Chapter 4

Caroline's POV

Friday afternoon, I stood in the Miami International Airport arrivals hall wearing a white button-down and jeans. My hands wouldn't stop shaking, so I shoved them in my pockets.

People streamed past me with their luggage and their normal lives.

Then I saw Logan.

He was taller than I remembered, or maybe I'd just gotten used to looking at Gavin. Dark hair, broad shoulders in a suit that still looked perfect after a cross-country flight. He pulled a sleek black carry-on behind him, scanning the crowd.

Our eyes met.

Logan's face softened. He walked straight to me and opened his arms.

I fell into them like I'd been holding my breath for weeks and could finally exhale. His cologne was different from what he wore in high school, something and cedar-scented, but his arms felt exactly the same. Solid. Safe.

"You're here," I whispered against his shoulder.

"Of course I'm here." His hand rubbed slow circles on my back. "You're shaking."

"Am I?" I pulled back and looked at him. He had these tiny lines around his eyes now that made him look grown up.

"You've lost weight." His voice was soft, worried.

"Haven't been sleeping much." I tried for a smile. "Or eating. Revenge planning is apparently very time-consuming."

Logan picked up his bag. "Come on. Let's get out of here, and you can tell me the full plan."

In my car, Miami heat blasting through the windows even with the AC on full, Logan listened while I laid out everything.

"The engagement party will be at Gavin's family yacht club. Same place we had the memorial." I changed lanes, my voice steady now that I had something concrete to focus on. "I want him to show up thinking he's going to have his big romantic return moment, and instead watch his entire life fall apart in front of everyone he knows."

"When do you think he'll come back?"

"Soon. Diego texted his business partner yesterday asking about 'the timeline.' I think Gavin's getting impatient in the Bahamas. He wants his big resurrection scene."

Logan was quiet for a moment, "Have you thought about what happens after? To you, I mean. People are going to be brutal."

"Let them talk." I gripped the steering wheel harder. "I'd rather have people call me a gold-digger who moved on too fast than spend one more second being his victim."

"You were never his victim, Caroline. You were the person he was too stupid to deserve."

Something tight in my chest loosened just a little.

That night, Logan and I sat at my dining table surrounded by printed photos, bank statements, and my laptop showing timestamped screenshots.

"Jesus Christ." Logan picked up one of the printouts. Gavin and Sienna on a yacht, his hand on her ass, both of them grinning. The date stamp was from two months ago, right when Gavin and I were supposed to be picking out wedding invitations. "How long was this going on?"

"At least six months that I can prove. Probably longer." I pulled up another folder on my laptop. "Look at these transfers."

Logan leaned in, scanning the bank records. His jaw tightened. "He moved over five hundred thousand through Diego and Luis's accounts to the Cayman Islands. That's not just hiding money from you. That's serious financial fraud."

"Good." I felt absolutely zero sympathy. "I want him buried."

"Caroline." Logan looked at me seriously. "Once we do this, there's no going back. His life will be destroyed. His family will never forgive him. He might face actual criminal charges."

"I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

I thought about Gavin's voice on that recording. I'm completely falling apart, which is kind of the whole point. The way he'd laughed about my pain. About his own mother's tears.

"I'm more than okay with it. I want to watch."

Logan studied my face for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Okay. Let's make sure we do this perfectly. We need a private investigator to confirm Sienna's current location. If Gavin's going to show up at the party, we need to know exactly where his mistress is."

"I already have someone." I pulled up another tab. "Marco Santos. Former FBI, works fraud cases now. He's tracking Sienna's location and all her purchases. Should have a full report by tomorrow."

"Smart." Logan made a note on his phone. "Guest list?"

"Everyone. His business partners, his family, our mutual friends. I've already told Maya to make it the social event of the season. Open bar, live band, the works."

"Media?"

I hesitated. "Do we really need them?"

"Caroline, if you want maximum impact, we need press there. One society reporter from the Herald, maybe a lifestyle blogger. Enough to make sure the story spreads but not so much it looks like a circus."

He was right.

"Fine. But nothing tacky. This needs to look elegant even when it all goes to hell."

Logan smiled, just a little. "That's my girl. Classy revenge is the best revenge."

We worked for three more hours, going over every detail. Who would stand where. When the slideshow would start. How to time everything so Gavin would walk in at exactly the right moment to see his entire world explode.

Around midnight, Logan stretched and yawned. "I should let you sleep. Where am I staying?"

"The Mandarin Oriental. I booked you a suite." I stood up, suddenly feeling awkward. "Unless you want to stay here? I have a guest room."

"Hotel's fine." Logan grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, but he didn't move toward the door. "Caroline?"

"Yeah?"

"If after all this, you need to leave Miami, I have a house in Seattle. Private. Quiet. You could stay as long as you need."

The offer made my throat tight. "Thank you."

"I mean it." He stepped closer, and I could see the concern in his eyes. "When this is over, you're going to need time to process everything. I don't want you to feel alone."

"I'm not alone. I have you."

Logan's hand came up like he was going to touch my face, then stopped halfway. His fingers curled into a fist and dropped back to his side. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we go ring shopping."

After he left, I sat at my dining table staring at all the evidence of Gavin's betrayal spread out in front of me. My phone buzzed with a text from Logan.

[You're stronger than you think. And I'm proud of you.]

I saved the message and finally went to bed.

Saturday morning, Logan picked me up in a rental car. He was wearing a crisp white shirt and dark jeans.

"Where are we going?" I asked, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Tiffany & Co. If we're doing this, we're doing it right."

The store was on Worth Avenue. A saleswoman greeted us immediately, her eyes lighting up when she saw Logan's watch. Rich people radar.

"We're looking for an engagement ring," Logan said smoothly, his hand settling on the small of my back.

"Wonderful! Congratulations!" The woman beamed at us. "How exciting. Have you thought about style preferences?"

"Something classic," I said. "Not too flashy."

We looked at probably twenty different rings. Each one was beautiful, and each one felt wrong. Then the saleswoman brought out a simple solitaire, eight carats, emerald cut.

"May I?" Logan took the ring from her and turned to me.

My hand was shaking when I held it out. Logan slid the ring onto my finger, and I couldn't stop thinking about the last time someone did this. Gavin, on a boat, with fifty of our friends watching and my favorite song playing.

That had been real. Or I'd thought it was real.

This was fake. But somehow it felt more solid than anything Gavin had ever given me.

"Beautiful," the saleswoman sighed. "You two look perfect together. Let me take a photo for our social media!"

Logan pulled me close, his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him, trying to smile naturally for the camera.

"When's the big day?" the saleswoman asked, typing something on her tablet.

"Soon," Logan said. "We don't want to wait."

After we left, ring in a blue Tiffany box, Logan drove us to a café by the beach. We sat outside under an umbrella, drinking lattes while tourists walked past.

I kept looking at the ring. It was heavier than I expected.

"Having second thoughts?" Logan asked quietly.

"No." I twisted the ring around my finger. "Just thinking about the last time someone gave me a diamond."

"This is different."

"Is it?" I looked up at him. "This is all fake, Logan. You're here because I begged you to help me destroy my ex. That's not exactly a fairy tale."

Logan set down his coffee. "Caroline, I'm not here just because you asked. I'm here because I want to be."

"Why?"

"You really don't know?" He leaned back, studying me. "That day at prom, when I said I'd always have your back? I meant it as more than friendship. But you were going off to college, and I was heading to Stanford, and the timing was wrong. Then you met Gavin and you seemed happy, so I backed off."

My heart did something weird in my chest. "Logan—"

"I'm not saying this to pressure you." He held up his hands. "You just asked why I'm here. That's why. Because maybe the timing is still wrong, maybe you'll never feel the same way I do, but I'd rather be here helping you than sitting in Seattle wondering if you're okay."

I didn't know what to say. The ring suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

Logan's expression softened. "This is just a tool, Caroline. A prop for your revenge plan. But if you want..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "If you ever want it to be something more, I'm not opposed to that conversation. When you're ready. If you're ever ready."

A seagull landed near our table, eyeing my untouched croissant. The ocean breeze carried salt and sunscreen. Normal people doing normal things all around us.

And here I was, wearing a fake engagement ring, plotting elaborate revenge with a guy who just admitted he'd been carrying feelings for me since high school.

"I don't deserve you," I said finally.

"That's not your call to make." Logan smiled. "Now finish your coffee."

I looked down at the ring on my finger.

When you're ready. If you're ever ready.

One problem at a time, I told myself. First, destroy Gavin. Figure out my feelings later.

But Logan's words kept playing in my head all the way home.