Page 52

I rub my temples. “Guys, I’m meeting with Bianca tomorrow to prep her for trial. I need some good news for her.”

“Right,” Vera snorts. “You could just ask her if she has any other bombshells tucked up her sleeve. Maybe Lorenzo has a secret dogfighting ring she can drop at the last second.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Nate asks. “Have you talked to her about all the cloak-and-dagger shit she’s pulled?”

“As much as she’ll let me,” I grumble. “She’s not making any of this easy.”

Vera makes a disgruntled noise. “I get the feeling that all of this is just Bianca having her public revenge against Lorenzo. Does she even care if she wins?”

“Let’s hope so,” I sigh. “Since my career is literally riding on it.”

“Just keep looking,” Nate encourages.

“I can’t believe they’re really going with ‘sick relative,’ ” Vera chimes in.

I roll my eyes. “I mean, can’t you? It sounds exactly like something Ezra would say.”

My gut clenches at the thought of him; I haven’t seen him since the party, and the conversation between us has been…different. Since that night, his stupid texts seem to irritate me less than before. Even if only a little. There are even times when they’ve made me smile—not that I will ever admit that to Ezra. And complaining about him now feels less…scathing than it might have a few weeks ago. Almost like my heart isn’t quite as in it now.

“This could be something,” Nate cuts in, drawing me out of my thoughts. “She’s paying two mortgages.”

I perk up. “The mistress?”

“No,” Vera says flatly. “My hairdresser.”

“Shut up,” I huff. “Where are you seeing the second mortgage?”

“Page seven,” Nate says.

I start backtracking to see what he’s seeing, noticing multiple mortgage payments being made to the same bank.

“That’s strange,” I note. “Do we know of a separate property?”

“Haven’t gotten word back on the subpoena we filed for her financials. All we have is Lorenzo’s shit.”

“Hmm.” I highlight the page. “Well, make a note of it. It could be their own little honeycomb hideout. It’s worth looking into.”

“Okay, but,” Vera says. “Why would they need two houses to fuck in?”

“I mean, he has already decided he needs two women,” Nate scoffs. “Maybe he just likes to do everything in twos?”

“How neat of him,” I remark dryly. “I can ask Bianca tomorrow if she has any ideas on this. How is it coming with Lorenzo’s emails?”

“Wonderfully,” Vera answers with a quickly following sound of disgust. “If you like to imagine cyber-sexting in emails like we’re back in 2008.”

“You were sixteen in 2008,” Nate points out. “Who were you cyber-sexting?”

Verahmphs. “None of your business.”

“Guys,” I practically growl. “I swear to God, if you two don’t just fuck already, I’m going to—”

A knock sounds outside my bedroom at the same time that Vera and Nate both start talking over each other about how ridiculous the idea of them fucking would be, and I sit up straighter and peer through the open door into the living room. Another knock sounds at my front door, more insistent this time, and I frown at the time on my phone. Who the hell is coming by after nine?

“Hold on,” I tell Vera and Nate on the other line, who are still arguing about how ridiculous the idea of them fucking is. “Someone’s at my door.”

“—rather fuck a sentient sea cucumber than touch him—”

“—hate to ruin her expectations for all other men—”