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The kiss lasts us all through the descent and landing, and when my plane’s wheels have touched the ground, I’m so worked up that I’m visibly hard through my pants. I’m going to have to cross the tarmac and into the waiting SUV with this—
“Oh my god,” Julia blurts out, like a record scratch cutting right through my rose-colored fantasies.
My stomach knots when her posture stiffens. She frowns deeply while she stares at her phone with her mouth agape. Her left hand grips the device so hard, it shakes. Frantically, she presses the screen, her motions growing increasingly frenzied with each second.
“What’s wrong?” I demand. Every inch of my skin tingles with alarm. “Julia, what’s wrong?”
“Jay,” she sputters out, finally looking at me. “He told.”
“Told what?” I reach out and grab her hand. “Told who?”
“About us,” she continues, dropping her phone into her lap. “I told him about the deal. Our deal. Jesus, I’m so stupid.”
“Hey,” I warn. “Never say that.”
“I broke the NDA,” she blurts out, exasperated. She fumbles to undo her seatbelt. “I told him everything, Gus. I told him...”
She trails off, but I know what she refuses to say: that she slept with me in exchange for FundRight.
Her anguish is killing me. An overwhelming urge to take her in my arms consumes me, but I can tell she doesn’t want to be held right now. She wants to solve this—immediately.
“Julia, talk to me. Let me help. Has he told anyone?”
Silently, she nods. Her big eyes look so guilty.
“Who did he tell? Because we have a hell of a lot of money, and we can pay—”
“He told The Carraway.”
My heart damn near stops. Shit. He told a publication about how I demanded Julia. About how I bartered for her. Played dirty to get her. This could easily end my career.
“And they published it?” I question, anger riddling my tone. “The story is out? Because I can have my lawyers on this so fast—”
“They’ve held the story for now,” she interjects, gulping in air to steady herself.
Relief washes over me. “So, nobody knows yet.”
The exhalation she releases is so reticent and strained that I know this debacle is only just beginning. Sure enough, Julia wipes a tear away with the back of her hand and says, “They’ve held the story because they’ve blackmailed my father for ten million dollars.”
Chapter 27: Julia
“What were you thinking?” my father barks.
My heart is pounding. I’ve heard him yell like this before, but never at one of his children—not even close.
Next to me, hands gripping the armrests of the antique velvet chair where he sits, Davis lets out the slowest, longest breath I’ve ever heard him release.
“I can explain,” he states.
“You can explain?” My father ceases pacing around his in-home office. Standing in front of the fireplace, he looks like the devil himself. “You can explain? Davis, you can’t fucking explain. There’s no explanation for you pimping out your younger sister—my only daughter—to a forty-something year old man so you could close a deal.”
When Davis looks over at me, I can practically see him disintegrating under his skin. The stress radiates off of him. My brother is brilliant, motivated, and thorough and he can pretend to be steely with the best of them, but deep down he’s a cinnamon roll. Our father used to hate it. He quashed it right out of him—turned him into a titanic, carbon-copy of himself. But underneath it all, Davis has always been neurotic and desperate to please him. Balancing his true nature with our father’s expectations has been a gargantuan undertaking for most of his adult life—but one he has managed with aplomb.
And I went and screwed it all up.
“Don’t blame Davis,” I cut in, wishing my voice didn’t come out small. “I’m just as much to blame.”
My father’s glare turns on me. “Oh, you think I only blame Davis? Julia, you have no idea what you’re about to hear from me.”
