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“You mean accurate.”
Zara scrunched her nose. “Well, you pickedThe Butcher’s partner. What’s that make Sawyer? TheJackal?”
“Probably.” Hannah looked thoughtful. “Thatwould fit his general temperament. I’ll have to tell Vince. Sawyerwill hate it.” Her lips turned in a genuine smile— the first oneZara had seen in ages. Something that never happened when theytalked about Karl.
“You know, you could always get a divorceand tell Sawyer you messed up.”
“No, baby sis. I can’t.” She pulled off herheadband and messed up her hair. “Men like Sawyer don’t do secondchances. I knew that when I walked out.”
“If that’s true, my situation stands,doesn’t it?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, then. Can you please stop lecturingme about Joseph?”
Hannah’s expression darkened. “Fine. But youaren’t sleeping with Joey, are you? I mean, if you’re so set onthis marriage being a front…”
“Gross! No.” Zara couldn’t hide herdistaste. “We’ve talked about getting there on the honeymoon ifwe’re bored, but it’s not big on my itinerary. Honestly, I don’tthink he’s that interested either.”
“He is a dude. You’re a gorgeous woman. Itis definitely on his itinerary, sweetie.”
“As long as he keeps his hands to himself,he can dream all he wants.” She’d treated other breakups withemergency one-night stands before—even turned one or two of thoseinto a new boyfriend. Unfortunately, the idea of touching anyonebut Dane justhurt. Which was a new and entirelydisorienting experience. She didn’t want to know how much worse thehurt would get if she pushed idea to reality. It was mortifyingjust thinking about it. “Anyway. Can we get back to tablesettings?”
“Fine. But I maintain this is a terribleidea, and the second you want out of it, I’ll help.”
“Thanks, Hannah. You aren’t the worst bigsister in the world.”
“From someone five minutes younger than Gia,I don’t think that’s a high bar, but I’ll take it.” She slowly gotto her feet. “Let’s go horrify your in-laws with restrained tasteand refined palates.”
Chapter Five
DANE
Chicago, Illinois, September 30
“Couldn’t you have picked a nicer bar?”
“Couldn’t you be on a plane back to DC?”Dane didn’t look up from his glass. Instead, he wondered how easyit would be to smash it on the counter and use one of the shards tostab both his eardrums. Anything to save him from whatever order orlecture Ethan Fitzgerald had stashed away for a rainy day like thisone. Dane tilted the drink to his lips, the ice in the glassclinking loudly.
Ethan hung his tailored coat on the back ofthe badly patched barstool, his nimble fingers unbuttoning thecuffs at his wrists. After spending a month of tailing his nearlyidentical older brother, he kept waiting for Ethan to hulk out. Butwhere Ryan Mayer was all muscles and ink, Ethan remainedclean-shaven and lean. “I could,” he admitted as he rolled up hissleeves and waved the bartender to order an old-fashioned. “But Iskipped it.”
“Why? Thought you hated Chicago.”
Shoulders slumping, Ethan reached for thebowl of peanuts Dane forgot about and took a small handful. “Mybaby sister’s getting married any day now. Figured I may as wellstay.”
Dane winced at the reminder, but Ethandidn’t notice—too busy staring at their surroundings. Keaton’sPlace wasn’t quite a dive bar, but it lacked the glitz and glam ofa Fitzgerald haunt. Small and intimate, clean in the ways thatmattered, with a single pool table to the right of the bar and ahalf-dozen gambling machines tucked against the back wall. It hadbeen one of Sawyer’s favorite places to drink Hannah out of hissystem.And if it worked for him…
“What do you want, Ethan?”
“An old fashioned, neat. Maybe three or fourof them.”
“I mean—”
“I know what you meant.” His voice was sharpas a blade. For all the man insisted he wanted nothing to do withthe empire his forefathers built, he certainly could turn on Adam’sdon’t-fuck-with-me tone like he was born to it. “We need totalk.”
“Here?” The bar was empty, save for one oldregular drowning his blues in a pitcher of Budweiser. A few hoursfrom now, that wouldn’t be the case, but at the moment, the bar wasdead. Perfect. Until Ethan walked in. But still too public for atalk.
“Not here. Outside.” Ethan dug into hispocket and tossed a few twenties onto the bar. That done, he swipedhis coat off the stool and left.
