Page 59 of The Princess and the Fraud

“He told me he saw you yesterday.” This time, she did whisper, “At the music hall.”

I closed my eyes for a brief second. What part ofit’s our secretdid he not understand? He worked in the Strategic Planning Department, but couldn’t use his critical thinking skills to save his life. What had he told her? Just that I’d given him a tour—or did he also include us pressed up in the corner of the stage?

My headache flared as I thought about the corner, the darkness, his hands on my arms, his intoxicating scent.

There was a small conference room right off the lobby, and I pulled Annalise inside. It was empty, making it the perfect spot to avoid any eavesdroppers who’d snitch later. “Aaron?—”

“He made me swear not to say anything,” Annalise said, moving to sit in one of the chairs. She swiveled away from the table and faced me. “He said he only told me because he wasn’t sure if you got in trouble or not. He asked me if I knew anything.”

I stood at the door, gripping the handle. “I didn’t get in trouble.”

“But you shouldn’t have shown him the hall?” She narrowed her eyes a little. “Why would you show it to him if you weren’t supposed to?”

I looked away from her, focusing on the far wall where a projector sat. “I want to save the music theater. I wanted to help him.”

She gave a slow, soft nod, in a way that made me more nervous. I didn’t like the thought of Aaron talking to her about me. I didn’t like the idea of her talking about me to Aaron. I didn’t know why.

“I told you,” she said. “That he’s not that bad.”

I was almost embarrassed to agree with her. “He could be worse.”

Annalise smiled, using the toes of her Claire Haute loafers to turn her chair an inch one way, and then the other. I stood above her, but when she smiled like that, it felt like she had the upper hand. “I’m glad you see that, even just a little. He’s had a rough go lately.”

“I remember you saying that.” I tried to seem disinterested while still asking, “What’s been going on?”

“His grandmother passed in December, right before Christmas.” Annalise’s shoulders slumped a little as she spoke. “He moved in with her around July last year. Lived with her until the end. He took her passing really hard.”

She was my best friend. That was what Aaron had told me that night at the piano, his eyes taking over a faraway look as he’d spoken. “It’s hard to lose someone you love.”

“And it doesn’t help that, the day after her funeral, his brother fired him from Astro Agencies.”

“What?” My voice was loud in the small computer lab. “Why?”

“Aaron’s always been the odd one out with his brothers, since he’s the youngest. They… they didn’t like him. Didn’t think he deserved his position. With their grandmother gone—and her ability to alter her inheritance gone—they got rid of Aaron.”

I moved away from the door and sank into the desk chair beside hers, wide-eyed. “His parents didn’t intervene? It’s their company. They just let their son fire hisbrother?”

“They cut him off after last year with Margot.” Annalise lowered her voice further. “Canceled his cards, closed his joint bank account with them, and told him to figure out life on his own. That’s why he moved in with his grandmother—because they even canceled the lease on his apartment.”

Jeez, I understood being disappointed with your son over something, but that seemed… cruel. All of it. “I thought Mrs. Astor seemed nice when she was here for your wedding in June.”

Annalise’s lips twisted into something like distaste. “She’ll never admit it, but she was hoping for that marriage, too. Her and Mr. Astor both were. It would’ve meant big things for Astro Agencies, creating a partnership with a high-end hotel chain on the east coast. When it fell apart, they saw it as Aaron’s screw up, as if they weren’t the ones who put so much pressure on him.”

I thought back to the night of Annalise’s wedding, when I’d stumbled upon the Astors out in the rosebush-filled courtyard. Aaron, kneeling before his parents, pleading for their compassion. His parents, barely even looking at him. Something in my chest twinged a little, and it was painful.

That scene had been much more pathetic before knowing more of the details. Watching a grown man grovel had been almost ridiculous. Now, the mental image was almost nauseating. The Aaron Astor I’d gotten to know would never get on his knees for anyone, but back then, his desperation had given him no choice.

“I thought his parents didn’t know about him trying to manipulate Margot.”

“They didn’t know about that part. But Aaron, he—he knew that it’d make his parents happy, if he married Margot. So he just pretended he liked her.”

“He was going to marry Margot because his parents wanted him to?”

“Aaron is…” she trailed off, expression softening. “He was raised in a world where success is everything. Owning a successful business that you can flaunt. Having a marriage you can show off. All of his brothers are married, to equally impressive partners, with successful jobs within the family company. He thinks he needs to catch up with them.”

“Success is different for everyone?—”

“Not in this world.” Her tone was gentle. “Not inhisworld. He sees things in black and white. And if he doesn’t have something to prove he belongs—” She hesitated. “He believes he’ll be nothing.”

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