“No,” I said at once. “It should come from me. Put me together a list, and I’ll reach out.”
Jane grinned. “I love this side of you.”
I blinked. “What side of me?”
“So confident and in control. Knowing exactly where you belong.”
Harmony agreed, “It’s kind of hot.”
I flipped my silvery hair off of my shoulder and smiled. “Thanks, girls. This is so fun.”
It was as much a charade as the event hosting, but I had to sell it. I wasn’t confident or in control. I was just acting. Trying to walk in the footsteps of those who had been successful at this before me. Channel my inner Amy and merge it with the Upper East Side superiority.
Jane at least knew where I’d come from and how I’d been when I first entered the scene. Most other people, Harmony included, didn’t remember that Natalie. Or if they’d read about her in Katherine’s salacious article, it was whispered behind my back as they worshipped at my feet. And I had to decide to not care or else the whole thing would drive me crazy.
“So, girls’ night out. I’ll add it to the list,” I said with a laugh.
“Excellent. I’m excited. I need a girl time. Maybe we can finally find me a better guy than my last douche,” Harmony said. “We can’t all be lucky enough to snag Kensington men.”
Jane and I both shrugged at the same time. Then we giggled that we’d done it together.
Harmony started to ask about logistics for the event, and I pulled out my phone to take notes. I didn’t want to miss anything. But first, I checked the text from Penn. My eyes narrowed at the words on the screen.
Heading to Rowe’s to see the crew. Something’s happened.
Then he linked to a news article.
A slight gasp escaped my lips as realization hit me like a cold shower.
“What?” Harmony asked with round blue eyes.
I didn’t respond. I just turned the screen toward them so that they could see the New York Times article about Warren being under investigation. About Lewis being under investigation…for the exact thing that I had contacted the journalist about.
When I’d contacted the journalist, she hadn’t seemed that interested. She said she’d look into it. That I shouldn’t get my hopes up that it would become anything. That her boss might not even want to run it. Sometimes, that happened with powerful players…especially ones who weren’t in politics.
I didn’t like it. Just like I hadn’t liked the lack of a restraining order. But I’d done my part. She’d said she’d contact me if she needed more information or if she got the green light.
I hadn’t been contacted. I’d had no knowledge that this was going to come out. I’d hoped for it. Her boss would have been an idiot not to want to bring down the Warrens. But of course, they’d had to get real proof. The proof that I’d been sure was there. And here it was…exactly as I’d imagined.
A small, satisfied smile lit up my face.
Karma at its finest.
“Oh my god!” Harmony gasped. She took my phone out of my hand and was reading the article word for word.
But Jane had stopped reading and glanced up at me. She knew whose byline that was. She knew that it was a friend of hers. She could put the pieces together. But she didn’t look upset. If anything, she looked…impressed.
“This is crazy,” Jane said softly.
“Isn’t it?” I agreed.
“An investigation on the whole company now.”
“All for shady dealings.”
“Pity,” Jane said with a matching smile.
“Holy fuck!” Harmony interjected. “I mean…Lewis fucking deserved it if he was really doing this shit.”
“Oh, he was,” Jane said. “Everyone knows they’ve been doing this kind of shit and getting away with it. No one wants to work with them, but they’re hamstringed because the Warrens have all the power.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, he had it coming. But shit,” Harmony said. “I didn’t think this kind of thing happened to men on the Upper East Side. Not…one of us, you know?”
Harmony’s look pleaded with me to understand. Because to her, I was one of them. I’d integrated into their circle. And she wasn’t wrong. Nothing bad had ever happened to these people. That was the whole fucking point. They could commit murder and get away with it.
That time was over.
It was fucking over.
“I guess it does now,” I calmly told her.
“I guess so,” Harmony said, passing me my phone back. “Kind of scary. Almost like…who’s next?”
Who indeed?
I made it back to Penn’s before he did. Totle and I snuggled on the couch as I went through the list Harmony had sent over for our girls’ night out. It was like fifty fucking people long. I’d thought, like, ten at most. Was this normal? Did I need fifty people I didn’t know helping me with an event?
It was a headache. I’d raided Penn’s liquor drawer, and I was sipping from a glass of whiskey when he appeared in the living room. My eyes trailed down him. The navy jacket and gray slacks that hugged him. The bow tie hanging around his neck, undone. The electric-blue eyes that took in my own state of undress with efficiency and need. Then to the glass in my hand.
“Long day?” he finally settled on.
“Taxing,” I told him. “Who knew party-planning was so cumbersome?”
“Literally everyone.” He took the drink out of my hand and took a sip. “Oh, the good stuff. I think I’ll have one.”
“Fill mine up,” I called as he headed back to the liquor cabinet.
He chuckled and did as I’d asked, bringing his own glass over as well. He sank into the seat next to me and slung his arm across the back of the sofa. Totle crawled over me, licked his dad’s face, and then settled comfortably into his lap.
“Should I be thankful or nervous that you’re not immediately yelling at me about seeing the crew?” Penn asked with a dangerously sexy smirk.
“It’s fine,” I said on a sigh. I chewed on the end of my pen as I stared harder at the list.
“Fine? The last time, you freaked out.”
“Yes. Last time, you didn’t tell me. And…that was before you explained them to me in Charleston.” I glanced up to meet his eyes. “Do I like it? I mean, no. I don’t think it’s healthy, but I’m not going to tell you not to see them. You’re a big boy. You can make your own decisions.”
He grinned like he was about to devour me. I laughed as he nipped at my bottom lip.
“I like coming home to you.”
“Me too.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. “So, maybe you should move in.”
I pulled back. “What?”
“We can get you out of your new lease. You can live here.”
I opened my mouth. “Are you joking?”
“Do I look like I am?”
“No. But…I like my place. We go over there still. Totle likes it over there, too.”
“That’s because he likes to hump your neighbor’s dog.”
I snorted. “True. It just feels…soon.”