Page 64 of Angels Are Falling

Ruby needed a comeback act and someone with pockets deep enough to bankroll it. She thought she’d hit the jackpot when I offered to invest in her singing competition and tried to cozy up to me. A well-timed nudge was all it took to redirect her toward Stefan as a sugar daddy prospect. After she found out he was the new president of Obsidian, she jumped at the chance to sink her claws into him.

Ruby: By the way, I really liked Stefan. Thank you for the introduction.

Ruby: Has he said anything about me?

I smiled.

There was an art to arranging things so that they appeared unarranged. You never moved pieces directly. That was for amateurs and men who wanted to be caught. You moved the conditions around the pieces instead, and then you waited for the pieces to move themselves. People always did, given the right conditions. They were predictable in their freedom. Ruby was already starting to view Stefan as the key to reclaiming her success. All I had to do was sit back and let Amelie witness it for herself.

Kai: He thinks you’re great.

Ruby: He does? What about Amelie? I don’t completely understand the deal between you three.

No one understood the deal, not that any of them would be brave enough to make lewd comments about my wife. I owned this town and could drive anyone out of it if I wanted.

Ruby: Is Stefan in an open relationship?

Kai: Would it stop you from pursuing him if he wasn’t?

Ruby: Not as long as he was open to something with me, LOL.

Kai: Amelie’s legally married to me. I’m sure you’ll be able to convince Stefan that there are other options besides her.

Something I’d never been able to grasp for myself.

Ruby: Haha, I guess it’s a good thing we’re going away together.

It was a good thing indeed. Ruby and Stefan would spend time together, traveling to foreign destinations and staying at romantic hotels. I’d make sure their setting was a fucking fairy tale so Stefan would see nothing but Ruby.

I texted him next.

Kai: Ruby’s proposal looks good. Fly to Dubai this weekend and get the ball rolling.

Stefan: This weekend?

Kai: This installment will debut in the upcoming issue.

Stefan: But we need more time to prepare.

Kai: Blue Meridian Travel Group wants us to launch the contest now. Otherwise, they’ll pull their contract, and you can’t afford to lose them. They’re buying six full pages.

I owned Blue Meridian Travel Group. Had Stefan done his due diligence, he would have known that I owned all the companies sponsoring this project.

Stefan: Oh, shit. Okay. Let me run it by Amelie.

Kai: Why would you do that?

Stefan: She has to request time off from work if we’re leaving this weekend. I don’t know if she wants to bring the kids, so we need to figure that out as well.

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Kai: You can’t bring your family on a business trip, Stefan.

A pause.

Stefan: Travel photographers do it all the time.

Kai: But you’re no longer just a photographer. I shouldn’t have to explain optics to the president of my magazine. If you bring someone who’s not on the payroll, everyone will expect the same treatment.