Page 27 of His Daughter's Best Friend

“What is she, a fucking influencer now?” I asked in disbelief. “Isn’t she too old?”

“Thirty-nine is the new nineteen,” Landon said, startling a laugh out of me.

“That’s the company’s tagline for her campaign,” he said dryly, turning his monitor so I could see the promo. I glanced, disinterested. Kim looked beautiful as always, if airbrushed within an inch of her life. I was grateful Halley had taken after my side of the family though. It made it easier to forget her mother existed. At least, when I wasn’t having to pay a PI to keep her money grubbing hands at bay.

“If she’s getting brand endorsements and investment bankers, what does she want with me?” I asked, glancing at the name of the resort wear company. They were a mid-level company on the rise. I imagined they paid their influencers decently.

“You know Kim. She has expensive taste. And her investment banker isn’t going to buy the cow. Not when he’s getting milk from several other younger cows about town.”

I rolled my eyes upward. “Please tell me she hasn’t introduced this asshole to Halley as her future stepfather.”

Landon turned the monitor again, and I saw a picture of Kim, Halley, and a slick-looking guy in a Saville Row suit walking out of a restaurant. He looked young and smooth and cocky as all hell. I hated him on sight.

My lip curled. “How old is he?”

Landon’s dark eyebrows rose incrementally. “Older than Lily and richer than you.”

“Fuck you.” Frustrated, I stood up and walked to the window. “I don’t give a shit who Kim is fucking or how much money he has. It’ll never be enough for her. I need something to hold over her.”

“I’m trying.”

“Not something you create,” I warned.

In the window, I saw his blurred, watery reflection shake its head. “No. I know the rules.”

I cracked my knuckles, wishing Landon had a punching bag in his office. “You think there is something?”

There was a long pause. I didn’t turn around to see if he’d heard me. When it came to sensitive information, Landon always chose his words carefully, placing each one in front of the other like a tightrope walker on a highwire. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Used to be that Kim was always good for a few dark secrets. Nothing is coming out of the shadows now though. If there’s nothing there, are you sure…”

I shook my head, and he didn’t bother to finish the sentence. If Kim had legitimately fucked up, which she usually did, I’d use it in mercilessly. But I couldn’t risk setting her up. If Halley ever found out, she’d never forgive me.

And the list of unforgivable things that I was considering was long enough already.

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