These next few months would help me make my final decision.
We entered the kitchen, and I was immediately hit with the aromatic scents of Indian food, making my stomach rumble loud enough for Mummy to hear.
She shook her head and pointed. “Sit.”
I slipped onto a barstool at the giant kitchen island, where my mom created her amazing dishes.
Mummy busied herself for the next few minutes, pulling out dishes and playing with food. She passed me two plates and then joined me on my side of the island.
“So answer my original question. How long are you here?” she asked.
I shoveled a few spoons of chicken tikka masala with rice into my mouth before responding. “About three months, give or take.”
“What about your clients in LA?”
“One of my junior partners will run the office with me flying in for a couple of days here and there.”
“Who’s the client that brought you back to us?”
She had to say it that way.
I sighed. “Papa Damir hired me.”
Mummy’s brow furrowed, and then she nodded. “Leopold. He’s in big trouble.”
“Mummy, how do I help someone who doesn’t want help?”
“What makes you believe he doesn’t want help? Have you spoken to him?”
I glared at her. Mummy always had a soft spot for Leo. He’d been the only child around for much of the beginning of my parents’ friendship with the Vaughns. Mummy would watch Leo whenever Damir and Tatiana had to work.
Then when I came along, the two women would trade watching Leo and me while the other worked.
“I don’t need to talk to him to know he doesn’t care what the public thinks. First, it was the parties on the yachts, then it was the crazy relationship with a Hollywood diva, and now it’s a married starlet. The only reason he would even consider changing his ways is because Papa Damir is forcing him to do it.”
“Don’t be so judgmental.”
I gaped at her. “I’m a realist, not judgmental.”
“It’s the same thing, in my opinion. Leo’s a good boy, just needs to work through his issues.”
“I swear, Mummy, you make more excuses for his bad behavior than his own mother does.”
“Well, Tatiana does have a Belarusian temper. She’s very hard on him.”
“I give up.” I threw my hands up in defeat. It was like talking to a brick wall.
“Let’s change the subject.” Mummy patted my arm. “Why don’t we talk about when you’re going to find a good boy and get married?”
Someone kill me now.
Chapter Three
Leo
I finished my last call for the day a little before three in the afternoon on Wednesday. Riya “the fixer” Guliani had yet to make an appearance.
I knew for a fact she’d arrived yesterday, and spent most of her time on Long Island at her mother’s house.
I knew this because my parents lived next door to her mom. My parents and hers had been neighbors, of some sort, from the time they immigrated to the States. First it was as tenants in a multifamily converted row house and then on adjoining properties they’d purchased after Pops and Uncle Sai had started to pay off their debts from their business.
Riya and I had spent our teenage years roaming the halls of the two houses. Even when success had come to our fathers, they’d stayed in their modest homes.
Though they had bought out all the homes around them and created what I liked to call the Vaughn-Guliani compound. Sonia and I had houses there, as did Riya and her siblings. Even though none of us lived on the compound, all preferring our apartments and penthouses in the city, it was our parents’ way of saying we always had a home no matter what happened in life.
So where the fuck was she?
I had an important meeting at six, and I wasn’t going to be late. Plus, with the swarm of paparazzi following me around since the stupid story broke, I would need the extra time to get across town.
A college buddy of mine, Graham Morgan, had brought the deal to my attention. He wanted to partner with me to expand Vaughn Transportation’s reach into Asia and the multitude of high-rolling millionaires and billionaires there who needed high-end transportation at a moment’s notice. Graham and I had sunk a large chunk of our personal wealth into this venture, and we were determined to make it a success.
At that moment, my phone vibrated with an incoming text.
Graham: I have to cancel tonight’s meeting. Have a school event I completely forgot about. Can’t miss it, or Soraya will kick my ass. You know what we want—to finalize the deal. Get them to sign and we’ll be home free.
Well, that was unexpected, but it gave me the perfect excuse to bail on Riya. Time was money, and she was not going to cost me this deal. Yeah, she was going to bitch at me, but she should have been on time.
Graham was a good guy. We’d met during rush week at Wharton and hit it off right away. After graduation, we’d stayed in touch while pursuing our careers. He’d been a regular at monthly poker nights, never missing an opportunity to try to clean us out of our cash. That was until he’d met and fallen for Soraya and then discovered his ex-fiancée had given birth to his daughter without telling him.
Now he was a respectable family man, with a wife, two kids plus one on the way, and an ex he successfully co-parented with. He was still ruthless when it came to his money, but more willing to let others take the reins for projects in favor of his time at home.
God, I hoped I never fell down the same rabbit hole. Although a hot babe like Soraya could make it tempting.
“Hey there, Reckless Romeo. Do you normally stare off into space or is this your way of avoiding responsibility?”
I clenched my teeth and turned to face Riya Guliani.
Damn the woman, did she have to look so fucking good?
Long black hair cascaded in waves around a face so beautiful that one forgot the intelligence behind the dark-brown, almost black eyes.
And God help me. That body.
Curves in all the right places. Perfect for a man to hold, to mold, to fuck.
Shit, what was I doing?
She is here to rule your life, asshole. Get it together, and stop ogling her.
She leaned against the doorway and lifted a brow.
After a few moments of sizing me up, she moved toward me, setting her shoulder bag on the chair across from my desk.
“Make yourself at home, why don’t you?”
She gave me a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry. I will.”
“You’re late. How can you be late if you got here last night?” I folded my arms across my chest.
She licked her lips. She studied me from my shoes to my face. My cock immediately took notice.
Damn, the last thing we needed was to be physically attracted when we hated each other.
“Want to answer my question?”
“First of all, we didn’t have an appointment. I told Papa Damir I’d meet you at the end of your workday. Second, I have this thing called a business to run that happens to have a location in Manhattan. You aren’t my only client, Vaughn.” She cocked a hip on the edge of my desk, meeting my glare with one of her own.
“Why don’t I make it easier on you and say I’ve got this. You can go back to your celebrities.” I walked around my desk and stopped a foot from her, letting my six-foot-two height tower over her barely five-foot-two frame.