Page 23 of Black Tie Billionaire
“A few nights ago when I had dinner with friends. He was at the same restaurant.” She delivered the half-truth with aplomb.God, when did I becomesuch an accomplished liar?“He just introduced himself, that was all. What in the world was that all about, Trevor?”
“Nothing,” he snapped. Then, sighing, he dragged a hand over his closely cropped hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you. Just...stay away from him, Shay. I don’t want you to have anything to do with him. Do you understand?”
“I’m not a child, Trevor,” she murmured,meeting his fierce stare. “And this isn’t the proper place for this discussion, either. We have guests.”
With that reminder, she turned and strode away from him and the disturbing scene that had just unfolded.
Oh yes, there was bad blood between him and Gideon. Now more than ever, she felt like a pawn in whatever twisted game the two of them were engaged in. And she hated it.
As theevening progressed, she couldn’t uproot the bitterness. Maintaining her not-a-care-in-the-world socialite persona became a weightier burden, and by the time dinner was being cleared away, she was bone-deep exhausted. Peeking at the slim, gold watch on her wrist, she thanked God she had only about an hour more to do her hostess duty before she could escape.
“I noticed you talking to GideonKnight earlier,” Madison said, her tone low enough that Trevor, who was engrossed in conversation with Senator Reus, didn’t overhear.
Surprised that she knew of him, Shay nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you know him well?” she asked, and unease niggled at Shay. The air of nonchalance in Madison’s seemingly innocent question seemed forced.
“Not really,” Shay replied cautiously. “Though Trevor seemsto.”
“Oh, you don’t know, do you?” Madison studied her, a gleam in her dark brown eyes. “Trevor didn’t tell you?” she prodded before Shay could answer. “Gideon and I were...close before I met your brother.”
“Close,” Shay repeated, though the twisting in her stomach interpreted the coy choice of phrasing.
“Engaged, actually,” Madison confessed, and this time, there was no mistakingthe cat-that-ate-the-whole-damn-flock-of-canaries smile that curved her mouth. “We were engaged for a year before we ended our relationship. He wasn’t happy about it.” She chuckled, apparently amused at her understatement.
We both know why you’re here. You lost. Get over it. It’s not like it’s the first time, and it damn sure won’t be the last.
Trevor’s accusation echoed in her head, andit now made sickening sense. As did Gideon’s reason about why he’d proposed his ridiculous plan, that night at the restaurant.
Your brother, he’d said. All of this—hatred, blackmail, rivalry—was over a woman.
Her belly lurched, and she fisted her fingers, willing the coq au vin she’d just eaten not to make a reappearance.
“If I may have your attention, please?” Senator Reus stood,his booming politician’s voice carrying through the ballroom and silencing the after-dinner chatter.
“Thank you. Now I know this evening is about Grace Sanctuary, and I speak on behalf of both the Reus and Neal families when I thank you for your generosity in both spirit and donations.” Applause rose, and Julian Reus basked in it, his smile benevolent. No, the evening wasn’t about him, butsomehow, he’d managed to make it all about him.
“I’d just like to take this moment to recognize this wonderful charity, as well as Trevor Neal, who has spearheaded it since the passing of his dear parents. I’m so proud that I will be able to call him son in the very near future, as he and my beautiful daughter, Madison, embark on a journey together as man and wife. Trevor...” he accepted aglass of champagne from a waiter who suddenly appeared at his elbow, and lifted it high “...congratulations to you and my daughter. You are the son I wasn’t blessed with, but am so fortunate to now have.”
Around them, people hoisted their own wineglasses and echoed “To Trevor,” as her brother stood and clasped the senator’s hand, his huge grin so blinding, Shay had to glance away. The sightof him soaking up the senator’s validation like water on parched earth caused pain to shudder through her.
Their father would’ve never praised him so publicly—or privately. Lincoln Neal had been a hard man, huge on demands and criticism, and stingy with compliments. She, more than anyone, understood how Trevor had craved his approval. And it’d been their father’s refusal to give it that hadchanged Trevor. Their father had been dead for five years, and Trevor still drove himself to be the best...to be better than their father. This high regard from such an important man had to be like Christmas to Trevor. A thousand of them packed into one short toast.
Oh God. She dipped her head so no one could glimpse the sting of tears in her eyes.
She was going to cave to Gideon’s ultimatum.
Family. Loyalty.
Those were the tenets that had been drilled into them from childhood. Definitely by their father, and even in one of the last conversations she’d had with her mother before she died. She’d stressed that Shay and Trevor always take care of one another.
Family loyalty wouldn’t allow her to let Trevor lose everything. The family name. His company. His fiancée. His futurefather-in-law. There was no one left to protect him, except her. And until she could verify the truth of the information Gideon held—and she still doubted the veracity of it, especially given what she’d learned from Madison—she couldn’t permit her brother to be ruined. Not when the kind but wounded boy she remembered still existed inside him.
He was her brother.
And to keep that happinessshining on her brother’s face, she would make a deal with the devil.
And Gideon Knight was close enough.
It wasn’t difficult to locate him in the crowded room. The entire evening she’d been aware of his presence, and when she glanced over her shoulder to the table several feet away, their gazes immediately locked. As if he’d only been waiting for her to look his way.
She gave him asmall nod, and he returned it.
Exhaling, she turned her attention to the glass of red wine she’d barely touched throughout dinner. Now it, and about four more, seemed like a fabulous idea.
She would need all the courage she could get.
