Chapter 30
Ellie
“Luca loves fish,” I say as Rachel, Damien, and I watch him from the table. Deep Blue is one of Las Vegas’ fanciest seafood restaurants, and I was surprised Luca picked it. Now that we are here, I know why.
“I can’t believe he knew that this place has fish tanks for walls,” Rachel says, spooning a lobster stuffed mushroom onto her plate.
“I can,” I smile. “He reads a lot. On the ride here he told me that he secretly knew about the fish tanks.”
“He’s five,” Damien says.
“He is. He’s an avid reader. He’s advanced for his age, which makes it difficult.”
Damien furrows his brow, and his eyes flash from Luca to me. “Difficult how?”
“Kids don’t know how to relate to him. Teachers don’t know what to do with him. The usual for an unusual kid,” I answer, and Rachel sighs with an empathetic smile.
“Aren’t there other schools? Private ones?” Damien asks. I nearly choke on my wine.
“I can’t afford private schooling,” I say.
“You can now,” he says, and my cheeks flush again. He’s not wrong.
“A kid like your son should be educated somewhere that challenges him. He’s viewed as different at his school because he’s intelligent and is easily bored with the curriculum.”
My eyes meet his. “I thought you weren’t a family man.”
“I’m not, but I understand him,” he says. Then he stands up and walks over to the tank to stand next to Luca.
“He’s really something,” Rachel says as we watch them.
“I know,” I smile. They’re too far away for me to make out what they’re saying, but Damien is pointing at different fish and if I had to guess, Luca is telling him exactly what they are off the top of his head. “Maybe Damien is right; maybe I’m not doing enough.”
“I was talking about Damien,” Rachel says, and I look over at her curiously. “He’s quite a catch.”
“He’s my boss.” I say with a nervous laugh.
“I know. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were up to something. All those late nights you’re working…” she says, raising her eyebrows up and down.
“What about them?” I ask, maybe too quickly, because she catches it. My cheeks flush a shade of rose, and I know I’m screwed.
“Wait. I was just joking. But you’re into him, aren’t you?”
“No. Of course not. That would be inappropriate.”
“So?” she pressed with a smile.
“I can’t date my boss,” I tell her. I’m not lying. Our contract states that we can’t date.
“Logistics,” she waves her hand. My sister is a romantic. A dramatic romantic. Either way, she’s not going to let this go. She thrives on this stuff.
“Yeah, logistics that fucked me over the last time I mixed work and pleasure,” I add.
As if that’s not what I’m already doing.
Our attention shifts back over to Damien and Luca by the floor to ceiling fish tank as Luca laughs.
A real, genuine chest laugh. What the hell could Damien have said that merited a chest laugh from my mostly unsocial child?
I’m a little aggravated that I can’t see Damien’s face. Is he smiling?
Meanwhile, Rachel is just staring at me with a know-it-all grin.
“Stop,” I plead.
“Never. Listen, El. There is nothing wrong with being into your boss.”
“Oh my God,” I let out, “I am not into him. You’re a terrible sister.”
“And you’re a terrible liar,” she says as she bites her lip.
She’s right. I am a bad liar. I’m also bad at keeping stuff from her. Because as different as we are, Rachel isn’t just my sister; she’s my best friend. I don’t think I’ve ever kept anything from her in my life. Obviously, the skeletons I have in my closet right now are killing me.
I take in a breath and hold it. She leans in. I can’t show her everything, but one or two little details can’t hurt.
“Do you remember, years ago when we went to the charity gala at the Phoenix?” I ask.
“Of course. That was the night Dylan humiliated you in front of the whole room. Asshole. Then, you were whisked away by the mysterious masked man. The Phantom, I think I called him,” she giggles.
I don’t say anything else. For a moment, I just stare at my sister as she stirs her drink, and I wait. I watch as her eyes widen and her mouth opens in realization. She looks at Damien, back at me, at Damien, and at me again.
“Wait,” she says. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God!” her voice crescendos with the realization, and she slaps her hand over her mouth. Then she leans in. “Did you know?”
“No,” I shake my head.
“Did he?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That makes sense though. He owns multiple hotels. The Redwood, the Bellissimo, and the Phoenix. This is crazy!” Rachel’s palms are flat against her cheeks as she continues to process it all. “Damien is the Phantom.”
“Damien is the Phantom,” I echo.
“Does he know now?” she asks.
“Yeah. We talked about it,” I admit, looking over at him and Luca again. He is holding Luca so he can press his hand to the glass where a turtle is swimming by. My heart does a backflip.
“And?” she presses.
“And…nothing has changed. I still work at the Redwood.”
“Yeah, okay. He takes you, your sister, and your kid to dinner. Everything is exactly the same,” she says. When she gasps, my eyes rip from Luca and Damien back to her. “Wait. The Phantom is your baby daddy!”
“Shh!” I urge her, leaning in to shut my sister up.
“He doesn’t know?!” she whisper-yells.
“No. Not yet.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
My cheeks grow warm as people start to stare.
Our aggressive attempt to be quiet is only drawing more attention, and it’s only a matter of time before Damien notices too.
“I don’t know yet. I am still trying to figure that out.
He doesn’t want kids. He’s told me more than once that he’s not a family man. ”
“Are you sure about that?” she asks, nodding over to them. “Because I call bullshit.”
“Rachel,” I say sternly, pulling her eyes back to me. “He can’t know. Not right now.”
“Not right now?”
“It’s just…complicated,” I answer.
“How is it complicated? You fucked a sexy ass man who happened to be a hotel owner five years ago and wound up pregnant. Then five years later, you got a job at another hotel, and as fate would have it, your boss turns out to be the mystery man from five years ago, and your son’s father. It’s not complicated so much as it is–”
“Six years,” I state. “A disaster.”
“Messy. But messy isn’t bad; it’s just–”
“A nightmare.”
“Stop putting words in my mouth,” Rachel says.
“It’s my life,” I argue. “My messed up, crazy, ironic life because the universe hates me. It’s bad enough that we connect the dots and conclude that my boss is the Phantom.
I’m still shocked he didn’t fire me on the spot when he discovered that truth.
Him finding out he’s Luca’s dad is a whole other revelation. ”
“But why?” she presses.
“Because he has made it very clear that he doesn’t want kids, Rache. His exact words were I’m not a family man. He doesn’t want any of it.”
Rachel chews her lip, a signature expression that tells me she is coming up with her own conclusion about the situation. Being both an optimist and a romantic, I know she isn’t convinced.
“Every bachelor says that until they meet the woman who changes it.”
There it is. Her argument, considering she doesn’t know the whole story, doesn't really have a leg to stand on. She doesn’t know what else my job entails. She doesn’t know him.
“I can’t change that man,” I shake my head.
Luca laughs again, and this time I can see Damien’s face. He’s smiling. It’s somewhere between a smirk and a grin, and if I had to guess, there is a deep, low, subtle chortle in the back of his throat.
“Are you sure about that?” Rachel says, arching her eyebrow. I watch Damien with my son, a man who doesn’t show emotion ever, and a child who doesn’t click with anyone ever. My stomach knots up in a ball. I don’t know what I’m sure about anymore.