“Yep. Here I am.”
He was good at this; he hadn’t made his millions being an idiot. Two fifty was chump change to him.
Hailey jumped on this thought.
“Did you come to settle your bill in person?” If he laughed, so help her God, she would tear him limb from muscly limb.
He didn’t laugh. He sighed. “No. I came to explain.”
“I’m not sure how that’s going to work, Mr. Rainier. Legally, you owe what you owe—what Rebekah owes—so unless I can convince you two to make good on that, I think it’s probably best if we speak through counsel.”
“Call me David, please. Listen, Hailey, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking,This asshole can afford to pay me, he just won’t because he’s an asshole.”
She hadn’t told him to call her Hailey, and wild horses could not have dragged a sound from her at this moment.
They both watched as his phone on the table lit up twice with incoming calls—Ben/AssistantandJohn McRory/JP Morgan. He ignored both.
“Hear me out,” he said finally. “I just can’t let Rebekah do this. I have to take a moral stand. If I pay you, if I take care of this, Rebekah will expect me to clean up every mess she makes, and ourarrangement”—he spat out the word—“won’t work.”
Another incoming call:Glenn Paul/Blackrock. If Hailey had ever doubted this guy was a serious player, she didn’t now.
But he wasn’t going to playher. “So you’re teaching the little wife a lesson? Is that what this is?”
David looked down at his hands in what could have been shame when Hailey spoke; his eyelashes were impossibly long against his cheek.
“Or is it, Mr. Rainier, that you’re going to lure Rebekah back east, get the kids settled and reside in New York City, and then file for divorce there, where there’s no community property? And then, what with this huge outstanding legal bill in Rebekah’s name making its way through the court system, no decent Manhattan divorce attorney will touch her? That would be a great plan, if maybe a little obvious.”
His face gave nothing away. She could see tiny blue specks in his dark eyes as he leaned forward in his chair. “You know, I read your interview inCleveland Social,” he told her.
“Okay.”
“And I’m not sure what you said is right.”
“Oh?” He had a lot of nerve; she would say that for him.
“You said divorce happens very slowly and then all at once. I don’t think that’s true.”
“I didn’t actually say that,” Hailey told him. “The author Tom Wolfe did, and I was quoting him. And in my experience thatiswhat happens. Couples pick at each other, little things build, then all of a sudden they’re here in this room. And then after I clean up their mess, they pay me.” TheCleveland Socialpiece had been a puff profile of Hailey the divorce guru and her happy family, concluding with her thoughts on how to avoid needing her services. “People pay me, and then I feed my kids,” she added, hoping David had seen the family photos the magazine ran, her and Mack with the children in their yard. He obviously doted on his own kids; maybe she could find a soft spot.
“It wasn’t like that with Rebekah. There was nothing slow about it ever.” He frowned. “Or maybe the slow part came before we met. She was like a goddamn crocodile, lying in wait for me. We literally laid eyes on each other, and thenboom! She was pregnant, we got married, and she turned into a total psychopath.Thatwas all at once. So I guess you are right, in a way.”
“And presumably you were unconscious throughout this entire process?”
“No. I was stupid, I admit it. And distracted. But now the woman has completely abandoned our children, which would be a great thing except they love her. Do you know how heartbreaking that is? She forgets to pick them up from school, lets the nanny raise them when I can’t be there, and they still love her. And so—completely off the record—I’ve got to find some way to keep her under control, keep everyone happy, keep my children safe.”
He did sound wounded, but who really knew. Hailey found herself trying to picture him flirting with Rebekah, asking her out. Where would they have met? Wherever it was, Hailey’s worst client of all time must have thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Rebekah had been a restaurant hostess; Rainier had a fifty-foot sailboat and a house in the Caymans. (Hailey had seen the floor plans of both.)
“If that’s true, I’m sorry for the way things have turned out for your family.” She meant this, which made what followed work so well: “But if I don’t get paid, I’m not going to be able to keep everyone onmyend happy and safe. You seem like a really nice guy who’s just found himself in a bad situation, so please, make this easy on all of us and do the right thing here. The legally obligated thing.”
He leaned forward in his chair and bit his lower lip. The skin on his face looked impossibly soft for someone so masculine. Hailey was annoyed with herself for noticing it.
“I’ve got to tell you again,” he said finally, “the idea that you extended her credit—well, I hope I’m not being patronizing when I say it’s just bad business. And all right, you got me. I do like the idea of Rebekah having shit like this hanging over her, of getting her ass dragged through court, even if it means I am too, eventually. But what you said about your people working for free makes me pissed offfor you. I’m going to see what I can do. Maybe we can come to an arrangement.”
“I would really,reallyappreciate that,” Hailey told him, even though she wasn’t sure what exactly it was he needed to see about. It was pretty simple: he needed to pay her. But at least this was progress, and this was a marathon, not a sprint. She would pace herself. “I’m glad you came in, David. Thank you.”
“I wanted to meet you.” As he said this, his phone rang again, and the screen lit up with a photo of a little boy grinning wide enough to show his missing two front teeth. Hailey wasn’t trying to look, but the name over the picture came up asDoodlebug. “Excuse me,” he said, “but I have to take this.” He shook her hand. “I’ll be in touch.” His grip had just the right amount of pressure, and to her surprise, Hailey was sorry when he let go.
10.
