Page 53 of Old Money

I swallow, looking at Julian, who looks more uneasy than I am. But I turn back to Angelina and smile.

“That sounds like fun,” I tell her. “Anything for the birthday girl.”

She smiles and stands up from the table while all three of the men follow suit.

“You good?” Julian asks me. I smile and nod, trying to look way more comfortable than I already am.

“Yeah, it’s girl time,” I say with a wink. He smiles.

“We will be in my father’s study on a call,” he says. “Text or call me if you need me.”

I nod, then Angelina holds a hand out in my direction, and I take it, following her off the terrace and into the maze that is Bedell House.

I follow her blindly through the halls until I figure out that we’re back in the family wing again—only, on the other side of it.

“Have you been here before?” she asks as she leads me to the last door of the hall. I nod.

“Just once, briefly. Not that that would help much,” I chuckle. “This place is insane.” She smiles as she opens the door, leading me into yet another giant suite.

“It is,” she says. “And so beautiful. And deserving of so much love, but it hardly gets any anymore.”

I follow her through the room into what can only be described as the biggest fucking closet on the fucking planet. She hits a light switch, and a salon chair moves out from the back of the room to the center of it. The lights change from dim overheads to brighter fluorescents, and Beyonce begins to play over the surround sound. The walls are lined with floor-length gowns, shoes, and bags, and huge diamond jewelry sits on every corner encased in thick glass.

“This feels fake,” I say. Angelina laughs as she kicks her shoes off on the floor and walks through the room into the bathroom.

“It does,” she says. “A lot of this isn’t mine,” she calls from the bathroom. “Most of it was actually Catherine’s, Cato’s mother.” She comes back out wrapped in a silk robe and takes a seat in the salon chair. She motions to a chaise in the corner of the room. “Please, sit.” A moment later, one of the staff brings in a tray of mimosas, and Angelina looks at me. “Just something to take the edge off.”

We hold our glasses up in the air, then she sits back in the chair as we sip in awkward silence.

“I still can’t believe this is real,” I murmur as I look around. Angelina sighs.

“I know,” she says. “I’ll never be used to it. And I know it’s fleeting, so I try to soak in every moment.”

My eyes drop to hers.

“Fleeting?” I ask. She tilts her flute up, emptying it into her mouth.

“Of course, hon,” she says. “Men like the Everetts…they can have everything and anything they want. Literally. No exaggeration. Businesses, homes, entire towns if they wanted. There is no limit. And you and me? We’re just stops on the way, sweetie. I know it. I know that, right now, I have enough of what Cato wants to keep him. But my day will come. I can feel it starting. The solo business trips. The meetings all day, the calls all night. But when he’s gone, I get to be here, or in one of our other homes, playing queen of the castle. I know Cato’s life will go on long after me. So now, I spend my time planning how mine will go after him.”

I swallow.

We’re just stops on the way.

I think she can feel the tension she’s created, so she clears her throat as she stands up to grab another robe from a hanger.

“Enough of that,” she says. “It’s my birthday, and we’re going to celebrate. Go put this on.”

JULIAN

“How much longer do I give them before I go busting in there to save her?” I ask rhetorically.

“She’sfine,dude,” Brooks says behind me, flipping through the channels on the television in the rec room. “Let her get her pamper on.”

I sigh, rubbing my temples as I fall into the couch.

I stare out over the garden, wishing like hell I could sneak off with her and get lost.

“You know Dad is super suspicious, right?” Brooks goes on, never taking his eyes off the TV.

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