“I’m not letting you work with that snake.”
“You’re not letting me?” My voice rises. “I’m capable of making my own decisions concerning Selective.” Especially when Graham blackmailed both of us in the worst way. “I don’t think he even knows we’re connected.” If only that were true.
“That guy knows everything about everybody, and it would be just like him to use you as leverage to get what he wants from us.”
My jaw tightens at Nick’s correct assumption, but ‘fessing up the ugly meeting with Pierce in Bellagio’s garage would only inflame Nick further. My only recourse is to play it down.
“Now you sound paranoid.” I force my voice to stay level and play this out for all our sakes. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Pierce is not what he seems, and I want you to stay away from him.”
“I’m sure he’s not as bad as you think.” He’s way worse. “He proposed a few promotional ideas for Selective. Ways to get us into more nightclubs outside of Vegas.”
“The guy can’t be trusted.”
“Why don’t you let me decide that?”
“You can’t take my word for it?” Nick accuses.
“Since when do you have anything to say about what I do with Selective?”
“When I see you about to make a huge mistake.”
“I certainly don’t tell you how to run Wicked.”
“This isn’t about how you or I run our business.” Nick pauses. “You sure nothing happened when you met with him?”
“Like what?” My heart beats hard against my ribs.
“Did he try to threaten you in a roundabout way to get your business?”
“I just told you. I explained what we needed, and I’m going to meet with him next week to see what he comes up with, and if we’re a good fit.”
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me you saw him last night when we were at Cipriani’s?”
“Because it wasn’t important. You certainly don’t tell me everyone you meet with during the week.” I huff out a breath. “That is, the few hours a week you’re home.”
“You gonna start that bullshit again?”
My diversion works. “Well, it’s true you’re hardly home enough to talk about anything, much less who I meet with at Selective.”
“I told you when we reconnected six months ago that I wanted to take Wicked to the next level. I thought Pierce was the way to do it, but now we got new problems with him. Problems I can’t ignore.”
For a split second, I considered telling Nick about Graham’s threats, but doing so would be a selfish way of unburdening myself, and then risking Nick’s volatile reaction.
“I can’t afford to fuck this up, and if it means putting in more hours for a while to secure our future . . .”
“I just hope your dreams for the future don’t hurt the present.”
“Without money, there’ll be no future, and I don’t think you’d like the present too much either.”
I’d successfully gotten Nick off talking about Graham Pierce, but now we were back at the same old problem. His obsession with making money.
“Just do me a favor and stay away from Pierce, ‘cause if you can’t see what that guy is about, then you’re too?—
“Don’t even finish that sentence.” I grip the phone tighter. “I don’t need you acting like some kind of a caveman. Ordering me around, then telling me how to run a business I started with Izzy and brought to a very profitable level.”
“I know all that, but . . .”
