Page 88 of My Ex-Fiance's Best Men
“Where?”
“At the Jade Dragon!” I snap. “Dammit! Dominic and I were following her, okay? Mom was there, playing at one of the tables and losing a lot of money. We watched her sign a check for another buy-in using the company checkbook!”
Heavy silence fills the air between us. Crystal still won’t look at me.
The main boulevard opens up ahead. I see the morning rush of people heading into work. On their phones. Takeaway lattes in their hands. Crisp shirts and tailored suits. Worker bees all part of a corrupt and exhausting system.
“I don’t believe you,” my sister finally says.
“You don’t have to believe me, but it’s the truth. We have proof. Mom’s been gambling illegally on company money.”
“You can’t prove that.” She tries to laugh, but something tells me she’s not buying her own words.
Of course. Because she already knows the truth. She wouldn’t have followed our mother down this particular rabbit hole if she wasn’t at least partially complicit. It makes me angry. It makes me restless in my seat.
“Stop fidgeting, we’re almost there,” she says.
“Crystal, she’s been playing fast and loose with company money for years. Our inheritance, our father’s company. You’ve beenhelping her drive the whole thing into the ground. And now you want to take my shares and my money so you can what, waste that too?”
“No, Phoebe. It’s nothing like that. We’re trying to protect the company fromyou. Do you understand?”
“You’re crazy.”
“Phoebe. You ran off to Hawaii to screw three guys. You were arrested while illegally gambling. The press is dancing circles around us. Our company stocks dropped to an all-time low because of your latest stunt,” she says. “Sure, we hit a rough patch along the way, but we’re working through it. Mom’s cooperating with the SEC, gathering the documentation they require to clear us. All is well on our end. But the family and the company’s reputation have taken a hard hit. Because of you.”
“Come on,” I scoff, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Don’t believe me? That’s fine. Check the news on my phone. See for yourself. Here,” she replies and slips her phone into my lap. “Go on!”
My hands tremble as I open Crystal’s phone to a news app and start scrolling through the headlines. Cold sweat blooms on my temples as dread seeps through my skin and pierces my bones, each word hitting me like a punch in the gut.
DISGRACED HEIRESS
BALDWIN PRINCESS CAUGHT GAMBLING IN ILLEGAL RING
ILLEGAL GAMBLING—THE NEW BALDWIN FUN
HEIRESS ARRESTED
BALDWIN EMPIRE IN TROUBLE
BALDWIN CORP STOCK PLUMMETS
IS THIS THE END FOR THE BALDWIN EMPIRE?
The articles describe how I was unceremoniously escorted in cuffs out of the Jade Dragon along with one of my lovers, now also-disgraced CFO Dominic Coates. They try to slander the Coates business empire as well, but the focus seems to be almost exclusively on my family, not theirs. For a moment, I think it’s unfair until I realize it’s deliberate.
“All you had to do was keep your head down and play by the rules,” Crystal mutters. “Renounce your stupid reverse harem or whatever that fuckery is called. Take Matthew back. Get married. And Mom would’ve left you alone.”
“What does that have to do with any of?—”
“You gave the press more fuel, Phoebe. It’s plain and simple. You should’ve let Matthew’s bullshit vanish in the annals of the internet. It would’ve died out sooner rather than later, but no, you had to respond and ask his best men to come to Hawaii so you could screw all three of them. You had to make a public spectacle out of it.”
Tears prick my eyes, and I have a hard time blinking them back. “Even now, what Matthew did doesn’t strike you as a big deal, is that what you’re saying?”
“Oh, please, grow up already! It’s the internet. People can say anything they want on there. It doesn’t mean it’s true.”
“It’s how you excuse your own online behavior, right? I remember you were on Team Matthew not that long ago. In fact,you were so on Team Matthew that you were screwing him while he was engaged to me!”
