Chapter 33
33
Theo
L orenzo calls me Monday and demands that we get lunch. He sounds pissed and not at all like his usual laughing self, so I’m nervously tapping my foot while I wait for him at a corner table in a trendy Midtown seafood restaurant. Jonah prefers to take investors to the private dining room in our office building for peace and quiet, but Lorenzo likes to see and be seen. He’ll want to have a coffee after lunch and at least two glasses of wine during it. This place has a front that opens to the street and lots of outdoor tables, so people can watch us eat little plates of halibut and caviar.
“ Ciao , Theo,” he says, sweeping up to the table. “I’m sorry for being late. Traffic was terrible.” We exchange cheek kisses and order our lunch before Lorenzo spears me with a look that says business. I sit up straighter in my chair.
“Theo, I like you. But I heard a distressing rumor last night at dinner.”
Fuck. This could be anything, really. I’m a tabloid scandal star, and all manner of wild rumors have circulated about me over the years .
“Was it the aliens again?” I ask dryly.
Lorenzo laughs. “No. Nothing like that. And I know you’ll tell me it’s wrong. But I heard from Francesca’s friend, who is friends with a man named Arnold Worth, who heard it from his father.”
“Go on,” I say, keeping my tone neutral. I will my face to stay unbothered.
“He claims that your marriage is fake.”
The words drop like a bomb between us, until I laugh.
Lorenzo looks surprised for a moment, his mouth hanging open, with a piece of bread in it, before he laughs too.
He still looks confused as I shake my head and sip the wine I don’t want. “Lorenzo. If you knew what I had to go through to woo that woman, you would not say that.” I’m grinning like we’re old friends and he’s about to hear a really good story. A completely false one.
“She made it difficult for you, eh?” He sips his own wine now.
“Difficult.” I shake my head. “That’s not even the right word. Impossible. I pursued her for years. I fell in love with her at nineteen, but I chalked it up to being a teenager. You know how it is.” I give him a wry smile, and he nods, smiling himself.
“Well, her parents never approved, and I pined for her for years. All those actresses and models you saw in the tabloids? It was all to forget her.”
Lorenzo chuckles. “If my wife were here, she would love this story.”
“Maybe I’ll get a chance to tell her about it,” I say smoothly.
“Maybe you will.” Lorenzo smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
The waiter deftly serves our fish, and Lorenzo cuts into his. He wields his knife with precision, and I wince. One wrong move, and this deal is off.
“You should come to Monaco,” he says after he sips his wine. “Since you are so in love with your wife, bring her too. There’s a Formula One race next weekend. I know that’s big in America now. All the streets will be closed. The casino will be booming. You can show her a good time. Show her those models and actresses meant nothing to you.” He smiles sharply. “Maybe you’ll be noticed by the tabloids this time around.”
I’m smart enough to read between the lines. Lorenzo doesn’t believe me. I don’t know what Arnold Worth said, but I should wring his skinny little neck. And now Lorenzo’s message is all too clear—show off your marriage to the world, or I’ll know you’re a liar.
“That would be great,” I say slowly. I’m not flying to Monaco for a pleasure trip. Not when I have an expansion to complete. “I’ll bring my business partners.”
“We have a big event at the casino that weekend. Be prepared to gamble.” He says it like it’s a dare.
“We will be.” Jonah is going to be so pissed about this. He is not a gambler.
“Excellent. I’m so glad to hear the rumors were just that. We really value integrity. A fake marriage—” He shakes his head and peruses the dessert menu. “That would be very bad for business.”
I can read this message too. Convince me, or the deal is off.
“We need to go to Monaco,” I announce when I enter the back room at Kings Cove.
“Hello, Theo, how are you?” Jonah says. He’s turning a whiskey glass in his hands.
“This should be good,” Miles adds.
I sink heavily into a free seat. “Lorenzo thinks I’m lying about the marriage, and he wants us to come to Monaco. I told him you’d be there too. I’m not going there just for pleasure. If he wants to see me, he can put his money where his mouth is. He’s delaying on the deal. And I’m sick of being toyed with.”
“Fuck.” This is from Jonah, who looks homicidal. “Good thinking, making it a business trip. Don’t let him jerk you around. Though I have zero interest in going to Monaco right now.”
“There’s a big race and an event at the casino. Could be fun,” I say .
“Fun.” Jonah sounds like he’d rather walk over hot coals than go to a casino.
“Could be a vacation for you,” Miles says.
“Blasphemy,” I say, and Miles and I laugh.
Jonah is unperturbed by our teasing. “I told you this marriage was going to be hard to sell.”
“He’s in it now, though,” Miles points out.
“How are you going to make this relationship believable?” Jonah raises a brow.
“Fuck if I know.” I pull the whiskey bottle toward me. “Lorenzo implied that if we were really serious, we’d flaunt it for the world.”
“So do it.” Jonah shrugs. “You want him to find out you’re lying?”
“Fuck no.” I pour and quickly drain the whiskey, even though it’s too expensive to be treated like swill. “But I’m cleaning up my act, remember?”
“So take Cat out shopping. Make out all over Monaco. Get noticed by the tabloids,” Miles says.
“She’s a terrible actress.” I run a hand over my jaw. “Things are…a little tense between us.”
“Tense?” Miles asks. “You look pretty cozy in the photos I’ve seen.”
“That was before we almost slept together. No, don’t smile.” I glare at Miles. “He’s going to make this a thing, isn’t he?” I ask Jonah, who nods. “It was a moment of indiscretion.”
“You slept with her?” Miles asks.
“We fooled around. It didn’t mean anything.” I’m not going to tell them about the back of the bucket list. That’s not my secret to share.
“So what’s the problem?” Jonah asks in that cutting way of his. Straight to the heart of the matter.
“The problem,” says Miles, “is that he shouldn’t have done it.”
“I shouldn’t have,” I agree. “I got a nude text while Cat was in my bed. She saw it.”
“Ah.” This from Jonah, and there’s a world of meaning in the sound.
“Exactly.” I run my hand through my hair. “I’m pretty sure she hates me now. It’s fine.” I force my shoulders down. My friends are scrutinizing me, and I hate it. I’ll always come up lacking.
“Is it fine? Weren’t you friends?” Miles asks.
“Yeah. I was half in love with her at twenty-one. Like an idiot. She didn’t feel the same way.” I was a fool at twenty-one, and I don’t particularly care to revisit this.
“Ah,” Miles says. I give him a black look.
“Spit it out,” Jonah says.
“She’s the one who got away.” Miles shrugs.
“She is not,” I retort. She’s not. She can’t be. Because that means my judgment is even worse than I thought. People don’t change like that. I walked away, and I’d do it again. I will do it again after this year is up.
“Or maybe she’s the one,” Miles says.
“I swear he does this just to annoy us,” Jonah mutters. I have to agree.
“The one.” I snort. “I’m not looking for the one. If I found the one, I don’t know that she’d want to be with me anyway.” I wince. “Ignore me. I’m just stressed.”
“No.” Miles leans forward. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
I press my head back against the booth. Miles is like a dog with a bone, and he always wants his friends to be happy. “I’m not built like that. I don’t know the first thing about love. I think that piece is missing. I mean, look at all the women I’ve been with over the years. They saw something in me, right? But it has always fizzled. Every time.” There’s something wrong with me , I don’t say. They left because this is all I am. Surface level. “I like my life the way it is.”
Miles grimaces. Even I can taste the lie in those words.
“There’s more to life than partying,” Miles says. I know he means well, but the words are like acid in my chest.
“Don’t push him,” Jonah says shortly. “He wants it to be fake. Let it be fake. He’s going to make us a fuck-ton of money from this expansion and his fake marriage, anyway.”
Finally. Comfortable territory. I shoot Jonah a grateful look, and he nods .
“All right.” Miles holds up his hands. “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow? The events start Thursday. I just have to convince Cat to take her shifts off. You know I had to negotiate nights of the week for her to be free?”
“Oh, come on,” Jonah says.
“What?”
Jonah smiles, the sharp grin he uses when he’s scheming. It’s a little terrifying. “You’re rich as fuck. Use it.”