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She wouldn’t say anything to him, of course. He had accused her of terrible things. She was pissed. Beyond that, the whole morning only confirmed for her that their careers weren’t compatible. Despite Sailor’s encouragement, Alessandra still believed it was too much of a risk.
Alessandra was across the room talking to customers when Beau walked in the door. She tried to stay focused on her current conversation, but it was difficult. Beau was wearing a tuxedo jacket with a white shirt and no tie. It was the formal version of the look he typically dressed in, and it was sexy as hell. She told herself to ignore him. She had a job to do tonight.
Luckily, at that moment, Sailor approached with Kim Gartner at her side. Jon didn’t seem to be nearby. Alessandra wasn’t surprised Kim was alone. When they’d talked over dinner two nights ago, Kim had shared that she was worried. At that time, Jon had seemed fixated on their bank situation, which perplexed Kim. That night, she’d told Sailor and Alessandra that, as far as she knew, Jon had a good relationship with their personal banker.
“Happy New Year,” Alessandra offered, warmly.
“Happy New Year,” Kim responded. She seemed friendly, but there was a weariness in her eyes that Alessandra wondered about.
“Jon went home early, but I convinced Kim to stay for the party.” Alessandra heard something cautionary in Sailor’s tone. There was more to the story about why Kim was alone.
Before Alessandra could respond, Kim jumped in to say, “It’s okay, Sailor. I’ll tell her.”
“What happened?” Alessandra asked.
“Turns out my husband has done some serious damage to our bank account. I knew he was gambling, but he was lying about his losses. He’d come back to the room telling me he had won, but he’d actually lost—and lost more than I’d ever imagined he would. Thankfully, he was only able to access our cash without my signature. When he wanted to liquidate some of our stock, our agent called me. It could have been much worse if we hadn’t caught his problem until later.”
“I’m so sorry, Kim. How can we help? Is there anything you need?”
Kim shook her head. “No. I’ll be okay. It’s fortunate that these days the banks have a lot of controls in place. It was more money than I’d like to lose, and it will take some time to recoup it. But I was always involved in our investments, so he wouldn’t have gotten away with much more. Mostly I’m just pissed that he lied, and not a little lie. A lie about finances, which impacts my future. I’ve always been careful with my money, and I won’t get over that part.”
“What are you going to do?” Sailor asked.
“Divorce the son of a bitch, that’s what. I’ve been around too long to be married to someone I’m worried about bankrupting me. I loved that man with all my heart, and I’m sick that it’s ending. It won’t be easy to get over him. We had the most fun. But I’ve always been pretty philosophical about love. Just because it ended badly doesn’t mean I regret being with him. And I have faith I’ll find someone I love just as much—whose financial outlook is the same as my own.”
Alessandra watched Kim closely. Kim wasn’t faking her reaction to the situation. How could she love so easily, have her heart broken, and be so accepting? It sounded a lot like Claire when she had spoken of Alessandra’s dad. Why is it that other women were so confident their hearts would heal?Why can’t I look at it that way?
“If that’s the case, Sailor and I will be looking for your future spouse here at The Benson next time you come. Pick a date, and it will be our treat.” Alessandra wouldn’t have the authority to offer complimentary weekends come tomorrow, but she still did tonight. She might as well use her power tonight to put a smile on Kim’s face.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Kim said, walking away toward the bar.
“Do you think she’ll come back?” Sailor asked, her eyes following Kim.
“Everyone comes back to The Benson,” Alessandra said wistfully. “And when she does, find her next love, Sailor. She deserves it.”
Sailor nodded slyly. “I’ll start working on it right now.” Alessandra saw Sailor walk toward another customer. She smiled to herself, knowing the man was single. Who knew? Maybe Kim would find a new love interest sooner rather than later. Kim had definitely learned how to protect her finances from her husband’s stupidity.
Alessandra wondered why she had always been so worried about it. There were many ways to protect individual assets these days. Kim’s calmness despite what Jon had done was evidence of that.
Alessandra was standing alone at a cocktail table, looking over the room. She had led The Benson for two years, and now she would be forced to leave. What would she do? Maybe a tribal casino off the Strip? She’d heard one of her former mentors was the president at one of them. Maybe Alessandra could get a role as the deputy. She made a mental note to reach out after the holidays, once word got out about the new owners.
Her eyes followed Beau, who was talking to Wyatt. Alessandra wondered what they were discussing. Beau glanced in Alessandra’s direction, then looked away. He’d obviously given up on her, and she couldn’t blame him. Alessandra had never really trusted him enough to give her heart fully, and he had known that. It’s no wonder he thought she was being insincere.
Due to circumstances, she’d lost The Benson. A week ago, she imagined she would be devastated by that outcome. Now, because of her own fears, she’d lost Beau. Alessandra was coming to realize it was much worse to lose someone you loved than to lose your job.
She’d been so stubborn, so stupid. For all these years, she’d wanted to have a passionate, supportive, and equal partner. Yet when one walked into her life, she’d pushed him away.
Searching for Alessandra, Beau instead saw Wyatt first. They didn’t know each other that well, but Beau was a minor investor in Wyatt’s private equity firm. They had been introduced by Beau’s mom Jillian, whose family had been close to the Holters. Jillian told him it would be a good investment to hedge against any outside-the-norm gambling losses, and Beau had agreed.
When Alessandra had told him Wyatt was going to sell The Benson, Beau knew he couldn’t tell her about his investment in Holter Holdings. If he did, she could be accused of sharing business decisions Wyatt might not have told his majority investors about. And he hadn’t wanted to get her into trouble. He had to pretend he knew nothing about it.
Wyatt recognized Beau immediately and asked about how his brother and dad were doing. “I know it was a long time ago, but I’m sure you all still miss Jillian. Her family was instrumental early on helping the firm gain traction. I appreciated their support.”
Beau was going to try broaching the topic of The Benson’s possible sale. He finally saw Alessandra by herself across the room, but he couldn’t read her face and looked away. He didn’t know if her end-of-year target had been hit yet, and he wanted to find out.
“Thanks, Wyatt. We do miss her. But Dad’s in Florida now, and Aaron’s still crossing the world gambling. We keep ourselves busy.”
“What about you? Still gambling full-time?” Wyatt asked.
