Runaway Wolfes of Manhattan Three - Helen Hardt Page 0,47
incidents. She could have been underage when Roy found her.”
“All true,” Lacey agreed. “We need to find her.”
“The PIs are on it, baby,” Rock said. “We need to prepare ourselves to act like the grieving children tomorrow at the asshole’s memorial.”
“We’re losing a buttload of money every day we don’t break ground in Vegas,” Reid reminded us.
“I don’t think any of us care about that at the moment,” Rock said.
“Someone has to. We’re in great shape, but we can’t keep delaying. This is still a business.”
“Fine, fine. You and I’ll go to Vegas first thing next week and get it figured out.”
“Good,” Reid said. “We can’t put it off any longer.”
The servers arrived with our salads—spinach with avocado and tomato and a jalapeno ranch dressing.
I took a bite.
Mmm. Spicy. And delicious.
Not nearly as spicy as the Mexican food I’d eaten in Montana with Matt, though.
Damn.
I missed him.
I missed him so much.
30
Matteo
“There isn’t a lot to tell,” I said. “I’m from a small town in Montana outside of Billings called Sumter Falls.”
“Oh? How do you know Riley?”
“I don’t, really.” Not actually a lie. I sure didn’t know her as well as I wanted to.
“Not buying it, dude,” Fox said. “No one flies to New York from Montana to meet a supermodel without knowing her. Unless he’s a stalker.”
I nearly spit my sixty-five-dollar bourbon on the bar. I swallowed quickly. “I’m no stalker.”
“Yeah, you don’t look the type. I had one once. She was a real piece of work.” He took a drink. “Still, though, why’d you fly here to find Riley?”
“If I tell you the truth, you need to keep it in confidence.”
“Absolutely. Who would I tell?”
“Well…everyone in the modeling industry comes to mind,” I said.
“That’s not my style.” Fox set down his glass and met my gaze. “What’s your story?”
“Do I have your word that it stays between the two of us?”
“You do.”
For some reason, I believed the young man who was a virtual stranger to me. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe I just needed to tell someone about Riley and me. Maybe that would make it more real. I was beginning to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing.
“She rented a cabin of mine in Montana. That’s how we met.”
“Oh?” He lifted his brows. Yeah, his interest was definitely piqued. “So that’s where she ran away to. Montana.”
“Ran away?”
“Yeah. Like I said, it’s her MO.”
“Why?”
“Why?” He chuckled. “If I had to wager a guess, probably because she’s a spoiled brat whose had everything handed to her since the day she escaped her mother’s womb.”
“Hey, wait a minute—”
“Easy. I mean no disrespect. She’s great at what she does. I’ve already told you that. But she doesn’t seem to take her career seriously. Why in hell would she just take off whenever the wind blows, you know? Answer? Because she can. Daddy takes care of her.”
“Uh…didn’t you hear? Daddy’s dead.”
“Yeah. That’s right. Someone offed him.”
“So she’s probably mourning him,” I said.
“Then why did she run away? To get away from her brothers?”
“”Brothers?” She’d told me she had only one brother. So much I didn’t know.
“Yeah. Three of them. All big and strong and protective. I met one of them recently. He’s the size of a tank.”
An artist the size of a tank? Riley’s brothers didn’t scare me. I could hold my own. Besides, I was no threat to their sister. I was in love with her. Despite the fact she’d lied to me continually.
But was I truly in love?
I knew nothing about her. I’d learned more from a half hour talking to Fox than I had from Riley in the few days we spent together.
Had I fallen in love with an illusion?
“Is she close with her brothers? Her family?”
“I honestly don’t know. I barely know her. We’ve been to some functions together, and we’ve had some trivial conversation, but she pretty much keeps to herself.”
I nodded. “I get it.”
Did I ever. She’d invented a whole new identity to keep me from getting to know her. Talk about keeping to herself. Maybe I didn’t know her any better than Fox did.
Except she and I had slept together. Made love. It had been quick and furious and wonderful, but I wished with all my heart that I’d been able to show her so much more.
“So why are you looking for her? She made that much of an impression on you?”
Had she ever. “Does that surprise you?”
He shook his head. “You aren’t the first guy to fall for a pretty face.”