“As I said,” he chugs his drink again.
“Wheeewwww,” I exhale. “But, like, if you don’t settle, your dad cuts you off, then you can just get another fancy job from a fancy billionaire friend, right?”
“It’s not that easy, legally. But even if it were, I…I will be publicly eviscerated. My father has pinned me into a corner. I’m not sure even afancy billionaire friendcould employ me.”
“Skye’s family would,” I say, meaning it. I may be estranged from my best friend at the moment but her family runs Canton Cards International, afamily valuesgreeting card business turned big box gift and hobby store. In the middle of the United States, wherever there’s a Target or an Ameri-Mart, across the intersection, there’s a Canton Cards store.
And the Cantons, surprisingly, even with their fame, actually live up to their values.
So, this is not a hard problem to solve:
Skye’s sister, Samantha Canton, married Emerson, Benedict’s older brother.
Emerson is the Canton Cards CFO.
Um, duh.
Wait, did I say all that out loud?
“Janie, you don’t understand. This is…basically blackmail. My father has orchestrated the contracts so that I’ll be forced to havea press conference, claim personal bankruptcy and go to rehab, explaining I lost my inherited fortune due to sex and drugs. After the rumors settle, I very much doubt the Canton family will touch me with a ten-foot pole.” He adds softly, “And I wouldn’t ask them to.”
“Your own dad is doing this?” I screech.
“Wankers, right?” he jokes sadly.
“Uh, you win. Your Dad is a billion times worse than my brother.”
He snorts, “Thanks.”
“Why? Even for a billionaire father, going after your personal character seems extreme?”
“Why do any of us do anything? Our parents screwed us up. Grandad was horrible to him, said he’d never build a lasting dynasty and so on. I think when we were kids, none of us seemed interested in the business and Dad started to panic. He’s always been a cold bastard but I didn’t realize he’d totally lost the plot.”
I push a little more, “Still, no offense, but aren’t there a lot of shady rich people? Take the hit and find a new empire that’s not the Clark’s or the Canton’s. Carry on with your pretty boy life.”
He grins but it lacks his signature sparkle as he says, “Again, you just can’t get over how handsome I am.” I don’t even respond. He slumps on his stool. “I may seem…shallow but I do care about some things, namely my family. My brothers, cousins, aunts, particularly my mother. She…this public spectacle, to lose me from the family, it would crush her. And my father is not bluffing. I will be completely ex-communicated.”
We sit in stunned Vodka Vault silence for a moment. But the sight of Mr. Charming himself—always the bright, fun, witty life of the parties we’ve been at—so dejected…it’s getting to me. Just like the strays I always took in growing up. Just like my brother, again and again. Just like…
Still.
If a person can help, they should. And maybe I can. I ask for another water and lean closer to him.
“Okay, get out your phone.”
He obeys, “Why?”
“The women, Bossman!” I say with a whack of his shoulder. He starts to protest but I grab his device. “I’m sure there’s a thousand in here and right now, tonight, we’re gonna find you a wife.”
5
JANIE
“You’re telling me forty-six of the fifty-two women we just scrolled through onyourInstagram,yourpast lovers, are all insufferable?” I’m yelling again.
And we’re in yet another bar. This man really does not like to sit still.
“Hasn’t been that many,” he rolls his eyes.
