life of comfort—that was exactly what Gloria had done to be with Jerome.
“I didn’t know my father back then—he left my mother when I was only seven. All I knew was that he was a shady businessman, that my mother expected better of me. But Ruby left me, and my mom died not too long after. I didn’t have any brothers and sisters—my whole life it had just been my mom and me. I’d never been so alone.”
His voice broke on the word alone. Gloria’s heart twisted.
“I had no choice but to track Dad down. I found a few of his letters that Mom had never given me, and went to the return address. He took me in, brought me into his insurance business.
“I didn’t have much of a head for the work—numbers and I don’t get along so well. Which is why I didn’t realize until it was too late that my father was engaged in ripping off thousands of people.”
So Forrest was innocent. And he’d only sought out his father because he’d been backed into a corner. Gloria knew from experience that desperation had a way of glossing over red flags where money was involved.
Gloria looked over at the ballroom entrance and saw that everyone milling around it had gone inside. “We’d better get going.” She walked fast down the hallway, her heels sinking into the fluffy peach carpet. “Is Pembroke even your father’s real name? ”
“It isn’t, but I’m not planning on telling you what it really is.”
“Is Forrest Hamilton your real name? ”
“Yes. Hamilton was my mother’s maiden name.”
For some reason it made Gloria feel better that she knew Forrest by his real name. “So Pembroke got caught?”
“Only after he’d illegally made enough money to buy this hotel a dozen times over.” Forrest gestured at the chandeliers they passed under and the crystal doorknobs that probably cost more than some people’s houses. “When the cops came to arrest him, we fled across the country and made new identities for ourselves. I convinced my father that we could hide on Long Island. Ruby was in Manhattan with her new husband, and I wanted to be close by while I became the man she needed me to be.”
“She needed you to be a criminal?”
“She needed a man who could take care of her.” Forrest’s expression grew hard. “The feds never came looking for me—they just wanted my dad. So I could pretend to be a high roller and disguise my father to keep him safe. I invested in shows, laundering his money, all the while hoping Ruby might recognize my picture in the newspapers. Eventually she did, and she showed up at one of my parties.”
The two of them stopped outside the last door on the left, room 219. Gloria knocked and looked back at Forrest while they waited.
A smile had appeared on his face when he mentioned Ruby, but it dissolved as quickly as it had come. “I can’t leave my father to the authorities, though, not now. If it’s got to be one or the other, I’ve got to leave Ruby behind.” He let out another world-weary sigh. “She probably would’ve changed her mind at the last second anyway. Dad’s right. She’d regret ruining her career for a punk like me.”
“You’re not a punk,” Ruby said, surprising him. “Just an idiot.”
Ruby stood in the doorway of room 219, looking stunning in a deep-purple sleeveless gown. Flowers were embroidered in silver thread all over the dress’s bodice. A rhinestone headband held Ruby’s luxurious waves in place.
“Ruby, what are you doing here?” Forrest asked. He glanced anxiously down the hall in the direction he and Gloria had come.
“Don’t worry, I think we lost him when we came upstairs,” Gloria said, following Forrest into the room and closing the door behind her.
They walked into the parlor of a luxurious suite, complete with a gold chandelier, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a grand piano in the corner. There was a brown velvet couch in the center of the room with two matching armchairs on either side. Marcus sat on the couch in his tuxedo. His golden hair was slicked away from his face and showed off his sculpted cheekbones.
Somewhere along the line, Gloria’s best friend had shifted from a prep school rake to a devastatingly handsome man. His golden skin glowed with a fading summer tan, and long, sooty lashes framed his arresting blue eyes. But when he grinned and his dimples sank into his cheeks, Gloria was still able to see