by Linde, K. A.
“Hey, I thought you’d be at work,” I told him.
He drew me in and placed a kiss on my cherry-red lips. “I wanted to take you to lunch.”
I nodded. “That sounds nice.”
He slid an arm around my waist as we walked out of the park toward a little café that I knew he loved.
“Don’t you have your secret society meeting or whatever?”
“No, that’s on Mondays.”
“Ah, so it is a secret society.”
He shook his head. “Not exactly. Just where we all get together to talk business.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You do that everywhere.”
“An exclusive place to do that.”
“Semantics. Sounds like a secret society to me.”
“It’s truly very dull,” he assured me. “Are you ready for the gala this weekend?”
“Yep. I had my final fitting this morning. I’m excited for you to see it.”
His eyes lit up with desire. “I’m ready to take it off of you.”
I bit my lip. “That would be good, too.”
“You know, I had a thought for this gala.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Maybe… we could go together.”
My feet stalled, and I looked up at him in surprise. “Together? Like, you want to show up with me and walk the red carpet?”
“I do.”
I couldn’t believe it. Camden and I had been married over a year. We’d “dated” long before that, and I couldn’t remember a time that we’d shown up to an event together. We always showed up separately and then co-mingled in the room when it was necessary. But… things were different now. This time… we were in love. This was how it always should have been.
“I’d like that,” I admitted, “very much.”
“Consider it done then,” he said as he looked down at his phone again. We’d just reached the restaurant, and he froze in place. “Would you get us a table? I have to take a quick call.”
My eyebrows rose. “Everything all right?”
“We’ll find out.”
Then he turned and walked off. I frowned in confusion and wondered what that was all about. But I stepped inside to the busy café and gave them the Percy name. I was seated in minutes despite the crowd outside. Benefits of being longtime customers, and… well, the Percy name opened doors.
I perused the menu, debating between a salad and a sandwich. I didn’t really need the bread. But I had been trying to be better ever since Camden asked me last weekend if I was sick again. I didn’t feel sick. Though I hadn’t felt sick when I was hospitalized. I’d stopped shedding weight, and Rodrigo thought that I was finally starting to build up muscle mass, which was something I’d never been able to achieve. Maybe a sandwich would be fine.
Then I looked around the room and saw all the waiflike models and fashion people in the café. Every one of them was eating one of the dozen salads on the menu. It was our job to stay thin… and Elizabeth had suggested I could walk for her. It’d been years since I even considered it.
I worried at my lip indecisively when the waiter came over with waters. He looked frazzled. This place wasn’t normally this busy.
“I’ll take a half caprese sandwich and a side Caesar salad.” Best of both worlds. “Camden will have his usual.”
His eyes lit up. “Oh, Percy. Yes, excellent.” He scooped up the menus. “I will get everything covered.”
I sat back in my seat and checked my messages and responded to followers until Camden returned. He dropped into his seat, looking furious.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, setting my phone aside.
“Remember the Ireland deal that I had that fell through?”
“Of course.”
“And my father said that they didn’t want to work with me?”
“Right. Which sounded like bullshit.”
He sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face. “Turns out, it was bullshit. I decided to send a follow-up email to them. Just a standard thanks for working with us, let us know if you change your mind, I’d be happy to discuss options with you. That sort of thing.”
“And they just responded?”
He nodded. “They didn’t want to work with my father,” he ground out. “And the bastard lied and turned it around on me, to make it look like I’d lost the deal instead of him.”
“God, he’s such an asshole,” I snapped.
“That he is.”
“So… the deal is still on?”
“They want to come into New York next week to finalize negotiations… without my father present. But then, yeah, it looks like we’ll have a Percy Tower in Dublin, and I’ll close the deal.”
“Camden, that’s incredible,” I gushed.
But he didn’t look pleased. He was a mix of pissed off and resigned. “Tell that to my father.”
“He’ll understand.”
Camden shook his head. “He won’t, but I’ll have to find a way to tell him.”
“Maybe… just surprise him.”
“That would go over well,” he said sarcastically.
I reached across the table and took his hand. “You’re a better man than your father. And certainly better than he gives you credit for.”
“Thank you.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my hand.
I pulled back as our food arrived. My stomach growled slightly. I hadn’t had that big of a breakfast, and all the running around had made me hungry.
“You got a sandwich,” Camden said softly.
“Well, a half-sandwich,” I said, picking it up and taking a small bite.
He smiled to himself and then dug into his Italian sandwich without another word. And I knew that this was a win. For me and for us.
31
Katherine
The Percy limo pulled up in front of the towering Greco-revival facade of Cipriani Wall Street. For dozens and dozens of events, I’d shown up in this limousine with a parade of my friends in tow—all in coordinating outfits and happily drunk by the time we arrived.
Today was different.
Today, Camden Percy stepped out of the limo first. He reached back, offering me his hand, and I took it. Then I stepped out onto the red carpet with my husband at my side. It felt monumental in that moment. Something that would feel so ordinary to most couples, but we weren’t most couples. We weren’t really like anyone else. An arranged marriage was strange enough. Though it had worked for us. Until now… when it didn’t work anymore because this was more than just an arrangement. It was more than me marrying him for his money. This was me putting my heart back out on the line.
The train of my red silk Alexandre D’Oria gown trailed behind me as my husband walked me down the red carpet in a tuxedo. He looked calm, confident, and dominating. My perfect match.
Who would have guessed?
We stopped for a series of pictures and then entered the vast ballroom, which was classically decorated for the event. We were directed toward our table for dinner. I recognized the other names at our table. All of our friends in one place. I knew that Lark had taken the St. Vincent limo for the rest of the party once I let her know that Camden and I were coming together. So, they shouldn’t be too long behind us.
I looked to the table directly to our right and stopped in my tracks. “Candice?” I asked in shock.
“Katherine!” Candice cried, rushing over to me and trying to bring me in for a hug. But her stomach was so enormous that she could barely even get her arms around my shoulders.
“I thought you were on a yacht in the Caribbean,” Camden said dryly.
As far as I knew, he’d personally shipped her and Lars off on the Percy jet to get her out of his hair.
“I was! But I’m so close to my due date, and I thought it’d be nice to come back to New York for delivery. Then I got the invitation for the gala. Lars thought it was crazy, but we live for crazy around here.” Candice’s eyes lit up. “How are you two lovebirds? Fucking like rabbits?”
&n
bsp; I shook my head at her. She was just so outrageous. But… the venom I’d had toward her at Christmas when I was in such a deep, dark place and Camden and I were fighting like mad, well, it wasn’t there anymore. I’d spent so long finding Candice’s eccentricity a burden at best and a complete disgrace every other time. But maybe… she wasn’t so bad.
“I’m glad you could make it back. When are you due again?”
Candice grasped my hand and put it on her stomach. “Do you feel him kick?”
“Him?” I asked hesitantly. “It’s a boy?”
She shrugged. “I think so. Lars is convinced it’s a little Candice, but we don’t want to know. We want nature to take its own course. It’s going to be a surprise!”
And then I felt it. The baby did move. It kicked its little foot against the wall of her stomach.
“Wow. He is a strong thing,” I told her.
“He’s going to be a real swimmer, just like his dad,” she said with a bawdy wink. “Can’t wait for him to get out of there because I am dying to be properly fucked. Know what I mean?”
Camden sighed, but I actually laughed and nodded. “I think I do.”
“Also, I would kill for a drink right about now.”
“Speaking of,” I said, raising an eyebrow at Camden.
He just shook his head at his sister. “I’ll get us something.”
He disappeared then, leaving me alone with Candice, who regaled me with stories about her pregnancy on the yacht. It sounded like such a Candice adventure.
A throat cleared behind us, and I turned to find none other than Penn Kensington standing before me in a tuxedo. The bastard looked like fucking James Bond in that suit. It was uncanny. And though he admittedly looked very handsome, I didn’t have that same pang that normally came with coming face-to-face with my first love. Instead, I just was happy to see him… even with Natalie on his arm.
“Hey, Ren,” he said with a smile. “Thought I’d catch you before…”
He didn’t have to say what he meant. I was sure he’d only come over because Camden was gone.
Instead, I stepped forward with a smile. “It’s good to see you.”
My eyes darted to Natalie. She looked like such a different person than she had been a year ago at this same event. She’d had the world on her shoulders as she’d been set on ruining my empire. Now, we were both just occupants of this strange, strange world.
“It’s good to see you, too, Nat.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
I laughed and shrugged. “Crew for life, right?”
“I suppose so,” she said tentatively.
Then she gave me such a Natalie smile. The real one, the defiant one that had made me like her the first time I met her. So much had changed between us since that day. It was nice to know she was still there underneath it all.
“I hope you two have a fun night,” I told them honestly.
Penn shot me a skeptical look, but it was doused by the appearance of my husband. Penn didn’t back down. Though I could see he wanted to get out of the line of fire.
“Kensington,” Camden said, passing me a glass of champagne.
“Percy,” Penn said stiffly.
Then to the surprise of everyone assembled, my husband stuck his hand out. Penn looked at it as if it were a bomb. Like he was trying to find out what part of this was going to backfire.
But slowly, he eased his hand into Camden’s. They shook once. Nothing fancy. No words necessary. There was still mutual disdain. Just not as much as there had been in the past. This was a world in which they wouldn’t kill each other. Maybe, just maybe, we could survive this.
Penn nodded his head at me, and Natalie gave me a knowing look before they both traipsed back off into the crowd.
By then the rest of our table had arrived. Court and English, Lark and Sam, Whitley and Robert, and Gavin with his date… Harmony Cunningham. I gaped when I saw her on his arm.
“Harm!” I gasped. “You and Gavin?”
She shrugged one shoulder and glanced back at him. “It’s not serious. We were both going stag, and he offered for me to go with him instead.”
“That was nice of him.”
Too nice of him. Gavin wasn’t normally the magnanimous type. He usually chose the hottest… sometimes the easiest date for the evening or found someone to hook up with when he was there. If he was here with Harmony, there was a reason. Did it have something to do with Whitley being here with Robert?
My focus shifted to the pair. Robert stood rooted to the spot, watching Whitley flit around from person to person like she was wont to do. But even more so than normal. Whitley was particularly performative when she got nervous. I wondered what Robert saw when he saw her skipping about like that. Did he know her like I did? Robert watched people in the same way that I did. I was surprised that he put up with her, but I could tell he deeply cared. I just… wasn’t sure Whitley felt the same way.
We all settled into our seats for dinner. I hadn’t eaten much that day to prepare for getting in this dress, but now that I was in it, I could hardly eat more than a few bites. I was envious of my friends in less constricting attire. Why did beauty have to come as such costs? I would have happily finished off my meal and eaten some of Camden’s, but the stupid silk did not breathe.
Fuck, it was constricting. It wasn’t a corset, but it was not meant to stretch at all. Alexandre had warned me of that, but I hadn’t considered what it would be like to sit and stand and dance in it for hours. I took shallow breaths to compensate and concentrated on my friends instead.
It was only a few hours. I’d survive.
After dinner, we sat through the presentation for the individuals and businesses with considerable contributions to the HIV/AIDS foundation for this year’s charity measure. Then the dance floor opened, and we all poured onto it, desperate for the release.
My dress was still tight. Next time I saw Alexandre, I was going to have to tell him to consider that people needed to breathe in these goddamn things.
“I’m so glad I came tonight,” Harmony said with a laugh to me and Robert.
I hadn’t realized that they were friends, but she seemed relaxed around him.
“Me too,” Robert said. “That shit with Mitchell…” He trailed off as Harmony’s face went pale.
“What?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.
Then I saw what had drawn her attention. Robert seemed to have produced Kurt out of thin air.
And on his arm was none other than Fiona.
“Oh fuck,” I ground out.
I didn’t know why I’d thought that Fiona would scamper off and disappear after Camden got Kurt to own up to his mistake. She’d never disappeared before when I wanted her to.
“I can handle this,” I told Harmony, going into full-on bulldog mode.
Harmony caught my arm. “Don’t. I just… I want to forget about it.”
I opened my mouth to object. That wasn’t in my nature. Harmony was in my circle now. Which meant I protected what was mine. I already despised Fiona—pregnancy or not. She didn’t need to rub it in Harmony’s face.
But before I could say anything, Harmony turned and fled. I sighed and turned to go after her, but Robert stopped me.
“Hey, just keep an eye on Whit, will you?” he asked.
“Sure, but I can talk to her.”
He smiled with that characteristic charm. “Don’t worry about it. Harmony and I have been friends since we were kids. Let me talk to her.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Let Whitley know I’ll be back.”
“Sure,” I agreed, and then he traipsed off, following in Harmony’s wake.
What a fucking clusterfuck of a night.
Things were actually going amazingly well for me and Camden, but everyone else seemed to be falling apart. Peace always seemed like just another truce. Maybe I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop… and it was dropping for everyone else.
I let Whitley know what Robert had said as she dragged me into a dance with English and Lark. I had to spend half of the time concentrating on my breathing just to get through this. Camden zipped in and out, bringing me fresh drinks and kissing me between making small talk with other friends.
But then I realized it’d been forty-five minutes, and I hadn’t seen him. That was a long time for him to keep his hands off of me. He’d been just on the boundary of our group all night. My eyes scanned the crowd. Where had he gone?
“Hey, have you seen Camden?” I asked Court.
He frowned and then darted his gaze around. “No, I haven’t.”
“That’s weird.”
I pulled away from my girls. My heart was in my throat. Was he… with Fiona? It didn’t make sense. She was here with Kurt. He and I were on strong footing. Why did my mind always go to the worst-case scenario? My breathing became erratic as I searched him out in the crowd. I didn’t know why I was freaking out, but I couldn’t keep it in check. A long, long lifetime of fears coiled in my belly. I hated having these fears, but I knew only time would make them better.
I was still looking for him when I felt a hand on my elbow.
“Katherine!”
I looked up at Penn in surprise. “Hey, have you seen Camden?”
“That’s why I came to find you.”
I braced for the worst. “What happened?”
“His sister just went into labor.”
I stumbled back in surprise. “Wait… what?”
“Candice went into labor. I saw her with some medical staff. Camden sent me to find you.”
“He sent you?” I asked in shock.
“Yeah. Come on. I think, they’re heading to the hospital.”
I took one step after him, trying to draw air into my lungs, but everything felt unsteady. I hadn’t had enough to eat. I couldn’t breathe. Something settled on my shoulders, and before I knew what was happening, blackness tipped into my vision. And everything else was lost.
