She watched me, her eyes cold as ice. “You’re one to talk. Maybe I like money, but I wouldn’t sell my virginity just to get it. You think you’re better than me—but at least I’m not a whore.”
Simone left without saying goodbye to me, but Elizabeth showed me far more affection than she did her own daughter-in-law. I was always given a kiss on the cheek and a hug that reminded me of the way my mother used to hold me.
They all stepped into the elevator then disappeared, Simone shooting daggers with her eyes.
The doors shut, and they finally left our sight.
Slate turned to me, his observant gaze full of accusation. “What happened?”
“What makes you think anything happened?”
“Because Simone has nukes in her eyes.” Slate hadn’t acted like anything was out of the ordinary while his family was there, but now that it was just the two of us, he was frank. “I know you guys were alone in the kitchen together.”
“She’s a nightmare. That’s what happened.”
“I could have told you that.” He turned away and cleared the remaining glasses from the table.
“I told her to show some respect to Coen’s family and at least pretend she wasn’t a gold digger… She didn’t like that very much.”
Slate paused as he looked at me. “You said that to her face?”
“Yeah.” Now that I looked at it with hindsight, it didn’t seem very smart. “She said she fired Coen’s old maid because she wasn’t obedient enough, then put me down because you bought me these clothes… I couldn’t stand there. I’ve met some bitches in my life, and since I work at a fashion line, I’ve had more than my fair share. But she’s…something else.” I couldn’t believe that Slate had ever been with her. He seemed too smart for that.
“I’m glad there’s someone who hates her more than I do.”
“I just hate when rich people treat regular people like garbage. I’ve been poor all my life, and I hate feeling helpless and insignificant. She’s the kind of person who wants to abuse her power, who doesn’t care how the company treats her employees. She’s selfish and greedy. I hate people like that.” Slate had never been that way, even if he was a little arrogant about his wealth sometimes. It was nothing compared to Simone—and at least he worked for it. “And then…she said something pretty interesting.”
“Which is?” He stood next to the table in a t-shirt under a gray cardigan, looking like a model in a fall catalog.
“Somehow, she knows I sold my virginity to you.”
Slate was quiet as he absorbed this information, like his brain couldn’t soak it in right away. He stepped closer to me, still slowly processing it. “She said that?”
I nodded.
“And what did you say?”
“Nothing. She walked out.”
“Did she say how she knew that?”
I shook my head. “No. But she seemed pretty confident her claim was true.”
Still bewildered, he shifted his eyes back and forth as he processed what I’d said. “I have no idea how she found out.”
“Neither do I.” I hadn’t told a soul, except for Wyatt. But I didn’t see how there could be a link between the two of them. “If you’re her enemy, I guess it’s not surprising that she’s keeping tabs on you.”
“But she must have hired a PI.”
“She wants to make sure she has dirt on you if you make a move against her.”
Slate abandoned the tablecloth and the leftover glasses and looked at me instead. “That does sound like something she would do. But she’s also stupid if she thinks I care what my mother and brother think of me.” He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to look fearless, like his darkest secret wasn’t in the wrong hands.
“She probably knows I’m not the first cherry you paid for.”
“No, I’m sure she knows everything.” While he didn’t appear afraid, he did seem uncomfortable. “There’s nothing she could do to my reputation because that’s already been destroyed—when she made a fool out of me. But I don’t want her to drag your name through the mud.”
“I’m a nobody, so no problem there.” I didn’t have a famous name. I was just some person in a city full of millions of people.
“But that doesn’t mean it won’t turn you into somebody. Your colleagues might find out about it, and it could follow you everywhere you go. I don’t want that to happen to you.” He dropped his arms and picked up the rest of the dishes before he carried everything to the sink.
I followed him into the kitchen. “I’m not scared of her.”
“She’s petty and unpredictable. As much as I hate to admit it…we should be scared of her.” He washed his hands before he turned back to me, leaving most of the dishes untouched in the bottom of the sink. “She’ll hold this information over my head to keep me in line. But I don’t negotiate with terrorists, so her little plan won’t work so well.”