Page 54 of Most Eligible Billionaire

I bristle at the name. “Just concentrate on your part.”

More specific silence.

I look up. “What?”

He nods at my phone. “Cat got your thumbs?”

“If I’m going to do a thing, I’m going to do it right.”

“Okay, Uncle Andy,” he jokes, meaning my dad.

“It’s under control,” I growl.

He falls silent, not loving the growl. Then, “You sure?”

I stare at the image. It’s a cartoon version, but fierce, protective. “She has a griffin thing. From when she first got to town.” I turn to him. “Did that PI ever say anything about any kind of bullying incident in her past?”

“No. Though bullying doesn’t always get reported. Her background is a little sparse. Her internet footprint is small for somebody her age.”

“Something big happened back in Prescott,” I say. “Somebody really did a number on her. Turned a lot of the town against her, it sounds like.”

“I can ask the PI about it.”

“Do it,” I say. “Somebody went after her, and I want to know who. I want to know what happened and I want to know who.”

I can feel his eyes on me. “Is this part of operation good cop?”

“Just get me the details.” I typeSomeone says hiand send it off.

Seventeen

Vicky

Two days after the kiss,April calls to inform me that Smuckers and I are scheduled to come to a groundbreaking ceremony for a brain disorders research facility on Staten Island.

I put on my favorite outfit, a maroon pencil skirt with a dusky gray sweater. I pause over the pearly buttons, remembering the way his fingers worked them, trembling just a little, as if he really wanted me. It was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced.

The hottest thing I’d ever experienced was a man undoing my sweateras ifhe wanted me.

I sink to the bed. Despair and resentment twist through me, bright and sharp. Smuckers watches me alertly from his nest of blankets.

It seemed so real for a while, but he’s one of the best. One word from him and buildings shoot up to the sky and women fall to their knees. There’s a reason for that.

What am I doing?

Wearing that exact same sweater style for him again, that’s what.

I flop back on the bed and scroll to Henry’s griffin text, like I have a dozen times before. Like that’s proof he was thinking about me.

He was really thinking about his company, wasn’t he? He tried a few underhanded things and now he’s going with seduction.

He wants the company back, and why not? It should’ve been his. He deserves it back. He’s not like Denny.

I put the phone to my chest and stare at the water-stained ceiling.

And I make a decision. This thing has to end.

Carly wanders in and shakes her head at my outfit. “That’s what you’re wearing?”

---