Page 49 of Spoil
Right now?
Right now, I realize I’m in love with him.
Chapter twenty-four
Daniel
Reluctantly, when I drop my girls back off at their house, I’m forced to say ‘goodbye’ to the two loves of my life. Irritation simmers just beneath my skin. I know I need to be patient. I understand her hesitation, and I’m trying to remind myself to be patient. But I’m tired of this. I’m ready to be with them. I’ve waited years to be with Nell again, and every time I get to see Danny or FaceTime with her, the more I’m ready to move both of them into my house for good.
A week of texting and calling and FaceTiming later, I’m at the club again.
The White Envelope doesn’t hold the same appeal for me as it did. I’d used the club as a way to keep myself busy and my mind off of the woman I let walk away all those years ago. Now it’s just another thing keeping me away from my girls and the life I want for us.
At my desk, I open the email from the PI I hired to look into Nell. He’s the same one I used to try to find her all those years ago. But now, with an address, he had enough to find her andstart his investigation. I should feel bad about spying on her, but I’m so desperate to be with her, I’ll use every advantage I can get.
The report doesn’t paint a good picture, and my stomach sours.
Born March 15th, to Hall and Samantha Sills. Mom skipped town only a few months later. No contact. Father lived paycheck to paycheck, renting a rambler on the sketchier side of town. Nell graduated high school with honors but never applied to any colleges. When she was a teenager, her dad married Genevieve, a young widow. Shortly after, he bought the house they were in now, but financially he was underwater. A few years later, he took out a second mortgage. Several personal loans and lines of credit that were luckily in his name only, so his debt wasn’t inherited by Gen.
Cruises, expensive trips, designer purchases. Honestly, if the cancer hadn’t taken him, he was only a few months away from bankruptcy.
Obviously, the report doesn’t say whether Gen knew about their financial situation or if Hall had taken out all these loans without her, but unease slides through my veins. Her sisters had been overly interested in my family and upbringing. Maybe they were used to a certain lifestyle and were trying to finagle their way back into it.
Cass knocks on my open door, and I look up, rubbing my eyes.
“You have two guests at the front door asking for you by name?” she asks, zero judgement in her tone. Cass, or Cassidy, can be a hard ass when she needs to be, but she’s the kind of friend who would die, or kill for you. She’s a breed of her own.
I exit out of the email and try to push aside any of the trepidation that threatens to overwhelm me. The family dinner, the lack of Nell and Danny in my life, a rose-glasses-free look into her history and now mystery visitors had to be locked in a box inside my brain to be dissected later. After all, I’m abusinessman, and if someone’s on the outside of the club, it means they’re not members but maybe want to be. Most of our members have to be nominated and vetted thoroughly before we extend the invitation. But whoever it is, I’m always able to charm them.
I open the front door and find Chastity and Grace standing in the cold, thick fur coats wrapped around themselves.
“Oh, Daniel! Just the man we were looking for,” Chastity says, and they slide past me and into the foyer.
“Chastity. Grace. How are you two?” I ask as they both stick their cheeks out to me, expecting a cheek-kiss in greeting. I fight an eye roll but hold them both on the shoulders and oblige. It always seemed like a ploy by new money to seem more European and traveled.“What are you doing here?” I ask as they hand their coats off to Nina behind the counter, revealing the expensive, tight gowns they’re wearing.
“We did a little Googling,” Grace chimes in, waving her fingers in front of her as if she’s typing. “...and discovered that you were one of the owners of this gorgeous club.” She coos as she looks around the small foyer. The building is old and undeniably beautiful, but she can’t see a thing from in here.
Chastity slides up to my slide, looping an arm through mine. Grace slides her hand into the crook of my other arm. “... and we were hoping you were working tonight so we couldbegyou for a tour.”
My molars gnash gently before I paste on my professional smile.
Nell would want me to have grace with her sisters, no matter how I feel.
“Of course.”
Maybe I can give them a quick tour and show them out. They’re probably just curious.
“Nina, would you find me two NDAs, please,” I ask, walking up to the reception desk. In a flash, two forms lay on the desk between us.
“NDAs? We don’t know those. We’re family,” Grace coos, running an unwanted hand down my chest.
“Standard protocol. No one gets in without one.”
They make small sounds of protest, but sign them, nonetheless.
I wait for confirmation from Nina that they were, in fact, signed correctly before I push aside the curtain that leads to the Green Room.
I’ve given this tour thousands of times, so I break into my speech. Only a little faster and a little more clipped than normal.
