have to be extra careful around your dad now. I have words for him.”
“I bet,” I laughed
“Hmmm…” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, looking around the restaurant, like an idea was hiding behind one of the plants.
“Why don’t you apply with a different last name?”
“Because most businesses require identification of some sort, and all of those have my name on them. I wouldn’t get far.”
“You remember Jeb from college?”
“The computer guy who rarely left his dorm?”
“Yup. He makes legit fake IDs. What if he made one for you with a different last name?”
“I don’t know. That sounds illegal.”
She shrugged like legality was a minor detail. “You could use your mother’s name. It’s hard to blacklist someone when he doesn’t know what’s coming.”
“My mother’s last name is Mariano.”
“What? Doesn’t the woman usually take the man’s last name?”
“Not when your family lives by midcentury rules and wants their company to stay with the family name. They agreed to let my father run the company as long as he took their last name. I guess he wanted the company more than his own legacy.”
Not that I blamed him. He was a foster kid with no history who worked his way up at Mariano Shipping, making a name for himself.
“Okay … what about your grandmother’s last name?”
“Hmm…Barrone?”
“Love it. Let’s do it. Come on,” she cajoled.
“What if they recognize me? I grew up in this world and around all the big names.”
“Well, old money isn’t the only place to work. Besides, you don’t want to work with those old men set in their old ways. Remember all the bold, brash ideas you came up with? You’d get so excited, clutching your pearls.”
“Shut up,” I laughed.
“Come on, good girl. Take your brilliant ideas elsewhere and get to work.”
Maybe it was the champagne. Maybe it was the flush still lingering on my cheeks from the sexy stranger in the corner. Maybe it was desperation to live a little longer before my life was given to someone else.
Right then, it didn’t matter.
Right then, Raelynn’s plan sounded damn good.
Finishing off my glass, I leaned forward.
Her lips tipped in a slow smile, knowing she’d won me over. A thrill of excitement shot down my spine, washing away any fear that this would have drastic consequences.
I didn’t care.
I’d blame it on the champagne.
“Okay. Let’s make a plan.”
Three
Nico
“How many interviews do we have today?” I asked, already tired despite not having even started.
My assistant, Ryan, flipped through his stack of papers until he found what he was looking for. “Five.”
My body sank into the plush leather of my chair. “Jesus,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face. “Remind me why I’m doing these again?”
Ryan cocked a brow and gave me his signature deadpanned stare he reserved just for me. We’d worked together almost longer than anyone, making him the only employee to be able to get away with it.
“Because you’re a control freak who likes to micromanage even though you always regret how much it adds to your plate.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
“Well, then, just keep the coffee coming all day.”
“Will do.” He made it to the door before stopping with one last thing. “Also, a Joseph Andrews called while you were away. I left a note with the papers, but it seemed important.”
“Thank you, Ryan.”
If possible, I sank even lower in my seat, tired down to my bones. Digging through the papers, I pulled out the sticky note that had the number I was all too familiar with scrawled across it.
Joseph was one of the attendees at the assisted living center my grandfather lived at. I hated having him there, but he was beyond living on his own. Old age had crept up on him faster than it should have because of stress—unnecessary stress. I stuck the post-it to the edge of my computer, so I remembered to call at lunch. If it had been urgent, he would have reached out to me on my cell phone.
Either way, I needed to get back to Charleston. I’d been in New York for an entire week, and already the cramped city bore down on me. It was too loud, too busy, too…people-y. However, each year, my time in New York increased. What started as a third of the year was now turning into two-thirds of the year in New York. It was bittersweet, to say the least.
But work needed to be done. The New York office was growing faster than I’d anticipated, pulling in larger projects each week,