“Wonderful!” Abby gushed. She immediately pulled out her phone and typed the number in. “All saved. I’ll have my assistant reach out to you and schedule a consultation at your convenience.”
Emmerson nodded and shook Abby and Kurt’s hands once more, and I did the same.
“I’m looking forward to chatting with you both, Ms. Hawn,” Emmerson said.
With a wave of her hand, Abby said, “Please, call me Abby.”
“Okay, I’ll speak with you soon, Abby.”
Janet leaned in and kissed Emmerson on the cheek. She whispered something to her before she quickly followed on the heels of the Texas senator’s daughter and her fiancé.
“Holy shit, a senator’s daughter! Emmerson! Do you know what this is going to do, having Abby Hawn as one of your clients?” Hailey stated.
Emmerson stood frozen, a look of utter shock on her face.
I knew then and there that this fake engagement had to go on, at least until Emmerson and I could figure out how to get out of it without drawing too much attention to ourselves. We needed to let things settle, and then we could do what Hailey had suggested: quietly break up. Even though the idea of ever breaking up with Emmerson, fake or real, caused my chest to ache.
“She’s so stunned she can’t move,” Mike said with a laugh.
I gently squeezed my hand into her side, leaned in and asked, “Emme, are you okay?”
Slowly, she nodded and then looked at me. “I’m so sorry, Landon.”
I ran my fingers through my hair again. “We need to get the hell out of here before someone else gets pulled into this mess.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” someone said from behind us.
I closed my eyes at the sound of Malcolm’s voice. He sounded pissed.
“Dad, I can explain,” Emmerson said.
“Damn right, you’re going to explain. We’re all going back to the hotel, and we can talk about it then. You both have some explaining to do about what in the hell happened here tonight.”
Emmerson looked down as if she’d just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I looked from Malcolm to Emmerson and back again. I had seen Malcolm Wallace pissed off plenty of times, but this was different. He seemed more worried than anything.
Shit. My life was going to end tonight.
“Sweetheart, our Uber is waiting to take us all back to the hotel,” Paislie said as she took Emmerson’s hand. “Hailey, are you and Mike driving over with Emmerson and Landon?”
Hailey shook her head. “No, we drove in my car.”
Paislie faced Emmerson. “Did you want to ride over with us, darling? There’s plenty of room.”
Exhaling, Emmerson shook her head. “You go ahead, Mom. I need to stay here and make sure a few things are tied up. Landon and I still have the limo and will be there shortly. I’ll call you once we’re checked into our rooms.”
Paislie raised a brow but didn’t say anything. She simply nodded, kissed Emmerson on the cheek, and hugged her, then did the same to Hailey, Mike, and finally me.
After Malcolm and Paislie walked away, I caught sight of my father and mother walking up.
“We’re off with Malcolm and Paislie. See you at the hotel?” my mother asked as she reached up and kissed me before moving on to my sister, Mike, and Emmerson. My father and Malcolm shared a glance as Malcolm headed out of the ballroom.
Good God. Is my father going to let Malcolm kick my ass?
Surely not.
Then he looked at me, and a slow, evil smile appeared on his face, and I knew in that instant where my sister got her wicked sense of humor from. Then the bastard laughed. He actually laughed.
Was he enjoying this shitshow?
“Well, looks like the two of you got yourself in a real pickle this time,” my father stated.
At least he knew the truth of it all without having to be told.
“You know it’s not true then?” I asked.
He lifted a brow and then gave Emmerson a sideways glance before focusing back on me. “Oh, there are a lot of things I know, son, and I cannot wait to see how this one turns out.” He slapped me on the arm and laughed once more. “Ahh, I remember the days.”
He kissed my sister and Emmerson, shook Mike’s hand, and reached for my mother. “See you at the hotel!” he called out over his shoulder.
“Dad seems to be having fun with this,” Hailey said.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than harass me right now?” I asked as I looked at my sister.
She shot me a cheeky grin. “Nope!”
I rolled my eyes, then looked around. “Where’s Emme?”
“She walked off to go check on something.”
Mike looked away when I caught his stare, I could tell he was desperately trying not to laugh. He was two seconds from being punched, the little bastard.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.