Page 59 of Dating the Rebel
And he figured he was going to have to show his bank statements after all.
But Regina interjected, “We can’t. Miranda set it up so that we can’t sell without giving her first option.”
“Well, she’s not going to be able to buy you out.” He knew what she had in her bank account, and even two-thirds of a flailing business was worth more than that.
“If you can’t sell them,” he mused, “can you lose them?” And he drew a deck of cards out of the pocket of his jacket.
Tabitha giggled.
And Regina asked, “You want us to lose our shares to you?”
“You might be able to beat me,” he said.
“Miranda taught us how to play,” Tabitha said. “We’re actually pretty good.”
“Not as good as she is,” Regina said. “But we are pretty good.”
“So what do we get if you lose?” Tabitha asked, and she was eyeing him that way that made him feel naked again.
“Money,” he said. “And it won’t be a loan...it’ll be yours to put into the business.”
The sisters exchanged a glance, Tabitha’s red brows arching high on her forehead.
Regina rubbed her hands together. “Okay...”
He regularly played the best in the world, and he’d played their sister as well. So he easily beat them.
He could have thrown the game. But then he wouldn’t have had any way of getting Miranda to see him again. And that was what he wanted most—a chance to plead his case, to get her to trust him.
Tabitha pushed back from her desk where they’d been playing and shook her head.
“I didn’t take all your shares,” he said. “I still want you both involved in the business, and when I infuse money into it, you’ll get some of that.”
Regina shook her head, too. “No, this was a mistake.”
“I swear that you will still be involved,” he promised. “I’m not taking everything away from you.” He flinched. “But Miranda will probably be mad.”
“This was a mistake for you,” Regina said.
He didn’t understand.
“Miranda will forgive us for gambling away our shares,” Regina said.
“We’re her sisters,” Tabitha said. “Or, as you pointed out, she’s our mother. She’ll forgive us. She always does.”
“But she won’t forgive you,” Regina warned him.
“For what?” he asked. “For winning?”
“You didn’t win,” Tabitha told him, as if she pitied him. “You lost more than we have...”
And he had an eerie feeling that she was probably right—that Miranda was not going to understand that he only wanted to help her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MIRANDAHADCOMEup with a plan. Instead of apologizing for setting up the billionaire with the love of his life, she was going to expound on it. Matteo Rinaldi had the money to buy anything he wanted, but even he hadn’t been able to buy love. Miranda had had to help him find it.
And she could help others—if they gave her the chance.
