Telly took my hand, and her smaller one was warm as she squeezed hard. "Well, we're here for you. If you want us to go on our own lady heist, I'm here for it. We're Ocean's Eight."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, fun, but not really the best premise for a movie."
She laughed. "Right. Because honestly, what was Anne Hathaway even doing in that movie?"
"Right?"
We high-fived.
Livy just chuckled. "Look, you know we are the bad idea crew. Or rather, the boys are. How about we be smarter? Think this through. Maybe there's another way to get to Middleton. One we haven't really considered. One the lads haven't considered either."
Maybe she had a point. No reason to fly in blind as we often did. But then a colossally bad idea. I knew it was bad the moment it dawned on me. "Hey guys, I'm back now and I'm looking for a job. Something a little bit more permanent. Why don't I get one?"
Nyla’s sharp gaze narrowed on mine. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking?"
I grinned. "Why don't I apply for a job with Middleton Communications?"
I should have known by their faces that this was the worst idea I'd ever had. Livy and Nyla’s brows furrowed, but Telly clapped. Her enthusiasm alone should have told me this was a very, very bad idea.
Chapter Four
Bridge
My bloody head had been pounding all goddamn day. How the fuck had this happened? When I strolled into my flat at the London Lords hotel, I tossed my keys haphazardly onto the counter. I wasn't sure which part of my day was worse, Brenda slapping down that image of me or suggesting I get married to fix everything. It was an image I hated. I looked wrecked. Out of control. Like the person I’d been once.
If I saw that picture of me, I wouldn't bloody do business with me either. I'd seen a million blokes like that. Where I had grown up in East London wasn't exactly the gritty working-class area it had once been. But there were still many neighborhoods that weren't exactly desirable. And that's where I'd grown up. Mum doing her best. Dad pretending I didn't exist. So many of my friends who looked like they were whacked out and out of control.
And that's what you look like now. Full circle.
I worked my ass off to shake every ounce of my upbringing and become something that challenged my father. I normally stood by a moral compass that he didn't have. I took care of business that he didn't. And now, I'd thrown that all away for a round of stupid decisions.
You can make different ones.
I knew that. I was wishing I had made different ones. The problem was that with the fury and the loathing came rash decision-making, wanting to fulfill my own prophecies. And so yeah, Anisa Bucker had happened.
Wife to Darian Bucker. Wealthy financier, rich kid set for life. His wife had been eyeing me. Bought me a drink. So yeah, I'd dragged her into the wardrobe and shagged her. I didn't care about her, hadn't thought about her, really. All she'd said to me was, 'So, I hear you no longer have a fiancée.' And that had been it. I didn't know that there was someone around to capture a photo.
Because you were careless. You lost focus. You were finally everything that your father ever said you were.
And now it was going to fuck with our plans.
But still, Brenda's idea was no kind of solution. I wasn't fucking getting married. I'd just finally dropped Mina. All the tabs knew about Mina was what we'd fed them. Under no circumstances was I going to let her come up looking like roses. All they'd been fed was that I'd broken up with her. Which was important. And we'd cited irreconcilable differences. People could read between the fucking lines. And ever since the split, the women had come out of the bloody woodwork.
Not that I was complaining. After all, I was a bloke. I liked women. But when I'd been with Mina, I hadn't stepped out once. I wasn't my father. He was more of a pompous ass who didn't give a fuck who he hurt. Mina hadn't been an exactly right fit. On paper she was, but there was always something a little aloof about her. But once I'd made my decision, she was it. Only to find out I'd been wrong about her.
It happened to the best of us. But it was never going to happen to me again. I was not getting married for the sake of the London Lords. I was not getting married for the sake of Toby Varma.
Toby had been one of my best mates. When he died, it had rattled me. Toby had been like me. Someone who didn't belong. The product of our fathers' extracurricular indulgences. Someone unwanted, shuffled around, discarded, and forgotten. My mates were like brothers to me. Ben, Drew, East. We were thicker than mates; we were family. But Toby, Toby had been the one who got to me. And then one day he was gone. Just gone. A lot of what I did now was to make up for him too. But this... I would not get married. Not to fix this. We'd have to find another way. We just would.
There was a knock at the door, and I checked my phone to see if security had texted me. Nothing. I frowned as I approached the door and checked the security panel. The woman on the other side was more than familiar with her dark hair pinned artfully in smooth coils and a sophisticated up-do. She wore a mid-length cocktail dress that looked like it had been painted on but was somehow still sophisticated. Diamonds on her ears. I debated not opening it, but I needed to find out how the fuck she got up here.
So I opened the door. "What do you want, Mina?" As exes went, I sure could pick them.
Her lips were glossed in Pink Perfection. Her signature color. I should know because I had taken her to Brew's Cosmetics when she'd been under the delusion that she wanted her own cosmetics line. We had gone as far as testing out some samples, and then she'd gotten bored. I'd spent a lot of money on endeavors for her, and she'd always gotten bored. There was nothing she seemed to like doing at all. That lipstick was the only one she'd done. Pink Perfection.
"Is that how you talk to your fiancée?"
I choked a laugh. "We broke up. Don't you remember?"
"Yes, I remember that you were a bit miffed with me. Do you mind us not doing this in the hallway? It's conspicuous."
I crossed my arms and leaned on the doorjamb, not allowing her in. "No, we can do it here just fine. You're not coming in. There are security cameras left and right. I want to make sure the timestamps are clear."
She lifted an arched brow. "What do you think is going to happen?"
"With a woman like you, I don't know. You'd do just about anything for money, wouldn't you? You really think I haven't seen it all? I have. I won’t have you accusing me of hurting you or anything. You're staying right out there."
She blinked rapidly. "You think I would do that?"
She seemed to have forgotten she’d promised to tell everyone about my supposed cruelty. I didn't want to know what that entailed, so better to have her on camera. "That's the point, Mina. I don't know what you would do. So every conversation we have is going to be public. I don't have anything to hide, so I don't give a fuck who hears. But there will be security footage. Always."
She sniffed. "What I wanted to talk to you about, we can't talk about out here. It's private."