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He took off his coat and hung it on the rack. Then he turned and handed Mia a wrapped gift.
“You know you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Until you find some guy that will spoil you, I reserve the right. Everyone should have a gift on their birthday.”
She tugged at the ribbon and slid her finger under the tape.
“Hey, you know you don’t have to save the paper, right?”
“Leave me alone.”
It was the same exchange they had every year, at her birthday and at Christmas. Mia was meticulous in her approach to everything. Jared preferred to dive in.
Moments later, she held up the thin diamond bracelet. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
She placed it back in the box and went to the liquor cabinet. After she handed him a glass, they settled on the couch in front of the marble fireplace where a fire burned.
He picked up the open bottle and poured himself some white wine. “Are you slumming today? Since when you do you drink regular wine? No vintage Dom for your birthday?”
“There is nothing regular about Domaine Leflaive, thank you very much.”
“So what has you so busy you’re not celebrating with a party?”
She sniffed. “As if. That’s the last thing I would do.”
He set his glass on the table without drinking any. “I thought things had gotten better for you. You’ve been making the society circuit again.”
Their fathers’ crimes had taken a toll on Mia and he wished he could do something to repair the damage done. Both her mother and his felt like pariahs in the society they’d been a part of long before they’d gotten married. In his personal life, he hadn’t taken a hit, mostly because he was a man. Professionally, however, his dreams had been crushed.
“I’ve been to functions and other than the occasional whisper by the same catty trolls I’ve dealt with my whole life, it has been better. But no big celebrations with me in the spotlight.”
“Other than sitting around in your pajamas and drinking alone, what are you doing?” He picked up his glass and drank the wine, even though he’d prefer whiskey.
She reached across the table and flipped open a file folder. He knew immediately what it was. The faces of men they’d grown up around, men who were their fathers’ confidants and friends. “You’re really doing this?”
Years ago Mia had come to him with a plan to get back at the men who’d gotten rich with their fathers by bilking innocent people out of their life savings. She couldn’t go after her own father or his because they’d fled the country. But she wanted to do something proactive.
“Did you think I was kidding? You should know better.”
“I do. Part of me hoped it was a whim you’d plan out and never act on.”
She laughed. “I would never waste my time. And now that I’m thirty, I have the funds to put everything in play.”
Their mothers were smart women. They’d made their husbands sign prenups, which protected the Washington family fortune. Mia’s and Jared’s inheritances were safe from the federal government. Their mothers also made sure the money wouldn’t be wasted on immature whims, so they had to wait until their thirtieth birthdays to access the money.
“Let me help.”
“It’s dangerous. If I get caught, I don’t want you going down with me.”
That had always been her argument every time they discussed this. “Then we won’t get caught. Wait until my birthday. I’ll be able to foot half the bill for the plan.”
“I’ve already waited five years.”
“Then six more months won’t matter.” He was well aware of how long it had been. He’d just graduated law school and all of his plans and dreams had been sucked into the black hole of his father’s dirty deeds. Who the hell would hire the spawn of a criminal? “It’ll give us time to find the right people to carry this out.”
She sipped her wine and studied him. His offer intrigued her, but Mia was not someone who liked to give up control.
“I can be very useful. I have connections you’ll need and have no idea how to get.” Once his law career had gone down the drain, he’d taken all the tools his father had instilled in him, and he’d learned to play in all the gray areas of the world. And he was damn good at it.
