Page 194 of My Dark Prince
I leaned closer to the speaker, even as Briar’s eyes flared in warning. “I’ll foot this bill in a heartbeat if you give your daughter – who has always been too good for you, by the way – the information she deserves. You should’ve given it for free. But I’m done expecting the bare minimum of decency from you.”
“How soon can you wire it?” Philomena didn’t even hesitate, though she did have the decency to add, “I’m just trying to fend for myself.”
“Yes, well, you’ve always been good about putting yourself first,” Briar muttered, still glaring at me. “Where do we meet?”
“I can come over to Oliver’s house.”
“No, thanks. We don’t trust you with the décor and gold utensils. There’s an animal friendly coffee shop nearby. Text me your number, and I’ll send you the address. I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.”
I frowned at Briar, scratching my temple. “That’s just mean. What did animals ever do to you?”
“Fine.” Philomena ignored our jabs. “How are you going to pay me?”
“We’ll have it to you in cash,” I butted in again. “After you give us the info, you will fuck off for good.”
“No wedding invitation?”
“Christ.” Briar massaged her forehead, shaking her head. “You really are a lost cause. Just text me your number.”
“But I—”
“Goodbye.” Briar hung up on her mother and turned to me. “Am I doing the right thing?”
I nodded. “You need to know who Cooper is. Even if you never contact him. Even if you find out that he’s a grifter, just like Jason. You need to know.”
Briar hopped off the bed, padded into the closet, and returned in a fresh set of clothes. “It feels wrong to give her money for information she should be handing out for free.”
“She’s not going to enjoy this money,” I pointed out. “There’s no blessing in it. Money earned in devious ways always ends up funding misery. I promise you.”
“I can just hire a private investigator.” Briar munched on her lower lip. “It’d be less pricey and won’t feel like I’m enabling her gross behavior.”
“I already did.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “But we don’t have much to go on. Back then, I searched the entire caterer list and couldn’t find a Cooper. I hired a fleet of two dozen PIs to track down every person who worked the party, and all of them came up empty. They came to the unanimous consensus that he joined the catering staff under an alias in case your parents had access to the staff list.”
“You did all that for me?” Her big eyes found mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You had so much hope, and I didn’t want to rip it away.” I strode to the closet and returned in a quarter-zip sweater. “Besides, it opened the door to this beautiful scene. Of your mother being handed our petty cash like a peasant. She always treated you like an afterthought. Time to show her the tables have turned.”
Briar banged the back of her head against the wall in light rhythmic thumps, closing her eyes as she thought about it. “What if heisa grifter? A sex offender? A terrible person?”
“Then you did the impossible and managed to become the most flawless person on Earth, even though your DNA worked against you.”
She opened her eyes. “I’m serious, Ollie.”
“So am I.”
The clocktick-tick-tickedin the background, the only sound audible between us. I knew where she was coming from. She hated her parents. What they stood for. The kind of people they were. Finding out her father was just as terrible would be a huge blow.
But I’d be here to help her get on her feet again. She had me now. She could overcome anything. I just needed to finda moment to propose to her and turn this fake engagement into a real one.
“Well, thank you for the five hundred grand. It is … generous to say the least.”
“My money is your money.” I shrugged. “Always has been.”
Her phone pinged in her fist. Philomena, probably.
I pocketed my wallet. “We need to make a pitstop at the bank.”
Showtime, baby.
