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CHAPTER TWENTY
THINGSHADBEEN going so well. Bastien should have known it wouldn’t last. Jace had spent the last three days partying and following the schedule. Bastien had let his guard down and started to actually like the idiot.
During breaks in the itinerary, Bastien had still managed to go out with Mikelina for breakfast while the morons were sleeping in and steal a few intimate moments back in her hotel room. But she had been busy these last few days, too.
Then Jace and the groomsmen took off again without telling him two days ago. No one had heard from them since.
At first, Bastien wasn’t too upset because it gave him some quality time at the house with Mikelina. They had sex in every room but the master bedroom. For some reason, Mikelina wasn’t interested in going into Jace’s room. But Bastien didn’t think twice about that, not when her favorite place seemed to be his bedroom.
The private investigator had told him that Jace had been to Cuba the last time he disappeared and Bastien tried not to lose his mind. He hadn’t brought up the subject, but now that Jace had pulled another disappearing act, Bastien was afraid Jace had gone back for more cigars or some other stupid thing. And now Bastien was worried about them causing an international incident. Where else could he have gone for two days?
Anywhere.
Today was Wednesday and there were only a few more days left of the bachelor party. Only a few more days to spend hours making love to Mikelina and then drinking and eating decadent food. Mikelina didn’t want to stay in South Beach? Bastien didn’t want to go home to New York.
He liked it here. He liked who he was when he was with Mikelina.
She was lounging by the pool and Bastien was getting hard just looking at her. But before he could act on his desire, Henry called.
“Please tell me you know where they are,” Bastien said.
“I don’t, but Jace has been calling a number other than Kitty’s these past few days. I tracked it down and it’s the owner of the beach house.”
Apparently, Jace was still interested in buying it for Kitty. Wait until he found out the asking price. Six million. Jeez. If he could afford that, he was better off than Henry had found. “Anyone I know?”
“It’s owned by Mikelina Presley.”
M.P.
Even if he hadn’t known her last name started with a P, how many other Mikelinas were there in South Beach?
“I don’t understand. Are you sure Mikelina Presley is the owner?”
Why was she renting out her own house and living in crappy hotels then?
“Yes. She’s the daughter of Tanner Presley. Do you remember the scandal a year or so ago? He’s the stockbroker that rooked several clients out of their life savings. It seems just before he started doing that, he signed over the property to his daughter as a gift. It’s the only thing that’s left after his legal fees and paying restitution. The attorneys would have loved to get their hands on the house, but since it predates his illegal activities, it’s untouchable.”
Bastien leaned up against the glass and stared out at Mikelina.
“Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. So she’s renting it out?” Mikelina smiled and waved at him. He didn’t even know who she was. “What’s the daughter like?”
“Yeah, she’s barely paying the taxes on the place. It’s sixty grand a year. I couldn’t find out a lot about her. She worked at a few high-end hotels in Manhattan, but after the shit hit the fan with her father, she moved to Florida to be with her mother.”
“Her mother?”
“Tawny Presley, née Santiago. Her father worked in shipping. She married up with Tanner, and Mikelina is their only daughter. Tawny’s coming back into the social scene. Lately, she’s been cozying up to Kirk Diamonte. Who happens to be Mikelina’s boss. Tawny just filed for divorce from Tanner. Convenient, right?”
“How many calls did Jace make to Mikelina?”
“In the past two days, about ten.”
In the past two days? While she watched him get more and more pissed off about Jace’s disappearing act.
“How many did he make to Kitty?”
“Two.”
