“Don’t bother, he already got his cut from my bankruptcy attorney, and it was a hell of a lot less than the hundred grand you and I were supposed to pay him. But let’s get back to the subject at hand. We still haven’t heard the last words you said to me.”

Sebastian’s brows disappear behind the mask, expectant, and he’s got my full attention. My eyes stay trained on the phone, and I lean forward on the recliner, waiting, barely breathing. I hear Beatrix licking her lips, the creak as she shifts on the leather chair. Otherwise the room is silent.

“I...” Cam pauses to puff a frustrated breath, to clear his throat. “You have to understand. Two of my shops were bleeding cash. I had to pump every cent I owned into keeping them afloat. And it was your name on the deed, your name on the contract. I wasn’t legally bound to pay either of you a penny.”

“Let’s ask Jade what she thinks, shall we?” Sebastian stretches his arm, holding the phone between us like an offering. “Let’s say a man shakes on a business deal and assumes his partner is operating with the same honor, so he dives into an expensive renovation, fronting the costs out of his own pocket. Only the partner isn’t honorable, and he’s a no-show when it comes time to sign the partnership agreement, leaving the man with a half-finished building and a stack of unpaid bills. Shouldn’t that partner have to share the burden of the costs?”

Cam’s voice fills the room. “Not according to the law, he—”

“Shut up, Cam. I’m not talking to you. Jade?”

I inhale. Nod. “Yes. Yes, I think he should.”

I know this is what Sebastian wants to hear, but it’s also the truth. If that’s indeed what Cam did, walking away after promises were made and costs accrued, abandoning ship might be legally sound, but morally? Ethically? There’s a reason I haven’t heard any of this from Cam.

“See? Jade agrees. She thinks you’re in the wrong, too. So what do you think she’ll say when she hears about the rest—”

“Sebastian, I don’t—”

“—how I came to you on my knees and with tears in my eyes, begging you to honor the verbal agreement because for my daughter it was a matter of life or death. Do you remember what you said to me then?”

Silence.

Sebastian steps closer, stopping directly under one of the nanny cams nestled in what looks like a fire alarm. He looks at me, but his words are for Cam. “I’m going to need an answer. What did you tell me?”

“I...” A pause. A frustrated groan. “I said it wasn’t my problem.”