24. Laurene
CHAPTER 24
Laurene
This weekend with Reese? Perfect. Just us, uninterrupted. It was like time stopped—we just talked, made love, and enjoyed each other’s company. I didn’t want to get out of bed from under him when Monday came and reality hit.
At my desk, I went through every sketch and plan for my art exhibit. My team wasn’t exactly on board, but oh well. I was gonna make that exhibition happen, no matter what they thought.
A voice crackled over the intercom.
“Mrs. Ashbourne.” The way my new name sounded—so unfamiliar, yet so right—made me smile. I hadn’t expected it to feel like this, and a quiet, unexpected joy settled over me. “You have a visitor.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s the mayor.”
A wave of nausea washed over me. Dante. Here. Why now?
“Send him in,” I managed to say.
After all this time, after everything, this was how we finally came face-to-face.
He walked in, cool and commanding. Dante Castillo was a man you couldn’t quite pin down. His charm was disarming, his smile as polished as a mirror. “Laurene. As beautiful as ever.”
I stood, extending my hand with practiced grace. God, I wish Reese were here.
“As charming as ever,” I said, concealing my emotions. His lips brushed my knuckles; his hand was warm against mine. A performance, like everything else about him.
Because no one—least of all Dante Castillo—showed up without a motive.
“Being a newlywed doesn’t stop work, does it?” He gestured to the papers on my desk. “I’ve heard about your upcoming exhibit. It’s creating quite a buzz.”
“You already know about that?” I feigned shock. “It’s not public knowledge.”
His harsh features softened in a knowing smile. A neat beard framed his strong jaw. Long, dark hair added a touch of untamed elegance to his otherwise meticulously tailored suit.
“Information travels fast when people are eager to impress.”
I sat, raising an eyebrow. “ Impress? I didn’t know you had so much clout?”
“Don’t underestimate me, your family isn’t the only one that makes people jump.” His eyes challenged mine.
“I don’t remember you being into art. You liked to steal cars.”
He smirked like he was enjoying the memory. No one could forget the wild, reckless boy who once ran these streets like they owed him something. Before he “reformed” into the mayor.
Not that I bought the reformation.
His aunt, Isabel Castillo, was the town’s and all of California’s most influential theater director. Her productions were legendary. All anyone really knew was that one day Dante showed up on her doorstep in town. Whether he was related to her by blood or something else, no one was sure.
“I’ve broadened my horizons since those days. I appreciate the finer things in life now. ”
I studied him for a moment, my gaze steady. “What do you want, Dante?”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a picture. He stared at the photo, his lips pursed, then he shoved it across the desk to me.
I sat up and flipped the photo over.
Conrad was lying unconscious, his face pale, eyes closed. There— shit —there we were. Reese and me. Standing beside Conrad’s hospital bed. His hands were on my face, cupping my cheeks, and mine on his chest. We were kissing…over Conrad.
A cold, hard lump formed in my throat as I turned my gaze back to Dante.
“This?” he said, lightly tapping the photo. “This will never see the light of day.”
A jolt of pure terror shot through me, freezing me in place.
“What do you want for it, Dante?” I repeated, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Nothing.” Dante shrugged. “Not yet, at least. Just a small favor.” His voice was smooth, almost indulgent, but there was an edge beneath it. “But I’m curious,” he went on, watching me too closely. “What little mess has Laurene King gotten herself into that I managed to get my hands on a blackmail note about her? How lucky for you that it ended up with me—and that I’m willing to protect you and your family.”
I wanted to lash out, a surge of anger coursing through me, but a strange calmness settled over me. Be cool. You know about him, and he knows about you.
“I don’t do favors, you should know my family by now,” I said.
Dante chuckled. “Believe me, I know your family probably better than you.”
His eyes locked on mine, and I could see the satisfaction in them. He was enjoying this.
“You really expect me to buy this whole ‘protection’ spiel?” I raised an eyebrow .
“I didn’t come here to start a war. I meant what I said at your engagement party. I want to be allies. I’m sorry I’ve been busy and we haven’t been able to speak till now.”
“You seem a little too desperate to be friends with me.”
“It’s not desperation, Laurene. There is no one like you.” His voice softened, like he was trying to make me believe him. “You’re unique. I’m not interested in what’s happening behind closed doors in your marriage. I am interested in what you can offer this town. You could be a key piece in my plans.”
I smirked, tilting my head.
“That’s funny because my mother asked me to spy on you. Get close. Become your friend.” I let the words hang there, watching for his reaction. “What went wrong between you two?”
“Your mother and the rest of them want to keep this town locked in the past. That’s not how the real world works.” He frowned. “I wanted to modernize things, bring in outside investors, shift the balance. Make Lush more than just old money and backroom deals. Your mother saw that as a betrayal.”
“Erik told me she helped you get elected,” I reminded him. “You benefited off those backroom deals.”
“And she expected me to be her puppet,” Dante shot back. “I’m not dumb, I know her support was conditional. I just thought she could be reasonable. Your mother asked me to do something…I couldn’t. So, she turned on me.”
I searched his face, trying to find the lie in his words. Because there had to be one.
“You become mayor of a town like Lush and then complain about how we do things is like going to a burger joint and complaining there’s no pizza,” I said. “So why run? What’s your real angle?”
Dante’s smirk flickered, just for a second, before he smoothed it over. “You think I hate old money? No, Laurene. I just hate some of the people who decide who gets to sit at the table. I envy you, Reese, the rest of this town—you survive off your name alone. You could burn everything down and they’d still hand you the keys to the city. People like me? We have to fight for every inch.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So what did my mother ask you to do?”
His gaze darkened slightly. “She wanted me to push through a zoning law that would give King Enterprises control over half the commercial properties downtown. It would’ve driven out smaller businesses, cut off other families, and locked in your family’s control for another generation. I refused.”
“And that was it?” I asked, because it was never that simple.
Dante let out a quiet laugh, something sharp and knowing. “Of course not. She didn’t just walk away. She started sabotaging me—backroom deals, under-the-table payoffs, making sure any investor who backed me suddenly had a reason to back out.” He tilted his head. “You really didn’t know?”
I pressed my lips together. No, I hadn’t known. But I also wasn’t surprised.
“She plays the game better than you,” I said.
Dante exhaled through his nose, shaking his head. Then he leaned in slightly, his voice low and almost amused. “I’m the one with blackmail on you, Laurene. It’s smart to be nice to me.”
I leaned forward just a little, eyes narrowing. “And if I don’t want to play your game?”
“I’ll find another way,” he replied easily, as if the whole thing was inevitable. “But I’m hoping we can work together. For both our sakes.”
I didn’t respond immediately. Instead, I sat back in my chair, studying him.
“So what exactly is your vision for Lush, Dante?”
“Lush has been a closed system for too long. Same families. Same power. Same cycle.” He gestured vaguely. “But I don’t want to destroy the old system completely. We just need to modernize it—bring in new investments, new ideas, and new opportunities. Not just for me, but for the whole town. It can work if somebody would just listen.”
“You’re being stonewalled then?”
“Bingo.” He nodded. “It’s only so much I can do. I need friends.”
“Why me? I just got back.”
“Because I’ve been watching you, Laurene. For the past six years, while you were in Paris, I saw how you worked your way up—by yourself. You didn’t need anyone’s help. You left everything behind, even your family, and you built something from scratch. You earned respect. That wasn’t the same Laurene we used to see here. The way you think, the way you see things differently than your mother—you prove the old families can change.”
I blinked, caught off guard by his words. “You’ve been following me?”
“See? I could have told everyone where you were. I didn’t. Doesn’t that mean you can trust me?”
“Obviously, you know my help is not free.”
“I know your upcoming exhibit is important to you, Laurene. I also know how costly these things can get. I’m prepared to make a substantial donation to the gallery in your favor. And when the time comes, you’ll support me. No questions asked.”
I’d been pushing the limits of the gallery’s budget, and the financial strain was beginning to show. A donation could give me the leverage I needed my exhibit to the next level, even if I had to do some dancing to make sure it didn’t come with strings I didn’t want.
But I had connections. I could get donations for the gallery another way. And I could get Dante’s substantial donation to replace my inheritance, in case my mother didn’t come through on our deal.
If he was offering money, why not ask for more? Enough to cover my gallery, let me build a safety net for myself, and finally free me from my mother’s grip. With that kind of cash, I wouldn’t have to accept my inheritance and could walk away from her control entirely. No need to play by her rules anymore.
Dante clearly had some sort of power, and now he was at a stalemate. I just had to know.
“Tell me about your relationship with Toby.”
Dante laughed. “Toby? You care about him? What does your husband say about that?”
“Just answer the question. You’re trying to convince me, remember?”
“He owes me.”
I crossed my arms. “For what?”
“For keeping his secrets. For keeping him standing when he should have drowned. Shall I go on?”
Exhaling slowly, I didn’t even know where to start with this one.
“You want specifics, Laurene? Fine.” He leaned forward. “He was desperate. Drowning in debt, bad investments, bad choices.”
I was right. Dante had given him money. “And you bailed him out.”
“I gave him a chance to fix it,” Dante corrected me smoothly. “But a man like Toby? He doesn’t know how to stay clean. So he made more bad choices.”
“Like what?”
Dante smirked. “Like sleeping with Blair.”
The words hit like a slap across the face.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Dante’s eyes flickered with something sharp, predatory. “Come on, Laurene. You know Toby. You know Blair. Him being sloppy gave me more opportunities to…work with him. Reese knew about it. I heard he confronted them . Your husband didn’t tell you?”
Reese knew? Reese knew, and he hadn’t said a word? A hollow, nauseating sensation curled in my stomach, like the ground had tilted beneath me. I clenched my fists before he could see the tremor in my hands.
“What does that have to do with you?” My voice was steadier now, even as my nails dug into my palm.
“Everything.” Dante’s gaze darkened, the amusement slipping just slightly. “Because Toby made a deal. With me. With Blair. And now he can’t get out of it.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
“What kind of deal?”
“Sorry, that’s all you get from me. Now about our business?” Dante leaned back looking like the Cheshire Cat.
It was time to get Dante out of my office.
“Ten million dollars, to me .”
He blinked, surprised.
“You’re asking for a lot,” he said. “I can give you a substantial donation, but ten million? That’s pushing it, they’ll notice it in the books.”
I smiled, leaning forward slightly. “You came to me because you needed something I can provide. So I’m asking for what my trust and loyalty is worth. Ten million, no strings attached. It’s a fair deal, considering you’re essentially asking me to betray my mother. Work with you and not her?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Unless you don’t have the money, of course.” I dug the knife in further.
“My money is good. You don’t have to worry about that.” Dante sniffed. “Ten million, huh? You’re a hard negotiator. But I’ll consider it.”
“No.” I straightened up. “My way, or no deal. Obviously you’ve been stepping on toes and you want my help to get you back on some good sides.”
Dante’s frown deepened, and now it was my turn to shrug.
“I mean, it was nice of you to hold this picture for me. I can continue to not say anything about you sleeping with Blair Sterling. ”
His face stiffened, but only for a split second, and that was enough to know I had him.
“Blair?” His voice was too smooth, too casual, trying to brush it off.
“You don’t have to lie to me. I know. She’s the wrong person to ask about me.”
His gaze dropped for a moment, and I saw the calculation running behind his eyes.
“I’m not one to dig around in other people’s business,” I said. “But if we’re talking about trust here, Dante, it’s important we understand where everyone stands, don’t you think? I’m just curious how far your relationship with Blair goes.”
“Blair and I have some mutual benefits. But not a relationship.”
Shit. But that doesn’t explain her relationship with Harold.
“Mutual benefits?”
“Her father just bought a soccer team in Vegas. We go watch the races and place bets. She’s…a bookie. Nothing that you’re thinking of.” Dante stood. “Do we have a deal?”
Blair is taking bets?
I nodded, rising slowly. “I think we do.”
“Let’s see where this partnership takes us then.” We shook hands.
As he walked to the door, I followed, keeping my expression carefully neutral. I didn’t trust Dante. I didn’t trust anyone but Reese.
And I needed to tell him Dante was a suspect and a huge threat we had to contain.
I stepped out of my office, and there he was—Reese.
When our eyes met. The corners of his mouth turned up. I ran into his open arms, and we kissed.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
He smiled. “Afternoon quickie.”
I laughed, and his lips met mine with another soft kiss .
“I came to invite you to lunch. But I see you’re busy.” He glanced over at Dante, squinting his eyes.
I reached for Reese’s hand, giving it a light squeeze, and I said, “Toby and Blair?”
Reese blinked, his mouth parting before he cleared his throat. “I was coming to tell you.”
I sized him up. His eyes were dark, guarded. But I couldn’t push him too hard now; not when Dante was watching.
“Thanks for the conversation, Dante. It was enlightening.”
The mayor walked toward us, his gaze flickering between us, and I felt Reese stiffen next to me.
“Anytime, Mrs. Ashbourne,” Dante drawled. He glanced at Reese for a split second, eyes narrowing, before he pushed off the doorframe, taking his sweet time as he walked past us. “See you soon.”