It was hesitant when Dair asked, “What things?”
Balfour pulled his phone out, engaged it, found something on it, and turned it to Dair.
It was a photo of Blake at a party, one Dair remembered because he attended. It was the rooftop cocktail party Ned had thrown for her prior to her wedding to Chad.
She was wearing a daring dress, and he could very much see how daring it was not because he remembered seeing her in it, but because her breast was exposed all the way to the nipple. She seemed to be meaning to give that show with how far forward she was leaning. But the photograph appeared to be a candid, because it had done the impossible with a woman as beautiful as his. It wasn’t very complimentary to Blake, considering how far open her mouth was.
Dair’s first instinct was to be pissed as all hell a photo of his woman exposed like that was a photo his father could get his hands on, which probably meant anyone could.
Dair’s next instinct would be vastly different.
“She sold that photo of herself to some gossip thing,” his father shared.
Dair’s throat closed, so he had to force through it, “What?”
Balfour tucked his phone back in his jacket. “It’s my understanding that was something she did. She had a go-between, but she frequently sold pictures of herself in order to remain a feature in that shite.”
“You investigated Blake?”
Bally shook his head. “Not in the way ye mean, no. It came to the fore as a matter of digging into Signe. Trying to assess what she might plan for the future. Which meant assessing where ye might be vulnerable, and since you’re with Blake, we had to assess her too. We had to look into what Signe may be able to discover in order to harm ye.” He waved his hand in front of him. “No worries. Money has exchanged hands and documents have been signed. No one will know Blake did that.”
Although Dair distractedly noted his father, yet again, made moves to protect Dair, this time doing it also protecting Blake.
But he didn’t have it in him in that moment to have a mind to it.
“Why would she do that?” he asked a question his dad couldn’t possibly answer.
However, he did.
“Why, for the same reasons Helena did it.”
Now Dair was finding it difficult to breathe.
Balfour kept talking. “To remain relevant. To fix her place in society. To make herself seem important. To compete with the women in her circle.” His father fixed him with a stare. “I ken ye two are hot and heavy right now, Dair. She’s a beautiful girl. I always thought she was a little lost, and Helena was no help guiding her in being found. Seems from what I’ve witnessed recently, she figured that out for herself. Even so, I’ll just suggest…be wary of her. Although it appears she’s made her own way, I see a good deal of Helena in that girl, and I always did.”
“Helena sold photos of herself too?”
Balfour gave a sharp nod. “Aye, all the time.”
After his father said that, if asked an hour, two or even ten days later, Dair could not say what else happened at that lunch.
It vaguely penetrated that his dad was giving him concerned looks by the time he left, and he texted him twice after Dair was gone, but in the days to come, outside that, his dad left him alone.
But the only thing Dair could think was how Blake had eviscerated Jeff (twice) without blinking. The lad had deserved it, but she hadn’t hesitated in doing it.
And he thought about how she’d blanked Chad. When she’d claimed Dair in front of him, it was like the man wasn’t even there. Again, he deserved it, but he wasn’t even a blip for Blake.
Not to mention, the things Rix said.
And the fact she’d sold pictures of herself, including one that exposed her own body, globally, in order to…
He didn’t know.
Chase fame?
And that was not good.
Chase notoriety?
