CHAPTER SEVEN
CADE
I left without much protest, the door swinging shut behind me with a dull thud.
It felt like the right move, even if it stung.
I’d insulted Bella, and I knew she was pissed.
Her eyes had blazed with that quiet fury she wielded like a blade.
Part of me, twisted as it was, liked that I’d gotten under her skin.
But as I peeled out of the parking lot, tires crunching gravel, frustration churned in my gut, hot and directionless.
I couldn’t pin down why it gnawed at me so much.
The city commission was a pack of insipid idiots. Who the hell thought dragging Isabella Moretti into this would be a PR win? She wasn’t her father. She had nothing to do with his checkered legacy or his shadow. Yet they’d latched onto her name like it was some golden ticket.
I yanked my phone from my pocket, thumbing through contacts as I idled at a stoplight. Just before the light changed, I found the one I wanted.
“Cade,” Frances answered, her voice clipped, like she was already halfway out the door. “What’s up?”
“Bella’s not budging,” I said, gripping the steering wheel tighter as I accelerated through the intersection. “This whole thing’s a waste of time. She’s got no stake in this, and I’m done playing messenger.”
Frances let out a short, dry laugh. “Sorry, Cade, but you’ll need to try harder with Bella. She’s the key to making this project look good to the public. You know that.”
I most decidedly do not know that.
I bit back a curse, my jaw tight. “She’s not her father, Frances. She’s not some PR prop you can just—”
“Figure it out,” she said, her tone final. “We need her. You want things to move forward, make it happen.”
“Do I?”
“David reached out last week,” she said. “He wanted to know if I’d consider helping out with your exploratory committee for... your future.”
“Did he?”
“Just get it done,” she said. “Then we’ll talk.” The line went dead.
Fuck this whole thing.
I tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and drove in the direction of my office.
It was less than two miles away, and I certainly had a mountain of paperwork I could do there, but instead, I made a detour to the gym on Dixie Highway.
Even though I had plenty of workout equipment at my house, I kept a membership at Fly Fitness for the days when I wanted a change in my routine.
After I grabbed my gym bag from the trunk, it wasn’t long before I started hitting the heavy bag hanging from the ceiling in the far corner of the main workout floor.
I spent the next forty-five minutes punching, lifting weights, and running on the treadmill.
It was my second workout of the day, but at the end of it, I felt lighter and less stressed.
Until a voice called my name as I walked to the men’s locker room.
“Cade Weston?”
I whirled around to find Kyra Matthews about twenty feet away, wiping off a spinning bike at the end of a row. “Kyra? Um... hi.”
She gave the bike seat one more swipe and walked to me. “Been a long time.”
“Not really. I saw you at the fundraiser.”
“But we didn’t talk.” She tossed her used paper towel into the nearby trash can. “You were more focused on Bella Moretti.”
I nodded, flipping over in my mind what I knew about Bella, and an ongoing connection with Kyra wasn’t one of them. “Are you all still friends?”
“Yep, and actually, she’s my bestie.”
“That’s... that’s fantastic.” I considered telling Kyra that I’d just been at a meeting with Bella but then decided against adding that information. “We had a brief chance to chat at the event.”
“She also stormed out after talking to you. She was totally pissed.”
Nodding, I took a bottle of water from my gym bag and sipped some of the contents. “You probably remember that our families have a somewhat interesting past.”
“Your father put her father out of business.”
Count on Kyra to keep things blunt and straightforward. Still, it wasn’t exactly a fair comment. The past was more complicated than that.
“Gino Moretti put himself out of business,” I corrected.
Kyra turned down the corners of her mouth. “Sure. That’s what it was.” Got it. Kyra was definitely Team Bella. Although... I could possibly use that to my advantage.
“Listen, do you have a moment to chat?” I jerked my head in the direction of the reception area of the gym and the pair of four-person tables to the right of the check-in counter. “I’d like to run something by you.”
“Sure.” Kyra shrugged, and I led her to the table farthest away from reception. We took seats across from each other, and I considered one more time how much I wanted to reveal to her. Screw it. Why not just tell her?
“Bella and I had a meeting this morning,” I said. This was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was also close enough. “At her father’s old headquarters.”
Kyra laughed, and I figured she had several ideas on how that went.
“She didn’t want to hear what I had to say,” I added.
Kyra nodded, a knowing smile on her lips.
“Maybe you can get through to her,” I added. “Please?”
“I don’t know. I’d say it low-key depends on what it’s about.”
I glanced around the reception area to make sure we were alone. We were. Nobody was about to come through the thick glass front doors, and the lone desk attendant seemed preoccupied with whatever was happening on their phone. I could tell Kyra everything if I wanted to.
Maybe I should.
It wasn’t like this dilemma was confidential.
Not with how many people were in the room the other day from the city commission.
Like so many politicians, they leaked like a sieve, and I had every confidence that it wouldn’t be long before they’d let a friendly media outlet know they wanted Bella to be part of the opening of the Palm Beach Promenade.
Might as well control the narrative while I still could.
“We’re almost finished with the Palm Beach Promenade,” I told Kyra. “And the city commission would like Bella to be part of the opening ceremony.”
Kyra sat back in her chair, and I wondered if that information had floored her. “You’re joking.”
“Nope. They think it would be advantageous for the ceremony to include a nod to the Moretti family, considering how much Gino did for the county before all his... problems... took over.”
“What did Bella say?”
“We didn’t get off on the right foot.” I chuckled under my breath. “Let’s just say I mentioned something I shouldn’t have.”
Kyra raised her eyebrow. “Let me guess. You brought up FanZone.”
Now it was my turn to sit back in my chair. It hadn’t occurred to me that other people in Bella’s life would be aware of her online activities. “How did you know?”
“She’s very sensitive about it, and someone like you would do your homework before a meeting.”
“I wish she hadn’t signed up,” I admitted. “She’s better than that.”
“A lot of people do FanZone these days, and it isn’t a big deal, old man.”
Old man. She said it casually, but it was probably true.
I was an old man—forty now, and a lot of days, I felt it.
Running the family business hadn’t made me feel any younger, and neither did the fact that most of my friends and acquaintances were married and in the thick of raising children by now.
I, on the other hand, was alone and had no idea when I might ever settle down.
Every day seemed to have hundreds of reminders that I was out of step with the current culture.
Even FanZone was one. Twenty years ago, people would have been ashamed to post on that app and mortified if anyone found their content on it. But now, society was so... loose.
“She’s still better than that,” I reiterated.
“I’ll tell her.”
But there was nothing in Kyra’s tone that told me she would do that. And if this was going to work, I needed allies. A good word or two from a self-proclaimed “bestie” wouldn’t hurt. Bracing my elbows on the wobbly table, I leaned forward and said, “I really want Bella to be part of the opening.”
Kyra lifted both her eyebrows.
“Will you help me get her to do it?” I added.
Bella’s best friend took a long time to reply, her eyes narrowing as she studied me, like she was weighing whether I was worth the effort.
Finally, she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.
“Why should I bother? You pop up out of the blue, acting all invested, but we both know the messy history between your families. Bella’s been through straight-up chaos because of what went down with her dad, and now you want her to flex at some bougie ribbon cutting? ”
I held her gaze, refusing to back down. She had every right to be skeptical. I’d earned that. But I needed her to see this wasn’t just about me or the project.
“Kyra, I understand the history between our families. My father contributed to Gino’s downfall, and I regret that.
But this isn’t about fixing the past. It’s about honoring Bella at the Promenade opening, on land her father envisioned developing.
Her presence would strengthen the Moretti legacy and could open doors for networking or job opportunities.
She’s been struggling alone; this could ease her burden. ”
Kyra’s face eased up a bit, but she wasn’t buying it. “You’re acting all high and mighty, Cade. But I know about FanZone—Bella spilled the tea. You were subbed, weren’t you? How do I know this isn’t just some twisted game?”
I winced, the truth of her words hitting hard. I couldn’t deny it. I’d crossed lines, even if my intentions had been more complicated than she knew.
“You’re right, I subscribed to her FanZone, and it was a mistake. I was curious and felt guilty about her family’s past. Look, the Promenade opening is a chance for her to honor her family’s legacy. Kyra, she trusts you. Please, convince her to consider it.”
Kyra tapped her nails on the table, her side-eye softening as my words hit. She sighed, dropping her arms. “All right, you’re kinda selling me. But you gotta do me a solid first.”