Page 149 of Pandora's Pleasure

“We need each other, Phoebe.” I stepped closer and embraced her. She smelled of lilies…like a wild, untouched garden. “We have no choice but to trust each other.” I pulled away to meet her worried expression. “I know what it’s like to be controlled by powerful men. This is how we take our power back.”

I waited for Phoebe to leave the café before I made my way back to the car.

A sense of dread came over me as I climbed into the BMW. Phoebe was scared and alone and it was up to me to help her. I’d taken a huge risk involving her in all of this, but she was my only viable option to get into Galante’s home.

I called up my Google map and searched out a shopping mall that was close. I needed an alibi for when I returned home and faced Damien’s wrath.

“Am I being insensitive?” I asked Theo. “We are days away from E Day.”

“Maybe she went home?”

“She knows that’s risky.” I was struggling with my bowtie in front of the bathroom mirror. “Where do we keep the cigarettes?”

Theo leaned against the doorframe, watching me. “You told me to throw them out.”

I glared at him. “I noticed how you forgot to throw out the condoms!”

He cringed. “She found them?”

“She thought they were mine.”

“You haven’t had a woman here in a year.”

“Try telling her that.” I raised my hands. “How do I look?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Like a stud.”

I slapped his back. “Not so bad yourself.”

My frustration with Pandora was rising. She had merely sent a couple of texts in answer to my half dozen—the last one saying she’d be back soon. I understood that my girlfriend probably wanted to be with her family, what withReal Nation One TVabout to drop her father’s scandal onto the airwaves tomorrow.

But not answering her phone?

I’d move Pandora to a better place. This apartment wasn’t good enough for her.

Maybe that’s why she wasn’t here. She was used to luxury, not this minimalist style. She was used to staff and having company. Maybe she was lonely. I should have thought about that.

Damn it, this is as far from a home as you can get.

Like me, Theo was wearing a black-tie suit and looking suave. But unlike me, he was behaving as though everything was business as usual. I felt like my life was deteriorating with each passing second.

“Ready to call off your engagement?” he asked. “Your dad mentioned leaking it to the press tonight.”

“Don’t let them send it out. I’m going to talk with Dad. I’m fucking done letting him dictate who I can have in my life.” I realized the truth in that statement. “Pandora’s annoying at times, but I love her.”

“She gets you. I can see that.”

“We’ve both been used and we’re over it.”

Until I told my father I’d ended it with Pandora, the Fairfield Project would remain stalled. The damage between us now felt irreparable. What was that saying? To win in Washington you have to be able to kill your darlings? Well, bravo, Dad. I’m dead inside if that’s what you were going for.

I’d chosen to get ready here so I could at least see Pandora before heading out for the cocktail party at the Fairmont in Georgetown. Going without her was hell. I wanted to be able to walk into the hotel with my arm around her. I was proud to be seen with her, and not just because she was a Bardot.

I wanted her by my side permanently.