Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(20)

They looked like models. Fashion models at a premiere or during Fashion Week. Natalie, who hated this life so much, fit in without even trying.

I turned my attention to the status underneath.

Missed this girl so much. Seeing her at Club 360 tonight was just a bonus. Hope I see more of her face. #besties #girltime #modelworthy #cunninghamcouture #gucci #designerlife





I frowned. What the hell did that mean? Were they friends? Had they just run into each other? And what the hell was this party? Designer life was hardly Natalie’s style.

I shook my head, more confused than ever.

The cab driver pulled over in front of my building, and I hurried inside, taking the elevator to the top floor. A tiny creature came skittering around the corner, racing right for me.

I laughed and dropped to my knees. “Come here, Totle.”

Aristotle, my ten-pound gray Italian greyhound puppy, was all legs and full of love. He harmlessly tackled me to the ground and licked my face with all the ferocity of a puppy who hadn’t seen its owner in hours. Didn’t matter though. He reacted the same way when I’d only been gone minutes.

“Yes, I do love you,” I said, dropping another kiss onto the top of his head. “All right, chill out, crazy.”

I scooped him up into my arms and grabbed his leash with the promise of a long walk through Central Park to clear the cobwebs. Totle had no objections as we strolled through the park, giving me time to think about Natalie.

Maybe she was here on vacation. She’d happened to be in the same place as Jane. I had no idea what her life was like now. Where she was working or who her friends were or…if she was dating someone. And it was none of my fucking business. I’d ensured that by participating in that fucking bet. It didn’t matter that it was all a farce for me just to get close to her. But, of course, she had been right…I hadn’t needed a reason. I could have just gotten close to her.

It was the Upper East Side billionaire, playboy stupidity, which I couldn’t seem to escape, that had trapped me back into its relentless pull. Like trying to escape quicksand. The harder you tried to get out, the faster it pulled you back in.

Still…I wanted to see her.

And there was only one way to find out what she was up to. I needed to use my resources. If I couldn’t go to Jane…I could always go to Rowe.





Penn





8





My feet carried me to his building a few blocks down from mine. I let myself in the elevator that took me up to his residence. I wasn’t sure if he was home, but he hardly ever left unless he had to. He’d opened up Crew headquarters in Manhattan a decade ago and then promptly redesigned his home to include his own office space with a wall of screens to videoconference into meetings. The little introvert.

“Rowe!” I called as I let Totle off the leash, who took off running.

A muffled reply came from his office and then a laugh. I followed behind Totle and found Rowe exactly where I’d expected him, sitting at a white minimalist desk covered with computer monitors. He’d pulled Totle into his lap. No one was immune to my dog’s charms.

Rowe nodded his head at me as the only invitation to enter his sacred workspace. I stepped across the hardwood floor and sank into a bare white chaise that never got used.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Rowe shrugged. “Work. Shit. You know.”

“I do.”

“You’re here for a reason,” Rowe said intuitively.

Totle curled up in his lap and promptly fell asleep. Ridiculous dog.

“I can’t just visit?”

“I’m not Lewis.”

I snorted. “No, you’re not.”

Rowe went back to his keyboard, typing away at the speed of light. The best part about Rowe was that he always gave me space. He never forced me to talk when I wasn’t ready. He never expected conversation when it was better held with silence. He sometimes missed social cues and was entirely obsessed with his creation and all things tech. But he was a great guy, a great friend.

“So,” I said a few minutes later.

Rowe arched an eyebrow.

“Katherine paid me a visit.”

“Pleasant.”

“Yeah. I guess Natalie is in town, and she was photographed at Club 360 with Jane Devney. Katherine came to gloat.”

“Huh.” Rowe slid his chair down to face another monitor and started typing. “This?” He swiveled the monitor, so I could get a good look at it and see Natalie’s face blown up on an enormous computer screen.

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“And you want me to look her up?”

“No.” I sighed and met his gaze. “Yes.”

“Cool.”

“Wait, no. She has me blocked on Crew. If she wanted me to know that she was in New York, then she would have told me, right? Clearly, she doesn’t want me to know.”

“I think, if you’d wanted someone to tell you no, then you would have gone to Lark. But you came here instead.”

He was right. Damn it. I hated how well he knew me sometimes.

“Yeah, but is it a breach of privacy?”

Rowe’s smile was strictly villainous. “If people wanted privacy, they wouldn’t put everything on the internet.”