“Our answer to what, Bean?” Skye cocks her head sideways. “What are you thinking?”
Bean? I’ve never heard Skye use that name before. It echoes with distant pain.
“Easy.” Forest shifts his glacial gaze in my direction. “We’re going to take advantage of it.”
“How?” Skye doesn’t sound convinced.
“We send the two of them out on the town.” Forest points at Maria, then his pale gaze swings straight at me.
“Me?” I point to my chest. “Me and Maria? Out on the town?”
Such a bad idea. Like, epically bad.
“Don’t be a dunce, lover boy. It’s not a good look on you.” Forest shifts focus to Maria, who hunches into the massive leather chair that’s intent on swallowing her whole. “Maria used the flash mob to get away from her security team. She’s been seeing Liam for weeks … maybe months. Mitz, build a backstory for them.”
“Wait a minute?” I clear my throat.
“That would fit into your established behavior?” There’s a thawing in Forest’s glacial gaze. “Yes or no?”
“Yes, but …” Maria holds her hands tight in her lap.
“Good.” Forest claps his hands. “This is how things will play out. All those times Maria ditched her detail were to hook up with Liam. They’ve been secretly dating for months, and she’s been keeping her relationship with him a secret.” Forest blows out his breath. “But things are heating up between them. It’s time to introduce him to the family.”
“Whoa.” I can’t help but interject. “Can we slow this train down a bit?”
“No. The one thing we don’t have is time.” Forest’s pale eyes pin me in place. “We need to get Maria back under the watchful eye of her security detail and her family, especially her family. Mitz—”
“You know I’m already on it.” Mitzy doesn’t bat an eye.
Forest’s heavy gaze sweeps back to Maria. His lips press tight together. “Lover boy over here will post on social media. Mitz, I’ll need a few months going back. Tonight though, things are different for them …” He taps the leather armrest while the rest of us wait.
“On it.” Mitzy’s fingers dance over the tablet.
His eyes suddenly widen, lit up with an idea I know I’m going to hate.
“Congratulations, the two of you are officially engaged.” Forest leans back and claps his hands, as if it’s all said and done. “That’s why tonight is special. And it’s perfect for inserting Liam into the Rossi home.”
“Whoa, hold up.” Again, I point to my chest. “Engaged? Don’t I have something to say about that? I don’t have a ring.”
Not only that, but I don’t think Maria is okay with any of this.
“No. You don’t.” Forest gives me a look. “Mitz—”
“Forest, I swear, if you ask me to produce an engagement ring out of thin air, I’ll pull it out of your ass, and then I will quit.” She gives a shake of her head, which makes her psychedelic hair swish. It glitters despite the dim lighting. “Magic only goes so far …”
The rest of what she says is unintelligible, spoken beneath her breath, but it’s clear she’s not happy.
I don’t blame her. In the span of a few minutes, Forest’s asked her to do several impossible things.
As for me, and my take on this, my job is with my team. Doing what Forest says will take time. If I stay behind, how will I operate with my team? And what the fuck will I do all day long?
“This is how we’re going to fix things.” The look Forest gives me makes me feel two feet tall. He leans forward, palms pressed together, fingers steepled under his chin while I feel the world closing in around me.
17
MARIA
Forest’s words hit me hard. What he says is insane.
“You want me to pretend to be engaged?” I look directly at Forest and close my gaping mouth. “To him?”
“Look, I’m not happy about it either, princess.” Liam snorts with indignation, delivering his words with scathing irritation.
It hurts. It shouldn’t, but it does.
“Make it happen, lover boy.” Forest’s attention shifts from me to Liam.
Behind me, Liam chokes.
I pick at my clothes, removing lint that’s not there, smoothing wrinkles that don’t need smoothing and try not to look as uncomfortable as I feel. The whiskey makes my throat burn, but I don’t care. I toss back the last of the alcohol and close my eyes.
I would ask what it is that they want from me, but it’s obvious, and I’m not stupid. They want to use me to get to my uncle.
The kingpin behind everything.
“Tell me about Sybil.” I’ve cooperated. I’ve answered their questions, but they’ve answered none of mine. I look to Forest. He glances at Sam and gives a little bump of his chin.
“Sybil was taken from the Belvedere and placed on Caviar Dreams,” Sam explains. “Two other women were taken with her.”
“Caviar Dreams?” My heart leaps in my chest, running a breakneck speed with nowhere to go. “That’s one of mine; a subsidiary at least.”
“Correct.” Sam’s gaze softens.
“You believe my uncle’s responsible, and you want to use me to get to him.” I press my lips together and swallow against the lump in my throat.
“We have a team inbound to rescue Sybil and the others.” Sam glances at Forest who gives another nod. “Just like we sent one to the Belvedere to rescue the three women left behind. As the mission is ongoing, there’s nothing else I can tell you.”
Caviar Dreams is the flagship of Belvedere’s C&C cruise lines. That sickening sensation returns. Lightheaded, the room spins around me. I grab at the armrest, needing something solid to hold onto.
“If you bear with me for a moment …, can you tell me more about your relationship with your uncle?” Forest’s deep voice rolls like thunder and takes on a softer edge. He looks tired, fatigued, and keeps pinching his eyes as if in pain.
“When I was a kid, he was distant. Not mean, but difficult to approach. I always felt there was something off between him and my dad, or that he didn’t like kids.”
“And your relationship now?”
“Even more distant.”
“Why are you running the Belvedere instead of him?”
“My father mapped out my life’s trajectory before he died.”
“How?”
“He set it up in his will. My uncle tried to change that, but because of how my father’s estate worked, transferring his seat on the board and his stocks directly to me, there wasn’t much my uncle could do about it.”
“Your father placed you in a difficult position.”
“Only because he didn’t have a son.”
“Why the Belvedere?” Forest pinches the bridge of his nose. “He had to know that would put you in direct opposition to your uncle.”
“Maybe it was the only thing he could give me?” I shift in my seat, nervous and tired. “You believe my uncle is at the heart of this and I may agree.” All evidence points to my uncle. “But I can’t believe my father knew about any of this. If he did, he never would’ve given me control of the Belvedere. He would’ve known my uncle would try to take it away from me.”