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Matthew took up a spot in the corner of the couch, leaving Bryce to move some cushions out of the way at the other end. As he lifted the pile, something fell out and onto the floor. He bent and picked it up.
It was a large red and white t-shirt. Emblazoned on the front was the word.
Chloe
On the back were the words.
The World is my Lover Tour
“Didn’t figure you for a Chloe fan, Jordan.” The words had barely left his lips before the t-shirt was snatched out of Bryce’s fingers. Jordan quickly tucked it under his arm, but Bryce noticed his brother’s hands were shaking. Were those tears in his eyes?
“Are you alright, Jordan? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. The shirt was just a mistake from the laundry service. I meant to get them to come and collect it. Someone in the building must be wondering where it went. It was a mistake. A mistake.” Jordan hurriedly left the room, taking the shirt with him.
When Bryce gaze Matthew a questioning look, his brother simply shrugged. “He won’t tell me, so I would just forget it.”
He raised his glass. “Drink up, Bryce. We need to finish this wine, and then you are going to hide the evidence.”
“Why am I covering up the crime?”
“Because Dad would never suspect you of doing anything wrong. He knows you are far too honest.”
Bryce sipped his expensive French wine. If the price he had to pay to get back in good with his brothers was to share in the spoils of a wine heist, then it was worth paying. Just being with them, being home, was such a priceless thing.
I miss these two. I think it’s time I started making plans to come home, permanently. If there is something wrong in Jordan’s life, I can’t help him if I’m three and a half thousand miles away.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Royal Resorts Offices
New York City
A wet and cold Monday, nine days later
Bryce’s fingers hit the delete button. Click by click, Vivian Holte slowly disappeared from his computer screen. He was not going to search for her. She must have had her reasons for ghosting him, and only a schmuck would go chasing after a woman who clearly didn’t want to be found.
I was interested in her, but not desperate.
As much as he tried to stop thinking about her, his thoughts kept returning to the warm, smiling girl he had met in California. To the wonderful night they had shared. He couldn’t recall the last time a woman had got under his skin. But Vivian certainly had.
You have to move on and get over her. Stop trying to figure out why she left.
Vivian hadn’t tried to rob him, none of his stuff had been touched. Granted, his valuables had been locked away in his suitcase the whole time she had been in his room, but she’d not even attempted to charge a coffee to his bill after he had left for his meeting with the linen company.
He’d been sure she wasn’t married, or if she was, she’d been a player long before he had met her. It would have taken a special talent to be so open and honest, while at the same time a liar and a cheat. His gut told him that wasn’t Vivian. And yet…
None of it made sense.
What a shame. I think she and I could have had a real connection. A future.
Pushing back from his desk he spun his chair to face the window. “I lied to her.” Maybe this was fate punishing him for being false.
Bryce shook his head. Why did Vivian have to come from New York? Eight and a half million people lived in the city. She’d picked the perfect place to hide.
She didn’t want to know you. Get it through your thick skull. Vivian is gone.
He’d just made the decision to put Vivian firmly in the past and move on with his life when there was a loud rap on his door. Bryce turned as his father stormed into his office.
