Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
ROME
Stepmother Dearest is calling.
Ignore.
Five seconds pass, and my phone vibrates again.
Stepmother Dearest is calling.
Beatrice is out of her mind if she thinks I’m going to listen to her whine about how ungrateful I am, or how I need to stop being a spoiled rich prick and come home. It’s been days since my conversation with her son, and my father hasn’t reached out since the first call I ignored.
Her name flashing against my screen tells me that he’s still angry.
I wonder how many high-end pieces of art he’s broken from throwing them across the house.
It doesn’t take much to think back on the times he’s let his anger drive his impulsive actions.
Glass from broken frames sprinkled throughout the foyer, vases crumbled with water and flowers in every other direction.
The maid bent down low, cleaning up the mess he made, while Beatrice stood like a dictator to make sure she didn't miss a shard of glass.
I toss the valet my keys.
He fumbles with the catch, his youthful eyes saucers as he stares at my Lamborghini.
“Treat her right,” I warn jokingly.
He perks up. “Oh, I will, Mr. Pierce.”
I stop in my tracks, my black Oxfords pressing onto the red carpet. “Mr. Pierce is my father.” My tone is heavy with irritation.
The valet shifts nervously. “Understood.”
I put my back to him and shake off my sudden hostility.
I scan the crowd and look for my new team.
After yesterday’s family dinner—that I was legally forced into from that ridiculous contract I skimmed and signed—the plan was set for the event.
The Halston siblings would wait for me alongside the red carpet so we could showcase our unity together.
The idea of it makes me twitch.
There is no unity when it comes to the Halston siblings and me.
Particularly with Tessa and me.
We’ve been thrown together like oil and water. It’s chaos in the sim, and her voice from hours of perfecting my car follows me well into the night as I toss and turn in a bed that isn’t mine, in a house that’s too modern and cold.
“Rome!”
Jericho, a driver from the UK, stands in front of me, wearing something much more elaborate than I am, with his hand outstretched.
Is that cheetah print?
He pulls me in for a bro hug, slapping me on the back with force.
“It’s good to see you. How’s the leg?”
It aches every time someone mentions it.
“Good as new,” I say, placing my hands in the pockets of my slacks.
Cameras flash around us, and he shields his mouth. “Dude, I almost fell over when I read the headlines.”
I give him a tight smile.
It’s not like I didn’t expect everyone to be buzzing over the news, but it irks me all the same.
“What happened? Fight with Daddy?”
I shake my head, preparing the lie I had constructed on the way over. “I just needed to make a name for myself instead of piggybacking on my father’s legacy.”
Jericho nods respectfully. “I knew I liked you.”
I chuckle. “Unless I outrace you?”
He smirks. “Not this year.”
Maybe not.
“I thought you left for other reasons,” Jericho adds.
I lift a brow, my suspicions raised. My father is slick, his illegal modifications flying beneath the radar. But someone is bound to catch on eventually. And if they don’t, I’ll find a way to prove it without incriminating myself by breaking the NDA.
“Go on,” I press.
“There’s a rumor circling.”
Cameras click again, but I’m too impatient to care.
“What rumor?” I ask.
Jericho turns his face, his hand going up to scratch the side of his cheek to shield his mouth. “That you moved to Vanstone to score the main prize.”
“Isn’t that what we all want?”
Jericho smiles deviously. “Not that prize…” He glances behind me. “That one.”
I follow his line of sight over my shoulder.
My entire fucking body runs hot.
I clench my jaw tight, and I can’t decide if I’m fueled with annoyance from Jericho’s insinuation that I’m only with Vanstone because of a certain female that’s a pain in my ass, or if I’m annoyed because she’s turned every single head along this carpet by wearing a simple dress and flashy heels.
The slit along her leg is like a siren calling, and the closer she gets to me, the harder it is to breathe.
From annoyance, though.
Not from attraction.
So what if her dark hair is pulled away from her face into one of those sleek buns, highlighting her cheekbones? And her exposed throat with a delicate necklace wrapped around the bare curve of her neck doesn’t put dirty thoughts in my head at all.
Fuck, I hate that she’s so attractive.
Instead of greeting her like a gentleman, I force out an insult. “Nice of you to show up.”
A hard line digs in between her eyebrows. The shimmery shit on her eyelids catches a glare from the flash of a camera, showcasing the vexation I’ve purposefully put there.
I put my arm out for her to take, like we planned the evening prior.
She takes it while placing a fake smile on her glossy lips. “Do you ever have anything nice to say?”
“I save my compliments for those who deserve them.”
She huffs quietly. “Silly me to think your shit attitude was only reserved for normal business hours.”
I turn my face, my mouth pointing directly at her ear with those stupid gold hoops. “I actually reserve it just for you, Princess.”
Her bony elbow digs into my side, and I grunt, removing my arm.
“Stop whispering in my ear. People will get the wrong idea.”
I snicker. “It’s too late for that.”
Her brown eyes catch mine questionably, and as if he knows what we’re talking about, Jericho intrudes on our hushed conversation.
“Vanstone’s Princess.”
He bows like a nobleman in front of her, and it’s hard not to laugh.
Tessa shoots him the same look she gives me every single morning. “Very funny, Jericho.”
He stands up straight, his 6’3” frame enveloping her. “Rome thought so.”
The wind from the snapping of her head in my direction is refreshing across my balmy skin.
“No one cares what Rome thinks,” she seethes.
He whistles. “There’s that feistiness that Vinny always talks about.”
Irritation crawls up my spine.
How does Vinny Walsh know anything about her?
I’m the only one who should be privy to Tessa’s fiery attitude. She’s my engineer, not his.
My chest tightens from the sudden jealousy. I take Tessa’s arm in mine again to pull her away from Jericho, and to my surprise, she goes willingly.
I glance at her, and it’s obvious she’s not fully in the moment. Her thoughts are elsewhere, and I’m pretty certain it has to do with Vinny.
I tug her toward her brothers, who just arrived.
“And here I thought your feistiness was only for me,” I mutter.
Tessa doesn’t so much as blink in my direction, which is sort of unsettling.
Beck, dressed similarly to me in a black suit and bowtie, curls his lip with disgust. “You two look like a couple.”
That seems to get Tessa’s attention.
She rips her arm out from mine hastily, nearly tripping over the red carpet.
“You good?” Van asks, looking at her strangely.
Noah laughs. “You need a Diet Coke?”
“I’m fine,” she snaps. “Let’s just go get this over with. I need at least ten hours of sleep in order to deal with this one and his lazy driving tomorrow."
Did she just call my driving lazy?
I watch her go, the dress hugging her curved hips like a glove, irritating me even more.
Noah, who I’ve rarely seen at HQ, as he stays in the other wing, practicing in his own sim, pats me on the chest. “Good luck with that one,” he says, joining her in the photo backdrop.
Beck steps in line with his siblings but not before he flips me off.
Something I’m hopeful the cameras don’t catch.
“Come on,” Van sighs. “Let’s get a quick photo and mingle before heading out. We’re not ones to stay out and party like the rest of the drivers here tonight.”
I’ve never really been one to do that either, knowing my father would go even harder on me the next day if I wasn’t fully present or, worse, hungover.
But I just might stay out a little longer tonight.
Simply because I can, and maybe because I need a fucking breather from the Halston siblings.