Page 13 of The Marriage Deal
I have several brothers who are rich enough to help me without blinking. As much as I hated begging, I was sure Nolan especially would help.
His office was not far from where I was. A short drive and I was already there. I thought his assistant would make me wait for popping in unannounced, but she let me in as soon as I came.
"You're lucky I'm free this afternoon," Nolan said when I entered the office. He was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, which offered a striking view of the city, his back to me. I strode over to him. "How's life treating you?" he asked when I came to stand beside him. "I saw your interview."
"Ugh." I wanted to bury my head in the sand. How did someone as busy as Nolan find that video? "It reached you, too?"
Nolan thrust his hands into his pockets. "I have Google Alerts set for all of you."
Nolan’s controlling nature should not surprise me. Of course, he would want to know what all six of his siblings did. "How very Dad of you."
Nolan scoffed. "You know, Dad didn't love us like that."
He didn't, but he was just as overbearing. Best not to tell him about the similarity. That would jeopardize my mission.
"What brings you here?" Nolan said.
"Can we sit down?"
He raised his eyebrows. "That serious?"
We went to the sitting area of his large office. I sank into the brown mid-century loveseat, and Nolan sat beside me, facing me at a right angle.
"Nothing serious. Well, it's kinda serious to me, anyway."
"Oh?"
"There's a collection I need to acquire. Fifteenth-century collection of books and letters that may prove a theory of mine."
Nolan tilted his head to the side. "Interesting."
"It could be a game changer in our field."
Nolan's eyes narrowed. "Does it have anything to do with that interview? I don't know anything about your field, but that woman made it seem like you were a straight-up liar."
"Which I am not," I said through gritted teeth.
Nolan raised his hands in mock surrender."I've always been on your side, brother. But you know, if you had taken the Yale offer, this would not have happened."
"I didn't want to work at Yale."
"The faculty would have defended you."
"And have everyone think I got the job because my brother bought a building."
Nolan rolled his eyes. "You're an alumnus."
"Well, you should have let me get the job without thumbing the scale if it was going to be so easy." I raised my voice at the end, without meaning to."I was just trying to help." Nolan's voice was low. He sounded small, something I didn't expect from my formidable brother.
"I know. But you do too much sometimes."
He sighed. "That's what Aire says."
"You should listen to your wife. She knows what she's talking about."
"Which is why I didn't do anything this time around."
Nolan and I weren't that close,but I knew when he was lying. "Please don't tell me you tried to get the video taken down."
