found Calvin sitting with Merrick. The gruff older man nodded at both of us with a courteous, if steely glance. Calvin just scowled at me, then blinked indifferently at Olivia.
“Oh, it’s you. Has it really been two months already?”
Olivia shied behind me and nodded. “Hi, Daddy. Um, yes. More, actually.”
Calvin frowned. “What did I say about calling me that?”
Olivia’s cheeks reddened as she stared at the floor. “I—sorry. Father.”
“That’s right. You’re too old for that Daddy crap. Listen, I have to finish some business, so do us a favor and go to your room until dinner, all right? God knows we’ve bought you enough things to entertain yourself with. They just sit there the rest of the damn year, so you might as well use them now.”
Olivia’s jaw quivered, but she stuck it out nonetheless and turned to me.
“I’ll come find you in a moment,” I told her quietly. “Would you like to play a game and tell me about your horses? Patricia will be here tomorrow.”
Olivia’s face brightened—whether at the prospect of spending time with me or her nanny, I didn’t know.
“Okay, Mama,” she said, then scampered off down the hall, her footsteps quickly swallowed by the large apartment.
I turned in the direction of my suite but was called back almost immediately.
“Nina, come over here. This concerns you.”
Swallowing back my irritation, I returned to the table and took a seat beside Calvin, who clapped a paw on my knee and started massaging it vigorously.
“I still don’t see why we can’t just put her on the stand. Look at her. She’d make me look great. She always has.”
“No, no, no, you don’t want to do that,” said Merrick. “You waive spousal privilege, and suddenly the prosecution is all over every little thing you might have told her ever. Trust me. Keep her silent.”
“What’s this about?” I asked quietly.
“That greaseball from Brooklyn submitted a new list of witnesses this week,” Calvin said.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” said Merrick soothingly. “My main concern at this point is how they’re trying this already in the court of public opinion. There was a lot of press around the death of John Carson and the arrest of Jude Letour. The fact that he confirmed you as an associate doesn’t look good. But if you’re only an investor in the property, you’re certainly less culpable.”
I frowned. “Is that really all they have? His name on the property?”
“And that grainy photograph of me and Letour outside the property. You remember, the one they used to arrest me the first time?” He chuckled, clearly more for Merrick’s benefit than for mine. “Talk about picking the worst time to do an inspection, eh, princess?” Then the hand on my knee tightened as his voice sharpened. “Why, what did you think they would have?”
I opened my mouth, but found I had nothing to say. This was yet another reason Matthew had kept me purposefully in the dark, no doubt. Plausible deniability worked both ways.
“Nothing,” I said demurely.
“Well, Merr here agrees with me. It’s time to fight fire with fire.” Calvin’s gaze dropped to my left hand, on which I still wore my original engagement and wedding rings. And his gaze predictably turned to ash. “Where is your ring?”
I looked down at the pear-shaped diamond that was somehow so much better than that new monstrosity he’d given me. “Oh, um. I’m having it resized. It was a little too small.”
“Again?”
I nodded. “They did a poor job the last time. Now it’s too small. And then, as you remember, the cleaners damaged the gold, so I needed to have that replaced.”
None of these things were true. I had simply been drumming up as many excuses as possible to avoid wearing the eyesore.
“Small, eh? Are we putting on a few extra pounds?” Calvin chortled at Merrick, who kept his face predictably blank.
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “I’ll pick it up next week.” I also added a mental reminder to drop it off in the first place.
“Good. We’ll need a photoshoot, won’t we, with the new gem. A wedding planner is coming tomorrow. You’ll set it all up with her.”
My head snapped up. “What?”
“I asked Moira to find one. Thought it might be a nice surprise.” Calvin’s face darkened as he realized it wasn’t anything of the sort.
In two and a half months, I had somehow managed to evade the question of vow renewal again and again. It wasn’t that difficult. For one, Calvin was often gone despite technically being