The line went dead. My chest hollowed, an anchor sinking deep. I deleted his number, hands trembling. Sometimes, sorry wasn’t enough. And this was one of those times.
DADDY JIM
Vera
Friday, June 17
There it was.Lester Harbor Daily’slatest post on a social media platform.
Oliver and Erin Scott announce pregnancy news. Lester Harbor’s elite couple is expecting a baby. Read more: www.lhdaily.com/stories/scott-baby-news #scottfamily#babynews #news
I clicked. Of course I did. The article painted Oliver as the glowing father-to-be. Same crooked smile as Alistair, though his hair curled darker. To the world, Oliver and Erin were the golden couple—wealth, success, love.
What a joke. This was textbook Scott strategy: polish the scandal, feed the media a glossy fairytale. I’d studied this crap—I had a business degree in media comms before law school. They weren’t fooling me.
And Alistair? He stayed quiet. Slipped out of the spotlight. Smart move.
As for Erin, I knew why she’d confessed the truth to me. She wanted me out of the way. If I leaked her little secret, I’d be branded the bitter gold digger. History had shown how that played out; every mistress who spoke out got crushed under the weight of disbelief.
So I swallowed it. But one thing burned clear through the smoke. Alistair Scott, Lester Harbor’s golden playboy, had played me.
“Vera, sweetie, are you okay?”
“Huh?” I looked up from my phone screen.
“You seem distant lately,” Sapphire said, standing in the foyer. I invited her for a girls’ night in because we hadn’t seen much of each other after she moved into an apartment across town. She still refused to talk to Julian.
“I’m fine,” I lied, clearing my throat.
“No, you’re not. You’re not telling me the truth.”
“Busted. Guilty as charged.” I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Sapphire slid into the chair beside me and placed her hand over mine. “Tell me. I’m here.”
“I know I shouldn’t, but I keep thinking aboutMister Z.”
She tucked a loose strand behind my ear, her blue eyes narrowing with that no-nonsense stare. “Stop it. Whoever thisMister Zis, forget him. Do you really think he’s thinking of you right now?”
I shook my head.
“Then why waste the brain space?”
“You’re right. He’s not worth it.”
“That’s my girl.” She kissed my forehead, then smirked. “Now, what would the Vera I know do when a man tries to steal her heart?”
A grin tugged at my mouth. “Well… Jim Goldman texted this afternoon. Asked if I was going out tonight. He’s at Tango with a few colleagues.”
Saph’s eyes went wide. “Wait.Daddy Jim? The silver fox with the big cock?”
“Yep. That guy,” I quipped, biting my lower lip. Jim was a fit and handsome in his mid-fifties who knew how to get a woman wet.
“Saph, you’re a genius,” I blurted. “Jim’s circling, and I need to get overMister Z.”
Her brows arched. “What exactly are you thinking, Vera?”
“I’m thinking… a taste of Jim’s prime cut.”
