My forward movement was impeded by the partygoers, but I dug deep into my defender skills to dodge, duck, and weave my way through them without ever losing sight of her.
Three steps from the swinging doors all the other servers kept disappearing into, I reached her. My fingers slipped around her elbow, stopping her escape.
“Zara—”
“I’m working,” she called out over her shoulder, snatching her arm from my grasp.
“Three minutes. That’s all I need.”
“I have a fifteen-minute break in three hours.” Her eyes blazed with fiery fury but beneath it, the hurt radiated like a throbbing tooth.
“You can take a few minutes to talk to a guest. It’s a wedding, isn’t it?” I plucked a glass from her tray and motioned to the his-and-hers monogram on nearly every surface.
“No, we’re specifically told not to speak to any of the guests and to be as invisible as possible throughout the evening.
“Did you know, none of the other companies in the city will touch me. I’ve sent out over fifty applications in the past two weeks. I’ve showed up at companies trying to get three minutes with someone who might take a look at my portfolio.” Her gaze dropped and her hand fisted at her side. “I don’t have many employment options right now. Please don’t get me fired from another job.”
“If I were trying to do that, I could think of a much more creative way.”
“You could have come to my apartment.”
“Been there, done that, gotten a warning from your building security. If you hadn’t dodged my calls, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this. This is for you.” I pulled the envelope out of my inside jacket pocket.
“Keep it. I don’t need your peace offering, and I don’t need to assuage your guilt.” She shoved through the double doors leading to the kitchen.
“And that’s what it’s always about. Leo getting his way. Not this time.” She spun quickly, storming off into the kitchen, the doors silently swinging behind her.
“I take it that didn’t go too well?” August popped up at my side.
I downed the champagne, needing the final bit of fortification before laying everything on the line with her. “No, but it’s not over yet.”
And I charged ahead after her. Where Zara’s concerned, nothing is ever easy, but that didn’t mean I’d give up without a fight.
47
Zara
Halfway through the kitchen filled with trays upon trays of hors d’oeuvres, kitchen staff and servers, I could feel his presence behind me. The startled looks from everyone I passed confirmed it.
“Why won’t you leave me alone?” My voice came out like a hiss above the chopping, searing, and frying going on at the stations in full force to feed the stadium full of people out there.
“I couldn’t leave you alone any more than I could stop breathing, Zara. At least, not without giving you this. Will you take it?” He took the tray from my hand and set it on the counter.
I backed up trying to find my escape route. Hard to do in a room crowded with other people all staring at you. I was so getting fired.
He slipped a thick envelope out of his jacket pocket and took my hand, curling my fingers around it.
“I’m not taking your money. Once I figure out what I’m doing with the apartment I’ll get you your furniture back.”
“This isn’t my money. Would you just stop being so frustrating for five damn seconds and look at the envelope?” He jabbed his finger toward the ticking time bomb he’d handed over.
Seeing him in the flesh was nothing like seeing him through my peephole. Leo Wilder in a tux was a crime. Women’s heads continued to turn, as they always did whenever he entered a room.
I swallowed hard before venturing a peek. Waverly Hotel Group was embossed on the front of the envelope. I ran my fingers along the heavy, raised lettering, tracing the classic font.
My clammy hands fumbled the envelope, nearly dropping it. With trembling fingers, I unfolded it and read the lines. Each word blurring as tears welled in my eyes. A Waverly Hotels Group internship. A six-month paid international internship. “You want me gone.”
“Not one bit. It kills me to know you’d be gone for six months. And if they take you on full-time you’d be away from here for months, if not years at a time.” Anguish leached from his words.
My head snapped up. “Then why?”
“You deserve this.”
“Before…why did you call me out on stage? Why show up here?”
He stepped in closer, invading my space. “I can’t exactly have a grand gesture without an audience. Plus, it’s our way, isn’t it? I ruffle your feathers and piss you off. You don’t let me get away with it and fire back at me.”
“Thank you, Leo. But I can’t take it.” I stuffed the letter back into the envelope before I changed my mind, and handed it back to him.
“Of course, because that would be too easy.” He finished his glass of champagne in one gulp, but otherwise didn’t move to take the envelope I shoved against his chest.
“It’s not me trying to be difficult. I can’t go to Europe and leave Tyler here. He’s going to have trouble readjusting to home, so I need to—”
Leo held up a finger in my face and took out his phone. “Yes, I have her here.”
I batted it away. “What the hell?”
“It’s your brother.” He slipped the phone into my hand.
I looked from the glowing screen with my brother’s name on it back to Leo.
A tinny voice came from the phone. “Zara? Hello?”
If I lived a different life and had more than cobwebs in my bank account, this would be when my tearful brother provided his proof of life before the kidnapper snatched the phone away and demanded a million dollars. Instead, I had lint and a few tic tacs, and Tyler was tearful for another reason.
“Tyler what’s wrong?”
“Did you win the lottery?”
“No. What?”
“It’s a scholarship. The Logan Scholarship.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s new. Everyone here thinks I’ve been pretending not to have money all this time. So when they said I needed to call the scholarship benefactor tonight, I…I was wondering it if would be you.”
“It wasn’t me, Ty. But I think I know who it was.” I peered up at Leo. Tears brimmed in my eyes and I didn’t blink or brush them away. They crested down my cheeks, dripping off my chin.
“It’s a full ride through the school and college. It’s awarded to a new kid each year, and I’m the first recipient.”
“I’m so proud of you, Ty.” My voice cracked and the waterworks wouldn’t stop. The pressure had been like a blanket that had threatened to suffocate me. It had been lifted. Leo had lifted it. But why? Boarding school and college? That was an insane amount of money.
“This is great news, right Z? You won’t have to work so hard anymore. I know you’ve been doing so much for me, and I was going to look for a job this summer to help out too. It’s a lot of stress to pay the bills.”