Page 10 of The Betrayer
Barker let the rest of his words trail off, inviting me to take up the string. Or not.
“Oh, yeah?”
I’d met the woman once, briefly, and saw her in and out of Paul’s office. She was nice enough, I guessed. Kind of a cold fish. Too old for my son, but he’d always had a thing for older women. Maybe, unlike me, he liked that they were tied down and responsible.
“She ordered an ornate blue ball gown—quite a statement, actually.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked again.
What Barker hadn’t said had told me far more than what he had.
Our company’s logo was blue, and Paul often wore blue, though whether it was on purpose or simply his preference, I didn’t know.
“Interesting. What did you think of her?”
A pause, then, “She was discerning.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That bad, huh?”
“I will say that while we enjoyed creating Ms. Levesque’s ballgown, we hope she will find another establishment in the future.”
Briefly, I wondered if Barker could hear my grin through the phone line. “Well, that’s a ringing endorsement. Let’s just say I hope the same.”
After telling him I would see him later, I hung up with Barker and headed downstairs. The housekeeper had left a light meal out on the counter for me before she’d left. Paul needed someone his own age, someone who would get him out of his tunnel vision with the business and living his own life. My kindest thought about Angela Levesque was that she wasn’t any of those things.
I’d never understood why my son felt the need to go for women who were as intense as he was. Why didn’t he want someone who was a little bit of fun, who brought some life and light into his world? He was far too serious—always had been—and I only wished he could see that the business wouldn’t be there for him at the end of the day. The company wouldn’t make sure he wasn’t looking back on four sterile walls when he got to the golden years of his life. Stock options wouldn’t create happy memories, and no one on the board would hold him with warm, open arms.
Paul and I didn’t often get along, but I was his father—I wanted him to be happy above all.
As I ate, I opened the news app, scrolling through the headlines about stocks and the market, acquisitions, and mergers. It was good our news hadn’t hit the headlines yet—it had been a carefully guarded secret, but leaks happened.
The food was good, as always, and I finished it knowing it might be some time before I ate again. Even though dinner was part of the deal tonight, I never liked the food at these things. I didn’t intend to stay at the gala long, anyway. Not with some pretty girl to chase around—dinner anywhere wasn’t likely to be in the cards.
Chapter 5
Paul
