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Valentina shuts her eyes, and her throat ripples as she nods.
“He’s going to freak out,” Marco says flatly, like it’s a foregone conclusion. “Why don’t you hold off on telling him until you see if your mother can pull a rabbit out of a hat.”
“He’s not going to freak out,” I assure her, side-eyeing Marco. “He’s resourceful. He’ll be able to help too. You’re partners,” I remind her. “You need to tell him.” Or I will.
“Of course I’m going to tell him.” She doesn’t even glance at her husband, who has a disapproving look about him.
“He’s in the command center. Do you want me to go with you?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I’m a big girl.”
“Did you take your medicine?” Marco asks gently.
Medicine?
She nods and heads toward the bank of elevators.
“She’s disorganized,” Marco murmurs when she’s out of earshot. “I’m sure she let some ball drop.”
You fucking prick. “Why would you say something like that?” I take a step back so that I don’t slap him. “She’s not disorganized. And even if she was, she needs our support, and that includes being positive. What medicine did she remember to take?”
He cocks his head. “She didn’t tell you?”
If she told me, I wouldn’t be asking you, dickwad. “No.”
“I’m not surprised. Antianxiety meds.”
Antianxiety meds. My chest hurts. Why didn’t she tell me? “When did she start taking meds?”
“A few months ago, maybe. The anxiety has been going on for a while. At first, I thought it was the wedding, but it never went away. I finally convinced her to see someone, and they prescribed antianxiety meds and a sleeping pill.”
How did I not know this?
“I realize it’s easy to scapegoat me for everything that goes wrong, Lexie. But she was put in an untenable position. Who would put someone with so little marketing experience in charge of something of this magnitude? She was set up to fail. Maybe on purpose.”
He’s blaming Rafael without actually naming him. No damn way was she set up to fail on purpose. Marco is a weasel. But I can’t allow myself to be distracted by his bullshit. Valentina’s my biggest concern right now.
Valentina has been anxious, but from everything she’s confided in me, I assumed it was because of the issues with her marriage. Oh God. What kind of friend have I been?
She doesn’t have a ton of experience, but she has great instincts, and she’s had an army at her disposal to assist her.
“That’s why I didn’t go to the gala at her parents’ house. I can’t bear to see how stressed she is. Besides, she’s been doing a lot of hand-wringing about what Rafael did to me.”
What Rafael did to me—he’s such a pussy. I have absolutely no sympathy for him.
“I thought it would make her more stressed to have me there. I’m sorry, Lexie. I know you’re together, but Rafael’s hard on her. I don’t like him any more than he likes me.”
I doubt that’s possible.
My head is spinning, and I can’t discern fact from fiction. Rafael adores her, and he would never put her in a bad position—no one can convince me differently. But is it also possible Marco isn’t the villain we’ve made him out to be?
I glance at him, and while he seems sincere, he called her disorganized, which is a blatant lie, and he was only too happy to tell me about the meds. I’m not cutting him a break.
“I’m going up to see how I can help.”
He doesn’t follow me.
47
