Page 79 of 4 Weddings and a Feud

Mary spun back to face Rafe. “Holy shit. I guess you’ll be okay without me.”

“Of course we will,” Michael said. “We’ll all be okay. Financially. The question is, are you okay after what that asshole Alex did?”

“He’s not an asshole. He just…his business is important to him. I fooled myself into thinking he cared about me, too.” She’d thought her picture on his desk meant more than it did. His cleaner probably moved it next to his mother’s photo.

Rafe put his hand over hers. “You do so much for everyone. It’s about time someone took care of you. Let us do that for you. Until you find someone who’s not a selfish pig like Alessandro Villa.”

Mary hummed like she agreed with him. But after Alex had shredded her heart so thoroughly, she wasn’t sure she could patch it up again for anyone else.

ChapterThirty-One

Aball of wadded paper bounced off his forehead, startling Alex out of his thoughts of warm sand, icy water, and dark curls tickling his cheek.

“There you are,” Lev said.

He leaned forward in the leather chair and set his elbows on the conference table. “Sorry, what?”

Lev rapped his knuckles on the table. “You need to get more sleep.”

“I’ll sleep when this deal is done,” Alex grumbled. “Are we ready to close or not?” He glanced through his office window at that eyesore, the Paradise.

“I’m ready on my side,” Jack said. “I’ll wire the money when Lev says go.”

“We’re a go to close on Monday,” Lev said. “You two will be the proud owners of the most dilapidated casino on the Strip.”

“Bring in the demolition crew on Tuesday,” Alex said, leaning back in his chair. Lev was right. He could use some sleep. He hadn’t slept well for two weeks. Since…her. His room was too quiet, and the bed felt too big, too cold, too empty.

“I can’t get the permits that fast,” Lev said.

“Call in favors. Make it happen,” Alex snapped. “I want to look out my window on Wednesday morning and see a crater where that dump used to be.” He waved at the window.

Lev grumbled something Alex couldn’t hear, but he started tapping furiously on his laptop.

Jack leaned back, too. But he wasn’t looking at the Strip. He was assessing Alex. “There’s something going on here. More than your history with the Paradise.”

“He broke up with his girl,” Lev muttered, still typing. “Been a right svoloch since then.”

“Your girl?” Jack raised his bushy white eyebrows. “Since when have you had a girl?”

“What is this, a sorority house?” Alex snarled. “You two about to start painting each other’s nails and talking about who’s taking who to the big dance?”

Jack ignored him and turned to Lev. “Who’s he dating?”

“Mary Forza. The pretty brunette with the fantastic rack and the brothers who want to kill him.”

“Your event planner?”

Alex said nothing.

“Not anymore.” Lev stood. “She quit.” He walked to the far side of the office and lifted his phone to his ear.

“I should never have hired her,” Alex grumbled. What hurt the most was that he’d needed her. He didn’t want to need anyone else ever again. “It was better when she hated me. When she didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“This is fascinating,” Jack said. “She hated you?”

“I stood her up in high school. Because of the investigation around my father. She didn’t speak to me after.” Though Mary, with her soft heart, had forgiven him as soon as she’d moved back home. If their situations had been reversed, Alex would never have forgiven her.

“Sounds a bit like your relationship with the gaming board,” Jack said. “You pissed them off, but then Ray Richardson took a risk when he trusted you with his daughter’s wedding.”

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