Page 5 of Trust Fund Baby

Her gaze was sharper as her eyes flicked to mine again. “Something like that,” she replied. “But what about you, still writing your own rules, Sebastian?”

“Trying to,” I admitted, watching her closely. “You always were better at it.”

She tapped her fingers against her glass—a habit of hers I hadn’t thought of in years.

Hallie stood up from the booth just as I was going to press Roxie further.

Her date was gone, and the fury burning in her eyes as she leveled them at James made even me shift uncomfortably.

“Roxie, I’m out of here,” she snapped, snatching up her purse. She didn’t wait for a reply, just turned on her heel and stormed toward the door.

Roxie hesitated for half a beat before she followed and just like that, she was gone. The door of McGuire’s swung shut behind her, leaving me staring at the empty space she’d left behind, wondering if I’d imagined the whole thing.

I sank back in my seat, trying to steady my pulse.

“How did we both strike out tonight?” I asked James, trying my best to act normal. “That doesn’t even seem possible.”

James smirked, swirling the ice in his glass before taking a slow sip of his Old Fashioned. “I didn’t strike out tonight, Seb. I hit a home run.”

I frowned at him. “How in the hell do you find that a home run?”

He leaned back, eyes glinting with something between mischief and certainty. “Everything is perspective, Seb. Even the curveballs.”

We sat there in silence, nursing our drinks, his words gnawing at me.

Because maybe he was right. Maybe life had just thrown me the biggest curveball of all. Roxie King. My Roxie, who had walked back into my life after nearly a decade.

And as the burn of whiskey settled low in my chest, one truth hit me harder than anything else.

I’d already let her walk out of my life for good once. I wasn’t going to let her do it again.

3

Roxie

I hadn’t been able to run after Hallie fast enough. I didn’t dare glance back at the one person I thought I’d locked away in a memory vault years ago, never to be seen again. Luckily, she was too blinded by her fury to notice the brief encounter between me and Sebastian Whittaker.

I followed Hallie along the rain-slicked streets, amidst the blare of taxis and the throng of New Yorkers seeking an escape from their workdays.

Because the vault held more than Sebastian. It held the truth. A truth I hadn’t even told Hallie the full extent of.

I hadn’t always been the Roxie King she had grown to know and love. Before New York Roxie, there was someone else, someone caged in a gilded palace I’d once dreamed of escaping with Sebastian. Until he had done the unthinkable. Until he went behind my back and shattered everything.

I’d spent years imagining the moment I’d run into him again, rehearsing questions I’d never ask. Why? Why betray me? Why tear down all our dreams like they meant nothing? How could the boy I trusted the most be the one who wrecked everything?

But I’d survived without answers. I’d built a life without him. And I wasn’t about to unravel now.

So, I shoved the memories back where they belonged and forced my arm around Hallie’s shoulders, pulling her closer. “Do you want to go grab ice cream from that place around the corner from the apartment?” I asked lightly, eager to change the mood we were both in.

Her head snapped toward me, eyes narrowing. “The one with the homemade waffle cones I love?”

“Of course,” I said, managing a smile. “Those cones are works of art.”

Hallie let out a soft laugh, and I looped my arm through hers. And for a moment, I let myself get lost in the one thing that had never broken my heart—New York City.

Tucked behind the gallery’s front desk, I spent the next week absorbed in client emails and invoices. Anything to keep from replaying that night at McGuire’s in my mind. I could still smell Cuban cigars on my leather jacket, and his low, familiar voice kept replaying in my mind. I’d almost forgotten what it sounded like, and now it was all I could think about.

The entire day had passed without a single alert on my phone. No texts. No calls. The quiet of the art gallery was no match for the thoughts swirling in my mind. I was desperate for a distraction. Anything to take my mind away from Seb.