Til Debt Do Us Part (Married At Midnight #4)

Chapter 7

Seven

Dare

I clench my teeth and stare out the window of the Windsor hotel, irritated by the phone cradled to my ear. "Yes, hello? This is the third time I’ve tried to call down to the concierge."

I listen for a minute, nonplussed by the answer. I’m annoyed, and not just by this hotel's lack of service.

"When I say that I want an omelet with something green in it and a kale and apple juice smoothie, I don’t understand why you have sent the wrong items for two days now. And besides that, my wake-up call for 6 AM this morning didn’t ever come through. What are you doing? Don’t you know who I am? I could put you out of a job!"

I pace in front of the window of the bedroom, my movements tense. Behind me, the bed is unmade. And out the window, there is a beautiful view of downtown Harwicke, mountains sprouting up in the far distance.

After a few more seconds of assurances from the concierge, I hang up my phone with a snarl. “Idiot.”

I stride out into the living room, tossing it onto the bed. I, of course, have the best room that the Monteleone has to offer. The room is large and airy; it has a dining room and sitting area and a huge office in addition to my bedroom. But honestly, it is not anywhere near living up to my standards.

I open my laptop, the web browser still pulled up for Talia Chance. Another failure, coupled with the woman’s disappearance last night and the annoyances at the hotel this morning. I rub the bridge of my nose, annoyed beyond reason.

There is a knock at the door. I look up, and the door opens unceremoniously, against my expressed wishes. Climbing to my feet, I am all ready to vent my frustration at the cleaning lady for being foolish enough to ignore my Do Not Disturb sign. But in the next second, my friend Tristen pops his blonde head in, his easy-going grin readily available.

"Knock, knock," he says. He straightens up and enters my room, and I am very glad to see him.

I throw my arms wide. "I didn’t know you were going to be in town,” I declare. “If I had known, I would have reached out to you sooner. I thought you were going to Australia with your fancy law firm."

Tristen’s eyes roll back in his head, and he just shakes his head. "I thought so too. But I guess I was wrong. But hey, now I am here in town when you’re here, so what’s up?”

He steps in the room and closes the door, spinning back to me with a smile on his face. He looks good, wearing yet another of his many three-piece suits, this time in a navy and dusty brown combination of colors. I look him up and down and grin.

"Have you seen any of our other high school classmates?"

Tristen makes his way over to me and collapses into a light-colored armchair. "Nah. This is all very last-minute. I just flew in from Boston for the sole purpose of seeing you. Well, you and my mom. You know how she is. She would not be very happy with me if I came into town and didn’t at least take her out to a nice dinner."

The image of Mrs. Bond floats into my consciousness—blonde and smiling and extremely chic. In many ways, she and her son are basically the same person. That is, if she had a job in corporate finance, taking apart businesses with a ruthless passion that is belied by an easy-going nature.

"Well, I’m glad to see you. I’m afraid that you’ll have to bear with me for a little while, though. I’m trying to track down a woman that I saw at the gala event that Remy hosted last night. I think that she holds the key to taking down my brother."

I sit down, paging through the laptop that’s open before me. Tristen sits up, his eyebrows rising.

"Oh?" He says. “When youcall him that name, I often get confused. It’s not like you have any other brothers to distinguish Burn from."

Shooting him a look, I shrug. "You know him as well as anyone. After all, you went to high school with my brother too."

He grimaces. "Everybody that’s from a good family in the Tri-County area went to St. Mary’s. We were raised with blue blood in our veins." His lips twitch. "Some of us more so than others."

“Are you perhaps referring to my brother?”

Tristen stands up, moving toward the window. "Not him specifically. But yes. He seems to have taken who your grandfather is more to heart than anyone I know. Like your grandfather being a billionaire is something that Burn himself personally accomplished. It’s a little…"

He breaks off, perhaps searching for a word. I wave him off. "There's no need to be nice for my sake. I know just what Burn is. He's a snake and a toad, at best a boot licker.” I push up my sleeve. "It’s hard to realize that I’ve grown apart from him sometimes. But we could not be more different."

"I would agree with that. Now what exactly is your plan with this random girl that you think your brother knows?"

Pushing my laptop away, I lean forward. "Right. So I think that Burn fucked her."

He turns to me with a frown on his face. "And? Your brother being a cheating scoundrel should not be any great surprise. It certainly isn’t to me. I played Monopoly and Connect Four with him as a kid. He was a cheater then, and he’s a cheater now. What’s the surprise there?"

I purse my lips. "No surprise, really. But I still want him to pay for stealing away my fiancée."

"Not this again. Daisy isn’t that great, man. Don’t you realize that you can date and marry any woman on the planet?"

"Not any woman. Daisy left me. She told me that my brother is a better version of me."

"So what? She is crazy, obviously. I don’t understand why you are willing to go to such lengths to get her back."

I sit back in my seat, affronted. "I’m not planning on getting her back. I am planning on showing her that she made the wrong choice. She jumped ship to become engaged to my brother, and I for one want her to realize that it was the biggest mistake of her whole life."

Tristen schools his expression, pushing back his hair with a hand. "And this girl is going to help you do that?"

"Yes. Talia. But the very first step is to figure out who she actually is. Make sure that she’s legit."

Tristen pulls out his phone and looks down at it, mumbling halfheartedly. "What’d you say her last name is?"

"Chance. Talia Chance. At least, that’s the name she gave me."

He screws up his face as he searches for something on his phone.

"Ah." He moves closer to me, his brow furrowing. "I got her. Talia Chance, a two thousand eighteen Harwicke High School graduate.” He turns his phone toward me. "Is this her?"

There she is, her coppery hair braided over her shoulder, her expression reserved and muted. She is standing with a cluster of girls, holding a patchwork quilt, and looking as though she would prefer not to be in the photo at all. I cock a brow, wondering if she might be more attractive if she just dressed differently and did something with her hair. She has creamy, flawless skin and vivid blue eyes. In certain lights, I suppose she could be considered attractive.

"That’s her," I say. "She ran away from me last night while I was trying to find out what Daisy wanted."

Tristen sends me a short look, choosing not to comment on that. Instead, he pulls his cell phone back and looks through the page, trying to gain insight from it. "Well, it says that she works at a local bookstore. And there are a number of posts here about being ‘thrifty’ . Patching jeans, resoling her shoes, mending a coat. A disgusting amount of posts about getting money from recycling. So… It’s likely that she doesn’t come from money."

I picture her, remembering the little details about her from last night. Her obviously worn coat, her frumpy skirt, her army boots. My lips twitch.

"No, that much is obvious. She doesn’t seem to have two nickels to rub together. It’s funny that a woman like that should even know my brother. I wonder how they came into contact?"

He squints down at his phone and shrugs. "It’s weird, most of the pictures on her Instagram are about books or places here in town. There are no flashy cars, no pictures of her partying, and no new vacations. So I would say that either she met Burn when she was a fish out of water, or vice versa."

"That much is crystal clear."

He presses his lips and tilts his head. "You know, in another life, with a better haircut and a stylist, Talia would be quite a beauty. Her hair is really something else."

I scowl at him. "Do me a favor? Stop trying to make Burn’s bad decisions seem like okay ones. The girl is frumpy and poor, just like Burn’s decision-making process."

Tristen rolls his eyes. "You’re the boss. I’m just here on vacation."

Closing the lid of my laptop, I rise and stretch. "Is it too early for a drink at the Raven’s Head Club?"

Tristen checks his watch and frowns. "Yeah, I think they are still closed. But we can go to that other place I like… What’s it called again?"

I scrunch up my face. "I think you mean Herbsaint."

"That’s the place that all the cute, lower class girls work at?"

I smile ruefully at him. "The very same. Come on, if we hurry, we can be there in time for happy hour. They serve this whiskey punch in the afternoon that I really adore."

"All right. Let’s go."

After I don a suit jacket and slick back my hair, we head down to the lobby, talking about Tristen’s recent surfing trip to Australia. He is just describing to me how it feels to look down and see what he thinks is a great white shark, when we step out of the hotel and practically run into Daisy.

Petite, dark-haired, and wearing a short white dress that shows off her miles of legs under a dark wool cape, Daisy is unmistakable. She has a beautiful face, a glossy dark mane of hair that falls to her waist, an upturned nose, and a wide, aristocratic forehead. Add a perfect, plump pout and a pair of flashing hazel eyes, and you have Daisy to a T.

"Watch where you’re going!" she says angrily. Then she realizes that she just ran into Tristen and me. Her expression quickly changes from scowl to sly smile. "Oh, it’s you."

It’s funny, that’s the second time in twenty four hours that I have heard those words from a woman’s lips. Steeling myself for the inevitable argument that is to come, I smile thinly and hold my ground. Daisy steps back after a long second, and Tristen jumps in.

"Hey Daisy," he greets her. "How’s it going?"

She looks at him, her expression as sour as if she were sucking on a lemon.

"I’m doing well. How are you, Tristen? I figured that you would have moved to the city for good."

He arches his brow curiously. "I did move to the city. That was years ago, by the by."

"Was it?" she asks. “You’ve always dressed like an old man, so perhaps that is why I get so confused when I look at you.”

His face tightens. He looks at me for support. My lips curl, and I smirk a little bit.

"You are kind of an old man," I tell Tristen. "Hell, even I am going to be thirty-four this year. It does seem like it was a long time ago, though."

Daisy straightens, pulling her dark cape more snugly around herself. "Time does fly, no matter how old you are. Is that not right?”

Tristen runs his tongue over his teeth. "You act like you aren’t the same age as we are. But we all went to college together. You just entered Princeton as we were leaving, a freshman to our senior class."

She puts her hands in her pockets and tilts her head, talking to him as if talking to a child. "I remember. I was there. Now, are you back in town or are you living in New York City?"

"No, I’m definitely not back. I am just visiting for a day or two."

"Well, that’s a pity. Harwicke could really use someone of your lineage. From what I can see, the whole town is going to the dogs. Everyone that I meet seems to be absolutely classless. It’s reprehensible, really."

Tristen purses his lips. "Then why do you still live here? You have the ability to live anywhere. If I remember correctly, you come from money just like I do."

"Yes, well." Her answer is not really an answer. "As you know, I’ve accepted Burn’s ring. So I’ll be staying here as long as he’s here. That’s what people who are married do for each other."

"Oh, is that all?" Tristen mutters.

Daisy rolls her eyes, dismissing Tristen so easily. She turns to me, her head tilting, her expression growing worried. "How are you, Dare? I saw you last night, but I didn’t think to ask. Are you back in town for a while?”

"I’m not. Not really."

Her gaze is drawn to my face. “Are you still upset with me? It’s been almost a year now."

I push out my cheek with the tip of my tongue, aggravated.

"No, Daisy. Honestly, I usually don’t even remember that you are alive."

She smiles with a flash of teeth. "Ouch, Dare. Well, it’s good to see that you have moved on. I feel like that’s the least I can hope for you, since I fit so well with your brother. Being engaged with Burn is like breathing. Just totally natural and effortless. And I was thinking that maybe you would meet someone new who would feel the same way. You know, I think that Sarah Harding is unattached at the moment. I could set something up for you if you want."

I watch her closely, seeing the pleasure in her eyes at my discomfort. I push it down, blinking. Just like with my brother, to show her exactly how I’m feeling is to let her win.

"Well, we have to be off. We have an important meeting to attend. I’ll see you around, Daisy."

To this, she smirks. "Not if I see you first, Dare."

With a wink, she strides off, heading toward the hotel lobby. I watch her retreating figure for a moment, resentment boiling up in my body.

"What a total bitch," I spit out through gritted teeth.

Tristen glances at the door that she just disappeared through, and he reaches out and pulls me by the arm. "Come on,” he says. “The more space that’s between us and Daisy, the better. I forgot that she was so unpleasant."

I look at him a little skeptically. "What do you mean? You used to like Daisy."

He rolls his eyes. "I was putting on an act for the good of our friendship. I never liked her. She was always bitter to me."

We walk down the street, and I think about the fact that Tristen never got along with Daisy. "It’s news to me, though I admit that it’s not unwelcome to me now. You were just putting up with her because I was dating her?"

He shrugs his shoulders casually. "I know the type of girl she is. She’s a lot like my sister—spoiled and shallow. I knew that my sister often drove the friends of her boyfriend away if she decided that she didn’t like them. So, you know... It was easier to keep up appearances than to say anything."

"I wonder if that is how Daisy came to be this way, with such an entitled personality. It always amazes me that no one ever checked her or put her in her place."

"Yeah, well. Maybe you will be the first one to change that. Isn’t that what the entire point of rubbing Burn’s infidelity in her face is?"

I wrinkle my nose. "That is one of the possible outcomes. The other one is that she digs her heels in and becomes more entitled than before. Which one she will choose is unknowable as of yet."

Tristen lets go of my arm and cuts me a look. "I think I have an idea."

"Oh yeah?" I say, still engrossed in my doom and gloom.

"You should start dating this Talia girl. See how Burn likes it. Rub it in his face. And then, if you feel like it, eventually you can tell Daisy that Burn has been unfaithful."

A bark of laughter leaves my lips. "What?"

"Seriously, think about it. It’s beyond time for you to find another girl. Someone who is actually loyal. Why not this girl?"

"Women are only interested in me for my money and my name. I’m not like my brother. I am not charming or Machiavellian. I’m not a drunk like my father or a gambler like my uncle. I am the reasonable one, the one who usually compromises with other loud personalities in my family so that we can come together to accomplish even the most basic tasks. No one actually wants me for my personality. Trust me."

"Maybe you’re just not looking in the right places. I mean, there are tons of women out there in the world that are great matches for you, I’m sure. My point is, why not get the ball rolling with a girl that could actually be useful for you? She could be attractive with a little polish. And Burn would look at her and realize that you have turned the tables on him.”

I turn a corner, exhaling a deep breath. Ignoring the terrible advice that Tristen is currently giving me, I resume my train of thought, pretending that he didn’t even suggest it to me.

"I treated Daisy like a queen. You know that? I would never have cheated on her. I would never have been unfaithful. And for what? It seems like she left scars where my heart used to be. How will I ever trust anyone again after Daisy left me for my own brother?"

Tristen gives me a sympathetic glance. He claps me on the back of the shoulder. "I know. I know that was pretty harsh for you. Honestly though? It was what was best. If you guys hadn’t broken up, I was looking at having her in my life forever. Selfishly, I am beyond glad that it happened."

I frown. "I know. It just makes all of this Morgan Oil company business even harder. I feel like I've already been passed over, even outright rejected. If Remy looks at me the way that Daisy does, I have no chance of taking over the company. I have no chance of getting the inheritance I deserve. It makes my blood boil."

He looks thoughtful. "We should have that drink that we talked about. But we should also hatch a plan. There is a way to persuade your lovely young Talia to tell you stories about Burn. So Daisy will get her comeuppance, I’m almost certain of it."

My lips lift at the corners. I pull out my cell phone and dictate a text to my personal assistant, asking him to extend my stay at the hotel. When I’m done, I look at Tristen with a grim smile.

I’m right where I need to be right now. I’m here in Harwicke, at Remy’s house, close at hand in case my grandfather has any need for me. I will stay as long as Burn does. I will win this battle, come hell or high water.