Runaway Wolfes of Manhattan Three - Helen Hardt Page 0,57
for you.”
Matt stared at both of us quizzically, one eyebrow cocked.
“You want to come into the ballroom?” Rock asked Matt. “We’ve got enough expensive food and booze to feed a fucking army.”
“Already been,” Matt said.
“Come back in, then,” he said. “Ry and I have rounds to make.”
I went rigid. “I don’t want to.”
“I know, Sis. I know. But we have to.”
“Why does she have to?” Matt asked. “It’s obviously bothering her.”
“She shouldn’t have to,” Rock said. “None of us should have to, but we don’t have a choice.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Matt said.
I drew in a deep breath and forced my body to regain my model-like posture. “He’s right, Matt. There are things you don’t know. Things you can’t know.”
“I don’t accept that.”
Rock met Matt’s gaze then. “You have to accept it. You don’t have a choice. You obviously traveled a long way to see my sister, so I’m not going to make you leave. You’re welcome to come back to the wake.”
I sighed again. “Okay. I’m ready. I’m coming.”
“Riley…” Matt began.
“My brother’s right. I have to go in and face my demons.”
“Wait… Demons?”
“Leave it,” Rock said, his voice adamant. “Don’t make this more difficult for her than it already is.”
I placed my hand in the crook of Rock’s arm and let him lead me back to the ballroom. I didn’t look back.
I didn’t look back because I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing Matt standing alone by the elevator.
Matt, who loved me, but who didn’t know me.
Matt, who I loved, when I thought I’d never love anyone in such an intimate way.
“Easy, Sis,” Rock said as he opened the door to the ballroom. “Just take it easy.”
I put on my runway face. It wasn’t a smile. It was a surly look that fashion designers loved. I entered the ballroom as Riley Wolfe, supermodel daughter of Derek Wolfe.
And I got ready to play my part to the fullest.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
He was a great man.
I’ll never forget him.
He was so generous. He helped me save my company.
Loved his golf game!
Loved him. What an amazing man.
The words turned inaudible eventually. I simply smiled and nodded and said my piece.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for coming.
Your being here would mean a lot to him.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Hours passed, and finally I stood alone in the great ballroom with only my brothers, Lacey, and Charlie.
“Great job, silver,” Roy said to Charlie.
“You said to do it up right.”
“We did,” Rock said, “and you did. No one in the world will guess that we weren’t the most devoted children on the planet.”
I stayed quiet. I couldn’t let down yet. If I did, I’d collapse into a heap on this ugly carpeting—who designed hotel carpeting anyway?—and I wouldn’t rise for days.
“You okay, Riley?”
I looked up into the blue eyes of my brother Reid. Of my three brothers, Reid was the least likely to ask after me. He was usually into work, women, and himself and had little time for family.
Not that Roy and Rock had much to do with the family, either, but they weren’t as self-absorbed as Reid always seemed to be.
Perhaps I’d misjudged my youngest brother. Our father had passed him over in favor of Rock to run the business. Rock, who’d been gone since he was a teen and knew nothing about the family empire.
I’d expected Reid to go out on a booze-and-women bender, but he hadn’t. He’d stayed, helping Rock with his new duties as CEO of the company. Maybe he was changing.
Or maybe he wasn’t. How would I know? I was hardly ever around.
I really didn’t know my brothers at all.
They knew me better than I knew them. After all, they knew my darkest secret now. Not the details, mind you. Those were for my head alone. No one else should have to bear that burden.
I scanned the empty ballroom and looked down at my feet. A program from the memorial service lay on the floor, gray and black footprints shading the white paper.
Derek Wolfe. For so long, I’d thought I was my father’s darkest secret.
Turned out I was wrong.
Turned out I was dead wrong.
36
Matteo
Three hours had passed.
Three hours, and still I sat in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, waiting for Riley.
I hadn’t gone back into the ballroom. I didn’t want to make any of this more difficult for her than it clearly already was.
But I didn’t leave, either.
We were going to talk this out.
If she needed to cry all night, I wouldn’t stand in her way.