Page 3 of Sweet Surrender

“Let me tell you one thing, Noah Goldsmith.” There was a part of me he hadn’t hurt—something hard and cold, sharp and deadly. And that part turned to stone as I glared up at him. “I’ll be civil in front of our families, but otherwise… I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”

I had the satisfaction of watching his face fall before I slammed the door and locked it. In the nick of time, too, since my legs couldn’t hold me up anymore.

My dress puffed up around me like a cloud as I sank to the floor, surrounded by satin and tulle and the shattered pieces of my heart.

2

NOAH

PRESENT DAY

“You, my friend, are thoroughly fucked.” Colton always did have a way with words.

“Thanks for your help. I knew it was the right move, meeting up with you tonight.”

“Listen. I’m right there with you, wanting to know who the fuck made up this story. Once we find them, I’ll gladly hold them still while you break every bone in their face.” He set his drink down on the polished surface of the bar before lifting a shoulder. “But I mean, let’s be honest, a bunch of gossip isn’t going to do any permanent damage.”

There were times when I wondered what the hell went on in his head. I had just finished telling him everything—losing my second listing in two weeks and the article due for syndication across the country in the morning. All the lies would hit the public in a matter of hours. Accusations which generally added up to me being the world’s biggest piece of shit.

And there was nothing for me to do to stop it. I could only sit back and let some bullshit, fabricated article dictate my public image. I was on the verge of possibly losing everything I had worked my ass off for since college. That was when I first became interested in real estate investment. Everyone had expected me to follow in my dad’s footsteps and eventually step up as CEO of Farrah Goldsmith Couture.

I knew what outsiders didn’t. As far as Dad was concerned, it was Rose who would follow in his footsteps and fill his role once he stepped down. In his mind, it had always been Rose—serious and driven, practically a genius, so smart she’d skipped a grade in high school.

While all I’d ever been was mediocre, at least in his eyes. It wasn’t like he’d built anything huge in his life—he took over his grandmother’s company. Anybody could do that. His big contribution was making sure it didn’t get run into the ground. Plenty of nepo babies specialized in doing that, strolling in and mismanaging everything until there was nothing left. The only difference here was Dad had only grown the company and ushered in its most prolific and profitable era. That much I could give him credit for, though I wasn’t exactly breaking my back to do it.

Building something from scratch, on the other hand? That was my speed. I had managed to pull it off too. I’d built a luxury real estate empire on track to reach a billion-dollar valuation within the next two years.

Until this.

Until I’d gotten word of a hit piece due to go live tomorrow. I’d be accused of treating my client list like a dating pool. Undercutting rivals by fucking women, we were both courting professionally, luring them with my cock.

While my cock was known to work magic, I had never put it to work that way.

“It’s easy for you to say this won’t make a difference.” I drained my glass and slammed it onto the bar, lifting my hand to catch the attention of the girl standing behind it. She offered a suggestive little smile before grabbing a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue from the top shelf and pouring me another.

“There you go,” Colton murmured once she turned away to deal with somebody else. “She could help take your mind off things tonight. She’s practically slobbering for you.”

I need way more than an amateur fuck, not that Colton would understand.

“I could find willing pussy at every corner of this place,” I reminded him. This was my third drink, and it still hadn’t gone anywhere near releasing the tension that had plagued me all day. “Besides, I doubt she could take my mind off things.”

He folded his arms on the bar and leaned a little closer, lowering his voice instead of raising it to be heard over the happy hour chatter around us. “Listen. I know everything seems pretty fucking grim at the moment, but you know how it is. Everybody’s going to forget about it. Somebody’s shithead kid is going to get in trouble, or some actress or singer will have a sex tape leaked, and that’ll be it. Nobody will give a shit about you anymore.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if that were true? I wanted it to be, but I’d stopped believing in Santa years ago. “I don’t think it’s that simple. Somebody has a problem with me, and this is how they’re handling it… planting some bullshit story about my company and what a shitty businessman I am. People don’t forget shit like that. All it takes is a rumor to tank years of breaking my ass.”

“You have one thing going for you. Sienna is the best at what she does. She’ll fix everything.”

He didn’t notice the way I shifted in my chair. All of a sudden, there was a distinct pain in my ass. “You know how it is. She wouldn’t piss on me if I were on fire.” Her words were still as fresh and sharp as they were ten years ago.

“Oh, come on. You know Sienna.” Colton wore the fond smirk of an older brother. “She’s all bark, no bite. You don’t have to be best friends to work together. We both know that.”

He made a point. But it was one thing not to be friends and another to actively hate someone. Sienna had spent almost half her life loathing me for a stupid prank I’d played in my senior year. I would’ve bet anything she didn’t remember the name of the guy she thought was taking her to that dance, but it didn’t matter. She had decided she hated me, and that was how it would be.

Until then, I hadn’t thought much about it. She was hardly the first person I had ever pissed off, and I was accustomed to ignoring shit like that. I had to be. How else could I get through life otherwise? I wouldn’t be able to function.

Now, my professional reputation and my entire business and employees were in her hands.

“Didn’t she recently handle that comedian? What’s his face?” I snapped my fingers but couldn’t bring the name to mind. “The one who had that meltdown on Instagram and posted those fucked-up videos?”

---