Fool Me Forever (The Confidence Game 2)

“And distrusts everything about me.”

“That’s”—Sherin shook her head—“that’s wild. Never happens. Outside of family, no one knows the truth about us. When was the last time you had fun? Went on a date?”

“What? No. Focus.”

She folded her arms, a gesture of no way do you get to dis me like that, you imperious son of a bitch. “A date. You know what they are. I guess it’s been a while, but you remember, right? Two people, doing something together for no reason except pleasure. Remember pleasure, Halsey? Most people like to chase that outside of work, with, like other people, not antique collectibles.”

“This is business. It’s got nothing to do with my—”

“Lack of dating action.” Sherin was laughing.

“Lenny is a reasonable person. I’ll simply reason with her.”

“That’s not going to work. She hates you.”

She didn’t hate him. She was supremely irritated by him with good reason.

“You could work out how to have fun with Lenny.”

He grimaced. Lenny might rather skin him for a new handbag. “Any other brilliant suggestions?”

“You could…” Sherin leaned forward and in anticipation of her wisdom, he did, too. Then, she stood and said one word before she left: “Pray.”

He picked up the letter opener and soothed his anxiety by rubbing his thumb along the raised figure. He’d spent more time touching the boobs of the miniature engraved woman than he had a flesh and blood woman in the last few years, and that didn’t bode well for his ability to get Lenny to like him enough to take his advice.

How the hell was he going to get her to talk to him? It’s not like he could keep harassing her by phone or arriving at her office without an appointment. Which left sending her a fruit basket apology creepy as hell, or writing an old-fashioned, put-it-in-the-mail kind of letter there was no guarantee she’d read.

He looked at the evidence of his mail theft. Might as well know what kind of trouble was inside the envelope before he trashed it.

It made a satisfyingly violent ripping sound as he put the letter opener to work. Inside was an invitation to a black-tie gala fundraiser Lenny would now never be tempted to attend.

A second from putting it through his shredder he stopped.

Lenny would never attend, but a gala was the perfect opportunity to get up close to Cookie Jar and take his measure before Halsey took everything he had.

Chapter Six

Since Lenny couldn’t afford a cleaner for the D4D office, she was losing her mind or the Robin Hoods of Sherwood Venture Capital had struck again. How was it that not even her mail was safe from them?

The glossy envelope that held the promised invitation for the United Heroes League gala wasn’t anywhere. Not in her trash can, not in her purse or her laptop bag, and it’d been right there, on her desk, nestled under the second notice for the utilities bill and her credit card payment reminder, like the shining prize it was.

Not that long ago, glossy invitations were common like weeds. You couldn’t kill them off. Sometimes they arrived in batches and the only difficulty was deciding which events to attend, but since Jailhouse Rock became the Bradshaw family theme song, even the weediest of the weeds had died off. The only event Lenny had been invited to in forever was out for hamburgers with Fin and Cal and that goddamn busybody thief, Halsey Sherwood.

Being persona non-grata was a severe disadvantage for someone who needed access to the rich and famous to run her business. With

out the Bradshaw family seed funding, D4D had virtually ground to a halt before Fin started bringing in donations Cal had helped her solicit. The money Fin stole from Cal was another huge boost, despite being a huge problem Lenny hadn’t seen coming.

That her best friend and business partner was in love was a thing of full hearts and top-to-toe sighs. That Fin wanted to marry a professional con artist was a catastrophe of epic proportions.

Lenny couldn’t run a business with someone married to a criminal. It would look habit forming, which was hypocritical to say the least, but it was double the trouble. If she had any chance of rehabilitating her family, she simply couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong, which meant she couldn’t take one dollar from a dubious source or associate with anyone who wasn’t an upstanding law-abiding citizen.

All of which made the United Heroes League gala invitation a big deal.

It was her first society invitation, an opportunity to pretend she didn’t hear the whispers or notice the stares and didn’t care about the nasty gossip, as she took one step in a long journey to reestablish herself as a good person doing worthy work.

Which meant murdering thieving Halsey Sherwood was off her to-do list.

Another of life’s great disappointments.