All I've Never Wanted(111)

“He’s doing well, thank you for asking, although he’s busy as always.” Roman flicked his eyes toward me. “As a matter of fact, he wanted to ask you about the Wyatt-Triage merger last week…”

He led Mr. Henderson to a bench out of earshot, talking about some business concerns the whole way. Huh. I didn’t even know Roman knew anything about his father’s business dealings.

Nevertheless, gratitude seeped through me. It was obvious he wanted me to speak to Lexi without an audience.

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea who you are,” Lexi said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Right. Back to the task at hand.

I leveled her with a glare that could’ve slain a hundred dragons, had they actually existed. “No, but I know who you are. Lexi, right?”

She suddenly stiffened, narrowing her eyes at me as recognition spread across her face. “Ah. Arnold Lindberg’s daughter, I’m assuming. I should have guessed. You have the exact same eyes.”

This time I was the one who stiffened. How did she know automatically who I was? Maybe she really did recognize me and had just pretended not to.

My question must’ve been written all over my face, because Lexi rolled her eyes, twirling her hair around her fingers. I couldn’t believe my dad had cheated on mom for her. She acted like some stupid, ditzy teenage girl!

“I suppose I can tell you part of the truth now, just because I’ve already gotten paid, and I certainly don’t need you complicating my relationship with Thomas,” she said in a bored voice. I assume Thomas was Mr. Henderson’s first name.

“What’s there to tell? You seduced my dad, knowing full well he had a wife,” I hissed, the rage boiling up inside me like a volcano about to erupt.

Lexi didn’t even blink. “True.”

I’ve never been a particularly violent person, but at the moment, I wanted to smack that smirk off her face.

“I have to say, though, it wasn’t necessarily my idea.”

A cold, penetrating chill slid down my spine. “What are you talking about?” I demanded through gritted teeth.

She eyed me almost pityingly. “I never really worked at your father’s company. I was a temporary intern there, and I only took the internship to get close to him.”

I felt dizzy as my mind scrambled to make sense of her words. “You said it wasn’t your idea,” I accused.

Lexi rolled her eyes like I was a particularly dumb child. “It’s not. Someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It was simple. Seduce your father, shake up his marriage a bit, and I get paid.” She shrugged. “The fact that you saw us that night at Masa only made things easier.”

That was when I snapped. All the pent-up anger I’ve been feeling towards my father and Lexi fueled the loud slap I delivered across her face. I could hear it even over the cheesy carnival music, and several passersby had stopped to gawk at the drama.


Roman and Mr. Henderson, however, didn’t seem to have noticed yet.

“Wow, so you’re a prostitute. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I spat, feeling sick to my stomach. How could there be people in the world who were callous and greedy enough to break up someone’s family for money?

Although I lived in Valesca. That sort of stuff shouldn’t even surprise me.

To my ire, Lexi didn’t look particularly put out by my slap or accusation. It was like she was used to it, which she probably was.

“Au contraire, my dear, I’m not a prostitute,” she drawled, reaching up to touch her face lightly. “I just hit some hard times and like I said, someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Honestly, you shouldn’t be taking this out on me. I’m not the one diabolical enough to come up with the plan. I was just carrying out orders.”

I stared at her, trying to discern if she was lying or not. She stared right back, her eyes not leaving mine. She looked almost bored by our conversation, but a horrible gut feeling told me she was telling the truth.

“Who was it?” I demanded. “Who was the person who paid you?”

Lexi just shrugged. “Sorry, hon, but I’ve told you all I could. Besides, you think I’ll tell you after that little slap?” She smirked. “Word of advice though? Be careful who you let into your life.” She flicked her eyes over to where Roman and Mr. Henderson were seated. “Not everyone has your best interests at heart.”

With that, she turned and started to walk away, but after a few steps looked over her shoulder and added, “If it makes you feel better though, I didn’t sleep with your precious father. Actually, you can commend him for holding out so long. I’m very good when it comes to men.”

I just stood there, stunned, as I watched her and Mr. Henderson say their goodbyes to Roman and disappear into a waiting Town Car. Roman walked over, a concerned look on his face, but I couldn’t move.

My mind was spinning faster than the carousel I was standing next do, and the carnival music was jumbling up all my thoughts. Breathe…just breathe…

“What’s wrong? What did she say?” Roman asked, a frown creasing his brow as he touched my shoulder.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed I was shivering.

“Nothing.” My voice sounded far away. “Nothing at all.”

Nothing except something that had thrown yet another wrench into my life. Who could possibly have hired her? I felt nauseous at the thought that it might be one of my friends, someone I trusted. Out of everything else, that would devastate me the most.