Page 217 of Boyfriend of the Hour

WAYS TO SAVE NATHAN FROM HIS PARENTS

#4help him fake his own dethbad idea

“You’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Nathan asked.

I shook my head as I shoved a few pieces of clothes into the backpack I was taking with me back to New York. “I won’t be long. Just overnight, and then I’ll be back here before you know it.”

The story Xavier had told me about his family in Paris had been haunting me all night long. Frankie had always called him her shark—he knew how to trap people with their own games, circle them until they were weak, and then attack. He was ruthless and knew this kind of upper crust world better than I ever could.

And, so, the next morning, after I’d put in my second performance of “oblivious girlfriend his parents hate,” I’d gone for a long walk on the property in order to call Frankie and Xavier and ask for their advice.

Xavier had listened to the situation. Asked some key questions. And quickly helped me figure out exactly what to do.

It seemed so easy. I wasn’t entirely convinced it would work. People like me weren’t supposed to be able to fix things like this with a quick conversation. We were supposed to struggle.

“You have more to offer than you could ever imagine,” Frankie had told me quietly once Xavier had gotten off the phone. “People have underestimated you your entire life. Use it to your advantage. Surprise them now. Don’t wait for their respect when you can take it for yourself.”

Her words buoyed me—maybe because I’d so rarely heard them from one of my siblings. But that, I decided, was exactly what I would do.

I still hadn’t told Nathan the plan. Not because I didn’t want him to know, but because my man was one of the most truthful people on the planet, and this particular endeavor required a bit of deviousness. He was never going to best his mother in this kind of game. He needed me to play for him.

I’d tell him when I could. But first, I needed to know if my plan would work at all.

I had to be in New York anyway for my first post-operative appointment, which gave me the perfect opportunity to put my plan into motion. But there was another reason for my cloak-and-dagger tactics. I wasn’t willing to be the reason Nathan lost his entire relationship with his family. Ifhedecided to end things, I’d support him. But mostly, I wanted it to be his decision. Not to be roped into a life with people unless he wanted it. And not to walk away because I’d alienated him beyond belief.

I zipped up my bag, then popped up onto my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I should probably leave soon to get to the airport on time.”

Nathan rewarded me by grabbing my waist and throwing me back on the bed. “We don’t have to leave for at least fifteen minutes. And I know exactly what to do with them.”

Five hours later,I stood nervously outside an enormous townhouse on Seventy-Seventh Street, a mere block from the Natural History Museum, hesitating in front of the carved front door.

The post-op appointment had gone well. Stitches were dissolving, everything was healing, and I was cleared for increased PT for both the meniscus and the tendon. From Mt. Sinai, I walked directly uptown to the address Xavier had given me without a stitch of pain in my knee.

“I’m not going to make your case for you,” he’d told me yesterday. “To start, I don’t know all the details, so I’d get torn apart. Eric and Jane are both former lawyers like your brother, so they’ll pay attention to every little detail and then ask for them. Good people, but shrewd. They’ll give you a listen, but you have to be honest. Don’t lie about a thing. And keep your story straight.”

I gulped. It’s not that Iwantedto lie.

It was one of those places where only very rich New Yorkers could live, and Frankie and Matthew had assured me these people were some of the richest.

I knew who they were, of course. Anyone who followedPage Sixknew who the de Vrieses were. A year ago, they’d caused a huge gossip scandal when Eric de Vries had returned to his family fold after ten years away…and quickly got married to a quirky half-Korean lawyer who looked more like a rock star than an attorney.

My connection to them was a bit closer. Xavier had gone to college with Eric once upon a time, but even better, his cousin was married to my brother. I’d actually met them briefly at Ninaand Matthew’s wedding last fall. At the time, I’d been wallowing in depression over my recent knee surgery, so I had barely remembered their names. Right now, I wished I’d paid a little more attention to the polite conversation we’d shared during the cocktail hour.

I sighed and raised my hand. No going back now. This wasn’t for me. This was for Isla. This was for Nathan.

Before my fist hit the wood, the door swung open, and I was greeted by an Asian woman in cat-eyed glasses, whose dark hair was dyed blue and green on one half of her head.

I had to smile. “Jane?” I asked.

She hadn’t even said anything, and I was already put at ease. Jane de Vries looked more like my friends who worked in performance spaces like Casper’s or frequented my dance classes downtown than a socialite and billionaire’s wife.

Immediately, she nodded. “Sorry to scare you by opening the door. I wasn’t lurking, I promise. Well, actually I sort of was. The baby’s asleep and it’s absolute murder trying to get that thing down. I don’t know who said that the first few months of a baby’s life are bliss because these have been the worst in my life. You must be Matthew’s sister, Joni. We met last October at the wedding, didn’t we?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but he has a lot of sisters. I—thanks for meeting with me.”

“Oh, we’d do just about anything for your family. Your brother saved our lives. Honestly, he feels likemybrother, too, at this point.”

I smiled. I didn’t really know anything about that. Matthew had always been tight-lipped about his cases as a DA, and while I knew he’d been involved in the big trial involving the de Vrieses, he had never said much about it.