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I’d bet my entire inheritance the mysterious email was directly related to her desire to drink herself into oblivion.
My phone vibrated again. I ended the call without looking at it. Sloane swallowed. She was more fragile beneath the moonlight, her hair a gilded silver instead of ice-blond, her eyes shining with a wary truth that only the depths of night could lay bare.
More than anything, I wanted that truth and, by extension, the trust that came with it.
Let me in, Luna.
She opened her mouth, but a familiar ringtone cut her off. Her eyes shuttered, and fragility hardened into cool professionalism as she turned to take the call. “This is Sloane.”
Fuck. I rubbed a hand over my face, frustration chafing beneath my skin.
I’d never hated the invention of the cell phone more than tonight.
“Yes, we are…I see.” Her tone changed, and an ominous foreboding prickled my scalp. “Of course. I’ll handle it.”
Sloane hung up and faced me again.
A heavy sensation dropped like a lead weight in my stomach. I knew what she was going to say before she said it, but that didn’t soften the impact of her words.
“It’s your father,” she said, her eyes sober for the first time since she showed up at the club. “He’s taken a turn for the worse. They don’t know if he’ll make it through the night.”
CHAPTER11
Sloane
There was nothing like a death scare to shock someone sober.
After I broke the news to Xavier, we returned to the villa and started packing. We didn’t say a word to each other on our walk back or the subsequent ride to the airport.
It was late, but I’d successfully roused his pilot, who got us in the air hours after Eduardo’s call. I also checked out early from our resort, left a brief note for Xavier’s friends, and tied up other loose ends while the younger Castillo retreated within himself.
I glanced across the aisle at Xavier. He was sleeping or pretending to sleep, but even if he were awake, it would be impossible to gauge his true thoughts regarding his father’s health. That was the one topic where he completely shut down.
I rubbed my temple and tried to hold down my meager breakfast. I’d grabbed a few hours of sleep right after we boarded, but a vicious hangover kept me from true rest.
On the bright side, I had plenty of work to distract me from everything that happened yesterday, including my father’s email and my argument with Xavier.
Now that I was sober, I was grateful he’d stopped me before I humiliated myself further at the club, but I still didn’t appreciate how he’d hauled me out of there like a caveman.
I didn’t dwell on the small flutter I’d experienced on the beach, which had clearly been the result of too much alcohol and nothing else.
As I was halfway through crafting a press strategy for if and when Alberto Castillo died, my phone went wild with incoming texts. Considering it was the crack of dawn in New York, that couldn’t be good, and a quick scroll through my texts confirmed it.
VIVIAN
Just wanted to check in on you. Call me when you get a chance.
ALESSANDRA
Have fun! Drink some sangria for me <3
ISABELLA
You look so hot! And so does Xavier ;) Go, girl
My breakfast rose in my throat again when I clicked on the link Isabella sent and saw the photos splashed across the front page of Perry Wilson’s blog along with a blaring red headline.
Girl Gone Wild! Celebrity Publicist Gets Down and Dirty in Spain with Client!
