“Accumulated capital through high-value collectibles,” said Kelly. “Blah blah. Private investor. Tech.”
So that’s what he meant. And I’d called him acomic book guy. He’d even opened up to me about it. I’d thought it was sweet.
I felt my ears get hot.
“Maintains a low profile. Hates publicity. English mother. Son of Wilhelm von Roth Sr., German entrepreneur and real estate investor,” Kelly finished. “Classic nepo baby.”
“Well,” said James. “I reckon your mum would like him better than Rudy.”
We all stared at each other.
“Okay,” he continued. “So he’s rich, clever, private, and has a weird thing about comics. You’ve certainly slept with worse.”
“I’m afraid there’s more.” Kelly flicked open another tab and showed us a photo of Liam stepping out of a black car at night with his jacket open. There was a blond woman in a silver dress laughing against him.
“Oh,” I said. “Not very Oxford.”
“You obviously haven’t been to Oxford.” James raised a brow.
Kelly swiped, and another picture popped up. Liam wasoutside a club with a different woman on his arm, this one wearing tight black jeans and heels.
“Great,” I said. “So he’s a playboy too.” I felt like I’d been stabbed.
She swiped again. This time, he was on a yacht, sunglasses on, women in bikinis on either arm.
“Maybe a little bit playboy,” said James. “But doesn’t that come with the territory? I mean, the guy’s loaded.”
“If it helps,” said Kelly, “this all stopped about a year ago.”
“Is that meant to make me feel better?”
“It should,” said James. “It means maybe it was a phase and not a personality.”
Monish appeared at the chrome bistro table. He raised his eyebrows at the six empty cocktail glasses and took a seat.
“Hi, Monish,” I said. “Apparently, James and Kelly are trying to convince me to pursue our new boss.”
Monish picked up his lemonade and took a sip, eyeing us in turn. “Pursue?”
James waved a hand dismissively. “Look, maybe notpursue. But assuming he doesn’t want to fire you, and that he might actually fancy you, couldn’t you at least just take one for the team?”
I gaped. “What?”
“Hon, think of your mortgage. And we could all do with a private jet. For fuck’s sake, Andy, I’ll suck his dick if it comes down to it.”
“Um, James, we all know you wouldn’t take much persuading. He’s not exactly a troll,” said Kelly.
“The issue,” I said, “is not whether he’s a playboy. The issue is that he fucked me, then ran out the door like I was nothing. And then I made an idiot of myself in front of the entire company, thinking he’d come back to see me.”
The table went quiet.
“Okay, yeah, that’s pretty bad,” said Kelly, wincing.
“He didn’t even have the decency to tell me who he was before he left. He just… disappeared.”
James exhaled through his teeth. “Right. So he’s officially a prick then.”
“A hot prick,” Kelly added. “But still a prick.”
