Page 23 of The Ruin
If only my traitorous heart hadn’t gotten me into this mess. I never should have moved back into the penthouse. Not when things between Luka and me are still on shaky ground.
“I think it’s already dead, Brooklyn.”
“What?” I do a double take at the fork in my hand. Apparently, I’d zoned out a little while repeatedly stabbing one of my sausages. “Oh, sorry.”
I set the fork down and Emzee slides it discreetly away.
Looking back at my sisters-in-law, I see the looks of concern have returned. It’s obvious my little white lies aren’t fooling them, but there’s something nice about them knowing me well enough to call me out. I’d always hoped the three of us would grow close. It’s taken a little time, but we’re definitely getting there. I nearly cancelled on them when Tori called me this morning to see if I needed a ride, but I’m glad I crawled out of bed for this.
“You sure you’re okay?” Emzee asks. “You look like you didn’t sleep very well.”
“Well, Emzee, how well would you sleep if your husband neglected to mention that he was about to spend three days in Las Vegas with Monica Shore?”
She frowns. “It’s a DRM thing, right? A business trip?”
“Supposedly,” I grind out.
Tori gives me a sympathetic look. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Brooklyn. Stefan goes on last-minute work trips all the time, and yes, sometimes with the models. It doesn’t mean anything is going on. Maybe it sounds naïve, but I used to get upset about it too, until he made it clear how committed to me he is. I’m sure Luka would never put your marriage at risk, either.”
I wonder if those words feel like a total lie as they spill from her mouth? Because they sure feel that way to my ears.
“If he’s going to cheat, I just wish he’d do it with anyone but her.”
“He’snotgoing to cheat,” Tori insists.
Emzee scoffs at her. “How can you say that, when you know what Lukausedto be like? Although, before you came along, Stefan wasn’t much better.”
“You’re really helping out here, Em,” Tori says sarcastically.
“Look, there’s something you need to understand about my brothers,” she says, addressing both of us. “They’re the kind of men who fuck like wild rabbits because deep down, they’re just lost little boys, trying to find something solid to hang on to. But all that time, they could never admit to themselves that what theyreallywanted was stability. Until they found you two. And now neither of them are even close to the pathetic ‘men’ they used to be. Thank God.”
She raises her mimosa in a toast and then takes a loud slurp.
I take a long slug of my own drink as I contemplate what she just said. “Wow,” I finally say. “That was weirdly deep, and kind of a shock coming from you.”
Emzee grins. “Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises.”
Still, I have to admit that her words do make me feel a little better. Luka does seem like a different man since we got together, and he’s miles away from the arrogant, entitled jerk who tricked me into bed when we first met all those years ago. I’ve seen him be kind, caring, and supportive. He’d seemed truly apologetic about Monica getting the Maxilene job, and sincere when he said that he didn’t just hire her to ensure the company signed a DRM model.
Tori reminds us that our breakfasts are getting cold, and we dig in. The food is delicious, and mixed with laughter and the good-natured squabbles that my sisters-in-law get into, it’s exactly what I needed. We sip our coffees as the conversation lulls into a comfortable silence.
Someone’s phone buzzes with a text, and Tori apologizes and says it’s a message from Stefan. But as she reads it, her expression falls. She sends Emzee a side-eye I don’t think she intended for me to see, and my stomach does a little flip. That look can’t mean anything good.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Oh, it’s just a…” Tori’s voice trails off, her eyes widening.
Emzee grabs Tori’s phone from across the table, her mouth falling open at whatever she sees on the screen. She quickly recovers and shakes her head dismissively. “It’s nothing. Just some pictures Stefan sent.”
“Pictures of?” I prod.
Cringing, Emzee passes over the phone. “Better to see it now than get sucker punched later.”
Sucker punch is right. It feels like my waffle is going to come back up.
What I’m looking at is essentially a slideshow of Monica’s Maxilene shoot. She’s in lingerie, of course. I guess nothing sells makeup like the sight of a woman in skimpy underwear. The material is sheer enough to show off her nipples and the crack of her ass. In every photo, part of a series where she’s standing in the center of a replica Trevi Fountain, Luka is right there on the sidelines, hovering at the edge of the scene, hands in his pockets or arms crossed.
His eyes glued to Monica.
