kayla seemed to be living a good life.
“Whatever,” Kayla murmured, leaning forward to grab her glass of mocktail. “Sit.”
Rina’s blood boiled at that command. She should have sat first before saying anything to stop Kayla from ordering her around. She should have seen it coming. Not having another choice, she plopped into the seat in front of Kayla.
“Make this fast. I have other things to do today.”
Kayla scoffed. “By other things, you mean lounge around in your cottage all day, then take a trip to see your parents? Or what other thing do you have keeping you busy? Do you need me to remind you that you have been blacklisted in the industry?”
“Kayla, I’m quite certain you didn’t take time out of your busy schedule to remind me of the situation you put me in with your hands,” Rina said, unfazed. “So you either get done with it or let me get on my way. You’re sucking enough air as it is. I don’t want to be wheeled out of here with an oxygen tank attached to me.”
She took another sip of her mocktail and angled her head. “You think you can mess with me, don’t you?”
Rina sighed. “What are you talking about again, Kayla? You always seem to come up with new reasons to see me. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were actually scared of what I could do to you. Or are you?” She scooted to the edge of the seat and leaned closer to the table, peering into Kayla’s eyes. “It’s okay to admit you’re scared. No one would judge you?”
Was that a shadow Rina just saw cross Kayla’s eyes?
“Scared of you?” Kayla scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re the least person on my list of people to be worried about.”
“So why did you ask to see me?”
“My land,” she muttered.
Rina didn’t blink.
“You’re really going to play this game, are you?” Kayla sighed exasperatedly. “You think my agent wouldn’t tell me you were the one who purchased the land I had set my eyes on? Did you employ people to keep tabs on me? That would have been the only way for you to have gotten your hands on that land. And where did you even get the money from? Finn left you with nothing. I made sure of that. Who granted you a loan?”
Rina laughed; a croaking sound that came from deep within. “You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” She didn’t understand a word of what Kayla had just told her. What land? What money?
“You purchased the land in the seventh district because you heard it was going to get developed. And I know you have no interest in real estate, so that means you only did it to get back at me. But I just want to let you know that you failed, Rina. I’m going to let that land go, but don’t be surprised what you would have to lose in the process.”
“As much as I would love to take credit for this, with the look on your face, I can assure you, Kayla, this isn’t me. I have nothing to do with your parcel of land, okay? You said it. I have zero interest in real estate.”
“Are you going to deny it forever?” Kayla was losing her patience. “I got the note that was sent to my office. You think you can fool me. You wrote the note yourself in the third person, asking me to not mess with Rina Powers. It was the most humorous thing I have ever seen.”
Rina peered her eyes. “You said a note came in.”
She scoffed. “Rina, I see how you made it far in your acting career. You let it get absorbed into your real life, blurring the line between a script and reality. But do you know the mistake you made? You allowed it to get to your marriage too. You projected the scenes from the movies you acted in that you had no clue fire had been set over your roof. Your poor baby had to suffer for your stupidity.”
“Don’t bring my baby into this!” Rina got on her feet, glaring at Kayla. “You can say whatever you want. I’ll let you. But the minute you bring up the child you killed, Kayla, I promise I will not let it go.”
Kayla chuckled and rose from her seat. She leaned into Rina’s face, feeling her hot breath on her skin. “You can do nothing. You are powerless. You think because you managed to hold on to the cottage, you suddenly have some power. But you don’t Rina. You’re still the same person who cried when I made her lose her baby. And I will crush you again.”