My head is anywhere but where it needs to be, and it’s Vicky’s fault. I can’t afford this distraction right now. Not with Greenstone, not with DeLuca’s six-month target, and sure as hell not with the visit to Montana a mere twenty-four hours away.
I pull my phone out, checking for the hundredth time if Vicky’s replied to any of my message, or evenseenthem. The ticks are grey: sent, not delivered.
My number: still blocked.
Where thehellhas she gone?
I know damn well she’d still be here if I hadn’t killed the HM&L deal—and that’s an irony. She wouldn’t leave with work on the table.
But then, she wouldn’t have come to the ball,either, with all that followed.
That had been a surprise. In fairness, I thought she was too proud to turn up, merely because it saved her paying me back that twenty grand.
She is, you fool,says the part of me that likes Vicky the most.
But she still came, I reply.And I still fucked her.
And even through all of that, she fought you.
Yes. She did.
The back of my chair snaps upright as I lean forward.
Vickyisproud. Vickywouldn’thave come, just for my money. She’d go hungry before then. She’d rent a room in someone else’s apartment before then.
She doesn’t have a payment from HM&L. She spent all her savings on setting up her business. And she won’t touch the twenty grand I gave her, because she’stoo damned proud.
So what the hell is she living on, and how the hell can she afford to goanywhere?
I flick my computer awake and pull up the transactions on our joint account, curious if she’s been using it.
There are only two entries for the month of March. She’snotbeen using the card.
Except for this week. A cab booking, and a flight.
And now I know where my Vicky is.
Miami.
She’s gone to visit her brother.
Eighteen
Vicky
“So how are you?” my brother says as we drive away from the airport.
What a simple question with such complicated answers.
“Fine.”
He glances across at me, then focuses back on the road. “Is this a short stay, or a long one?”
I wince. “I don’t want to be a pain.”
“You’re allowed to be a pain, you’re my only family.”
“Family that never visits.”
