My Dark Romeo: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance(76)
You should land there thrice a week regardless.
You have more issues than National Geographic.
Ollie vB
Just open the attachment.
Zach Sun
It’s a…tweet?
Romeo Costa
Of a college girl eating ice cream in a bikini?
Ollie vB
NFT, baby.
Zach Sun
Ollie.
OLLIE.
NFTs are the biggest fake news since the Earth is flat.
Ollie vB
Just because all other celestial objects are spherical doesn’t mean ours is, too, @ZachSun.
Don’t be a blind follower.
Think outside the box.
Zach Sun
The oval-shaped box, I assume?
Romeo Costa
You just wasted 50K, my friend.
Ollie vB
But I was specifically told by some guy on Reddit it is going to be worth millions one day.
Zach Sun
He didn’t really do it.
Ollie vB
Of course, I didn’t.
I just wanted to see if you thought I was THAT dumb.
Romeo Costa
Guess you got your answer.
Ollie vB
Yeah.
Though it still escapes me how Rom is the one who is married to a Victoria’s Secret model and refuses to knock her up and I’M the one with the low IQ.
Zach Sun
You mean QI.
Ollie vB
Fuck you, Sun.
I slid into a less-than-gallant habit.
The habit included watching Dallas throughout my workday via my home security cameras and employing a security detail on retainer to trail her whenever she left the house.
Seeing as my contentious industry made me a walking target, I could’ve given myself excuses about worrying for her safety.
But deep down, I knew I had her shadowed because I wanted to be sure she wasn’t doing anything I forbade her to do.
Which, in my defense, was one thing and one thing only—other men.
In the weeks since I’d moved back in, my delicate flower of a wife had managed to do quite a bit, including but not limited to officially dropping out of her Emory degree program, single-handedly funding a SIDS awareness month gala, paying off existing medical debt at no less than three regional children’s hospitals, and sampling every Michelin-guide restaurant within driving distance.
She spent her days reading books, bullying big corps into donating to SIDS research, and playing board games with Hettie and Vernon.
At night, she binge-watched garbage on Netflix and pined over other people’s babies on social media.
Personally, I didn’t see the appeal in children. That she wanted one so bad—let alone multiple—suggested she was in desperate need of a hobby.
And no, eating was not a recreational activity, as she attempted to convince me many a times.
She also took it upon herself to rearrange my entire home, pushing furniture into areas they had no business being. Not to piss me off, I didn’t think. But rather, because she couldn’t restrain her desire to make her environment as chaotic as her.
One morning, I found her in my office, perched on my wheeled wing-backed chair. Hettie sat on the armrest, separating white Oreo filling from its shell.
I strode to my desk and collected my laptop. “What are you doing?”
Shortbread licked the inside of an Oreo. “Hanging up our wedding portrait.”
“In my office?”
“Where else would I hang it?” She nodded for Vernon to hike up the left edge, then signaled for him to stop with a raised cookie. “Perfect.”
I studied the image, noting one important fact. “I’m not in this.”
She beamed. “I know. Isn’t it perfect?”
I left the portrait in place, unsure why. But her image haunted me every time I stepped into my office.
My stock portfolio, like my net worth, had nose-dived since my marriage, which my friends enjoyed bringing up at every opportunity.
Ollie vB
Looks like you’re on your way to becoming a millionaire.
Congratulations.
Zach Sun
At this rate, you’ll burn through your net worth quicker than Bankman-Fried.
Ollie vB
Whoever thought it’d be a good idea to fork over money to someone whose name, backwards, is Fried Bank Man?
Romeo Costa
Coming from the guy who invested in the Chicago Bulls because, flipped upside down, the logo resembles a robot fucking a crab…