Kingston’s number. It rings a few times before a familiar voice filters through the speaker.
“How’d it go?”
“Fine,” I grit out, glancing toward the hall Bianca disappeared through.
“You don’t sound fine.” I can hear his amusement, and it only grates on my nerves.
“I’m….” My voice trails as I replay the last thirty minutes and squeeze the back of my neck.
“Let me guess. Bianca giving you a headache?”
“Possibly.”
“Figured.”
“What do you know about her?” I ask.
His hesitation rings louder than a siren. Removing the phone from my ear, I check the screen to make sure the call is still connected. It is.
“King?” I murmur. “You there?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Your silence isn’t exactly comforting.”
“I’m nothing, if not honest,” he counters on an exhale.
The hallway is still empty and makes me bold enough to ask about Bianca behind her back. “Tell me about her.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything?” I suggest with a grimace. It sounds so pathetic, but I don’t see Bianca opening up to me anytime soon, and I was too distracted by the shitstorm I was walking into to ask Dominic before I agreed to this ludicrous idea.
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Kingston returns.
“Is her family wealthy? Because she’s spending money like it’s water.”
He chuckles dryly, then throws me a bone. “The Castello family was wealthy before Dominic started maintaining the books. He has a gambling addiction that got their entire family into debt up to their eyeballs. Then a few years ago, money started rolling in. I’m not sure where it came from, but I assume it had something to do with Dominic’s connection to Burlone.”
“So, Bianca’s used to frivolous spending,” I surmise. “Great.”
He laughs. “How much do you need, Jack? I can help you out.”
I wave him off even though he can’t see me and collapse into one of the cushioned leather bar stools tucked beneath the island in the center of the kitchen. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” I sigh and take in the extravagant apartment another time. “We’ll just have to have a little chat about budgeting.”
Another laugh filters through the speakers. “Good luck with that. The Castellos aren’t exactly good at listening. They’re more of the talking type and are stubborn as hell.”
“I may have noticed that much.”
“And it only took you what, an hour or two?”
“Apparently. I just…I don’t know her. That’s all.”
“Yeah. Well, everyone else in the family knows her all too well, and we still can’t figure out what she’s thinking the majority of the time.”
It’s the way he says it that makes me pause. They know her all too well. Like it’s some unsaid secret that everyone else is privy to except me.
“What do you mean?” I demand, my suspicion spiking.
He hesitates, and I know that something slipped out that he’d been meaning to keep to himself.
“Nothing,” he deflects.
“Bullshit. Tell me.”
“Seriously, Jack. Just drop it.”
“You’re keeping something from me, King.”
“I’m keeping a lot of things from you, Jack,” he returns like he’s talking to an idiot.
“And in most circumstances, I would respect your privacy, but when it comes to my future wife, I’d like to think I have a right to know whatever you’re hiding.”
He releases a deep breath, and I know I’ve won. “Look, I don’t want to make it weird for you.”
That sounds promising.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I press forward even though a small part of me knows I’ll regret it. “Just tell me, King.”
“Bianca has always been desperate to find a husband, and she always figured that one of the easiest ways to find one was to use her assets.”
“Which assets in particular?” I press, though I’m afraid I might know.
“She’s…not exactly a virgin, okay?”
I snort, though it does nothing to ease my annoyance. “Yeah, I figured that much out. The girl oozes sex from every pore.”
“And she’s not afraid to give people a taste,” he finishes point blank.
“Are you saying”––I drop my voice low–– “that Bianca has gotten around?”
Another sigh. “Yeah, Jack. I guess that’s what I’m saying.”
“How much?”
“Basically everyone,” he offers dryly.
“Great. I’m marrying the family slut.” My tone is bitter and laced with sarcasm, though I refuse to acknowledge the way my stomach tightens with jealousy.
Again, the bastard laughs. “Look. She wasn’t always that way. She was actually a pretty cool girl, but then Dominic screwed over the family, and she became desperate to get out and to find someone that could take her away from the hellhole she was raised in. It just sucks that her plan ended