Page 20 of Trust Fund Baby

Her silence was stretching longer than I’d expected. I was starting to worry that she’d never respond. I couldn’t decide if I should be offended or infuriated.

Maybe both.

The elevator chimed. I stepped out, making a break for the ornate doors of the Whittaker Holdings building, the city noise just on the other side waiting to envelop me.

Friday couldn’t get here fast enough. I wanted out of this city as quickly as possible. Even if I was walking into a battlefield. Because sparring with Roxie sounded far better than going ten rounds with my father.

So, for better or worse, I was willingly walking straight into the line of fire.

8

Roxie

I was halfway through a sleeve of cookies and scrolling through a food article that featured my photography when Hallie walked through the front door of our apartment. All I had done the entire morning was melt into the couch with snacks and let my brain switch off. The only upside was the promise of sunshine and salt air when James came to pick the two of us up for a trip to the Hamptons.

“How was your day?” I asked, admiring how the photography and the article came together, as I barely glanced up from my computer screen.

“Uneventful,” Hallie replied, her words coming too quickly for me to believe she was telling the truth. She dropped her purse and shed her blazer. “By the way, well done for getting out of your family dinner this weekend.”

Hallie knew as much as she needed to about my family. She knew my parents’ names, she knew they lived in Connecticut, and she knew that I was much closer with my grandmother than my grandfather. She’d even had a few drinks with Winn on the occasions he ventured into the city. But she had no idea about the immense wealth my family had or how absolutely fucked up that wealth made all of us. She absolutely did not know that I had forgone a trust fund that would have made my life look drastically different than it did now, one that wouldn’t have included her if I had listened to my grandfather’s demands.

James was supposed to be here any minute, and to say that I was looking forward to a break from the city was an understatement, even if I was going to be third-wheeling all weekend.

Things at the gallery were becoming almost soul crushing. I was so stressed out by my boss’s negative comments about sales and his controlling behavior regarding my art curation that I needed a break before making a rash decision, like handing in my notice. When Hallie asked if I wanted to go on the Memorial Day weekend trip, I immediately agreed, hoping it would be the perfect escape.

A knock sounded on the front door.

“I’ll get it!” I called to Hallie, who had yet to emerge from her room.

On the other side of the door stood James, dressed head to toe in linen, looking far more relaxed than the flashy suit he’d been in at McGuire’s.

Hallie came around the corner, nearly stopping in her tracks when she spotted him. I glanced between the two as I watched them take each other in.

“Hey,” James said with a smile.

“Hey,” Hallie responded. She was looking at him like he was the sun, moon, and the stars all wrapped in one. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever seen her look at a guy like that.

James reached for Hallie’s weekend bag, slipping it from her shoulder to carry himself. “I picked up some bagels from that little stand down the street for when we hit the road.”

“The one that Hallie reviewed a few months back?” I asked, coyly.

Despite a mean hangover from one of our many nights out, Hallie had dragged me out of bed to review a new bagel shop for her blog. Having shaken me awake, she pressed the camera into my hands, promising a greasy bagel as a cure for my vodka-soda-induced misery. After one bite, it had quickly become a favorite of ours and a place that Hallie posted about frequently.

“One and the same.” James reached for my bag next. I shot Hallie an approving look. “Are you both ready? Sebastian is meeting us there. He said something about some sort of work emergency with one of his designers.”

As the blood rushed to my head, my vision swam.

Did he just say Sebastian?

“The city is already emptying out. So I’d prepare for a little extra time in the car,” James continued, disappearing back out the front door with our bags.

But I didn’t move.

I stood rooted in place, heart pounding, pulse in my throat, praying I’d heard James wrong. Maybe it was a different Sebastian. A harmless, non-threatening, perfectly forgettable Sebastian. Not him.

Hallie stepped into my line of vision, her brows furrowed in slight concern. “Are you ready?”

I blinked, straightening and forcing a smile onto my face. “It’s a weekend in the Hamptons. Why wouldn’t I be ready?”