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Michael gave him a disbelieving frown and shook his head. “I thought everything was going great. Rachel made it sound foolproof. Was she wrong?”
Inwardly, Logan groaned. Just the sound of her name made him burn with the desire to go hunt her down and take her back to that cozy study.
“Rachel is anything but wrong,” he said in a low voice. “I’m sorry if I’ve seemed distracted tonight. With Mary Prescott coming tomorrow, my nerves are split.”
“Ah, yes, the southern queen of food.” Michael’s lips hinted at a teasing smile. “Is she as ridiculous in person as she seems on TV? Emily loves to watch her show late at night. Unfortunately, she also likes to try out her recipes and I’m the one that has to pay for it. Her skills lie more in matchmaking than in cooking.”
Logan cracked a smile, imagining Michael choking down Emily’s scorched remains of dinner. “Yeah, Mary’s a character. I thought she was going to eat me alive.”
At that moment, Logan caught a glimpse of Rachel headed toward them. An unbidden grin lit up his face. She was so achingly beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her. She gave them each a tight-lipped smile and crossed her arms tightly over her chest as she approached.
“Everything okay in the kitchen?” Logan asked, his grin fading. He didn’t like the expression on her face. Something was wrong.
“All good.” She met his eyes only for a second and then looked away. “Have you seen your buddy, Darren?”
“The one with the attitude?” Michael asked, his eyes narrowing. “He sure can knock back the beers. Our table was beginning to smell like a brewery.”
Logan groaned. “What trouble has he gotten into now? I swear, I should learn my lesson and stop taking him out in public.”
“No trouble,” she replied with a noncommittal shrug. “But last I saw him, he seemed pretty out of it.”
“I’ll check on him in a bit.” He looked at her again, seeing the worry on her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Why did you decide to open Madison Park?” Rachel asked abruptly, dropping her hands to her hips. She looked up at him expectantly. “Why didn’t you just stick to pizza places? Was there a specific reason for it?”
Logan’s jaw twitched. This wasn’t something they’d talked about before. In fact, it wasn’t something he’d shared with anyone except for Darren. He glanced at Michael, who watched him with the same expectant look. There was no reason he couldn’t tell his oldest friends about it, even if it sounded silly to his own ears.
“Well, I guess I felt like I needed more,” he explained slowly, splaying out his fingers in front of him. “The pizza chain was great, but when you grow up the way I did, it just doesn’t seem like enough. Most of the kids I went to school with came from homes with tennis courts, below ground pools, fancy cars, servants, designer clothes, everything. My parents owned a double-wide on the wrong side of town. My mom taught English and my dad worked at a factory. We were about as far from rich as could be.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes at him. “What does that have to do with opening a restaurant? Didn’t you make your billions in pizza?”
He laughed softly, running a hand over the back of his head. This was starting to feel like a job interview. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had these kind of jitters.
“Yeah, but I don’t know, I never felt like I belonged.” He glanced at Michael and shrugged, hoping for some glimmer of understanding. “I just wanted to belong. Madison Park is my way of doing that. It’s a different class of people who come to eat there. They’re the people I went to school with. When I’m there, I’m not reminded about my tiny bedroom in that trailer home or the patches my mom had to sew into my school uniform because she couldn’t afford a new pair of pants. There, I belong.”
It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He breathed in deep, relishing the feeling. Ever since he was a boy, he’d longed to fit in with his peers. And now was his chance. Madison Park was a success and with Rachel by his side, everything felt right. He couldn’t be more thankful.
“Let me get this straight.” Rachel’s strained voice drew his attention and his stomach clenched when he spotted her reddening face. She frowned at him, anger boiling in her eyes. “The only thing that’s important to you is your money. You started a new business so that you could fit in with the entitled people who value wealth above anything else. Above strangers, above family, and above love. Am I getting this straight?”
“Rachel.” Michael’s warning tone made her blush even deeper. “Logan gave you a job and he’s our friend. What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m doing what I should’ve done ages ago.” She breathed deeply, tears glistening in her eyes. “Logan, this was a giant mistake. My father put me through it once, I can’t go through it again. I won’t be second to your fortune. I quit the restaurant and I quit us. You’ll have to find yourself another rich girl to snag. I’m done.”
She turned with a sob and picked up her dress to run through the crowd. A few heads turned in her direction, but most people ignored the woman fleeing from the ballroom. Logan watched her go, feeling like his stomach had been filled with lead.
He had no idea what had just happened. Someone needed to translate for him. What had he done wrong?
It wasn’t until Michael cleared his throat did Logan look over at him. There was fury in those dark brown eyes. He’d crossed his arms over his chest and was staring at him, questions written all over his face.
“What did you do to my sister?” he demanded.
Chapter Eleven
Rachel wiped the runaway mascara from under her eyes and threw the tissue in the trash. She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, wishing she hadn’t acted so rashly. She should’ve taken Logan somewhere to talk. Left her brother out of this. But Logan’s answers about his restaurant had infuriated her to a point that she had lost all control.
She still couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Underneath the sweet and charming exterior, Logan was just like her father. Out to fit in with the upper elite and build his wealth. And she had been another feather in his cap. How could she have been so stupid? He had made her think she was the one pursuing him. No doubt, a part of his plan. Just like Darren had hinted. He’d been right about everything.
She pushed through the door and into the hallway of Whitmore Mansion. The guests had begun to leave and her crew were probably already headed back to the restaurant to unload. All she wanted at that moment was to sneak away quietly and drown her tears in bready carbs and ice cream in her studio apartment.
