Page 9 of Rogue Villain

“I’m locking up in five, Wren.”

My boss’s voice calls through the gallery and into the studio beyond. I glance at my wristwatch, disbelief coloring my features, when I realize it’s almost 9 p.m.

I pull out my cell and quickly shoot a message to my mom.

ME

Running late. You pick the movie. I’ve got snacks.

I make short work of cataloging the final sale pieces from Frederick Hanson’s show last week, my eyes running lovingly across the canvas of my favorite piece, ‘The Bay At Midnight.’

It’s a landscape he painted from the front porch of his house, looking out over Little Peconic Bay, and it’s not just a little reminiscent of Starry Night with his Van Gogh-style staccato brush strokes holding me a willing prisoner.

“You lost back there?”

Deliliah Porter’s voice rouses me from my obsession as my cell chimes with a text.

I call out, “Coming, Mrs. Porter.” Then, I loop my crossbody bag over my shoulder, scanning the space one final time before making my way toward the main floor while quickly scanning my cell. I frown when I find she’s not replied.

ME

Can you pick a hot man in a black suit, though?

Grinning, I drop my cell phone into my bag and beeline for the door where my boss is texting at speed. Her pretty features are drawn into a deep frown.

“Everything okay?”

She looks up, shaking her head with clear exasperation. “Matty visited his dad today.”

I wince as she opens the door, the light breeze from outside a balm across my face when I step out into the cool spring night. “I’ll call him, Mrs. Porter.”

“Oh, would you?” Relief dashes across her face as she expels a deep sigh. “Sometimes, you and Levi are the only ones who can get through to him about this stuff.”

Once we’ve said our goodbyes, I immediately dial Matt’s cell as anxiety pools in the pit of my stomach. Matt’s dad, Lennon Porter, is a well-known, very respected surgeon living in the city with his twenty-one-year-old pregnant wife, Sloane.

Sure, the fact that he is old enough to be her father doesn’t sit well with Matt, but it’s more so the fact that Sloane met Lennon while she was dating Matt’s older brother, Marcus.

And the fact that Marcus had up and disappeared shortly after discovering his father’s intention to marry his ex-girlfriend. Not that anyone could have blamed him.

“Did she tell you to call me?”

Matt’s voice transfers from my ear to the Bluetooth car speaker. “No, but she did tell me you visited him today.”

“Asshole. He’s afuckingasshole, Neve.”

I pull out onto the almost empty street, heading for home with a concerned frown. He only uses that silly childhood pet name for me when he’s in a really bad way, almost like a calling card.

“You should have told me you were going to the city. I’d have taken the day to come with—”

“I have a sister now, Wren.”

My stomach dips as silence surrounds me for the space of several long minutes until he blows out a breath.

“Sloane had the baby yesterday. They called her Colbie.” Then he sighs heavily, and I can feel his barely concealed frustration over the line. “He asked me to come. I thought it might help…until—until he said Colbie has Marcus's nose. Then I fucking lost it.”

I cringe as I take the turn for my driveway, hitting the fob to open the secure gates as I do.

Fucking asshole is putting it mildly.

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