"It was nice getting to know Benjamin," I reply stiffly.
"I was looking him up on the Internet and guess what I came across."
She holds up her large screen cellphone. It’s some blog or news column. I see a photo of Tony, his arm around the waist of a beautiful Asian woman. She has perfectly manicured brows and plump rosy lips. She doesn't wear long fake eyelashes, but she doesn't have to. In the picture, Tony is leaning in toward her as if he's about to kiss her or whisper something in her ear. The caption below the photograph as well as the article are in Chinese.
"So this is Tony's girlfriend?" I inquire with a sinking heart.
Sierra looks at her phone. "Oh, more than that. I dropped the text into Google Translate, and here's what it says."
She pulls up a different window on the browser to show me. Taking the phone, I scan the words about the engagement between billionaire developer Tony Lee and Hong Kong actress Carmen Cheong. I stop and remember what I had overheard Benjamin say.
The family business won't do it for you. Nor will Carmen.
This is the Carmen Benjamin must have been referring to. Tony's fiancé. I read more about his visit to Australia, where Carmen is shooting her latest film. I look at the date of the news article. It's dated five days ago.
"Figures a guy like Tony wouldn't be a bachelor," Sierra comments. "Eric would be in the same boat, too, but he just broke up with his girlfriend and is choosing to live up his new freedom for a while."
Tony's a cheater. He has a fiancé. A gorgeous movie actress. That shouldn't come as a surprise to me that he would have a woman like that in his life. But then what the hell was he doing with me?
I scan more lines from the article, which quotes Carmen as saying, "I couldn't be more in love."
I can't read anymore and hand Sierra back her phone. I doubt that Carmen knows what Tony is up to. And even if she does, I don't want to be a part of some love triangle.
It's not a love triangle if it's just sex between me and Tony. Which of course it is.
I swallow painfully. Was I really kidding myself that it might be more than that?
"What's the matter?" Sierra asks.
"He never said anything about being engaged."
"Why would he? He probably has different girls in different parts of the world, one for each country. That's how men are."
"Not all men."
My father wasn't like that. He was loving and loyal. I once heard him say to Lila, "You'll always be woman enough for me."
"But men like Tony and Eric are different. You get to their level of success, it's natural to want as much as you can have of anything, including women. Only men who are poor settle for just having one."
I disagree, but it's not a point I’m going to argue with her. I start to pack up my things.
"What? You're leaving?"
"I got a call from Mrs. Ruiz. They're understaffed."
Sierra snorts. "And what's that to you? You think businesses like The Montclair care about our lives? Why should we care what happens to them? I'm sure they're making plenty of money."
I go into the bathroom to collect my toiletries. I know I'm behaving like a jilted lover. And even though there's a possibility that Carmen is fully aware of Tony's side activities, I doubt she's perfectly okay with it. Back in North Carolina, I had a friend whose boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend. She forgave her boyfriend but not her best friend.
How you do one thing is how you do everything, I had told Tony. I don't know why I was so drawn to him. He has a bit of a sketchy past with this whole triad business. Maybe there was more to what happened in Hanoi than he lets on. And now this. The fian
cé. It's not worth it. It's not worth the possibility of having to endure Eric's company for the rest of the week.
But what about the twenty thousand dollars?
It's just money. I shouldn't have done this to begin with. I don’t regret losing my virginity, but I should get back to the real world, my world. This hobnobbing with billionaires, being paid to be there sexual servant, is not for me.
Grabbing my phone, I look up a local taxi company and call for a cab.