A week later, Nina helicoptered into the city to attend the Levitt Global board meeting. The bird’s-eye view of skyscrapers sparkling in the sun was lost on her, as her mind wrestled with knotty problems. Connor had gone back to the city a couple of days before, and she’d discovered she hated being apart from him. She didn’t like that he had a job—working for Lauren, no less, whom he’d admitted to having a fling with. They say if you love someone, let them go, but she didn’t want him out of her sight. They’d tried talking on the phone. It wasn’t enough. He suggested they sext, but Nina refused. For a public figure like her, nudes could get you blackmailed. Besides, she didn’t want a picture. She wanted the real thing.
They touched down at the heliport. She wondered how long it would be until she was alone with him. Would she have to wait until tonight at the apartment, or would he come to her office? She could lock the door.
The car pulled up to the Park Avenue office tower that housed Levitt Global. Juliet waited by the curb with an umbrella to shield Nina’s delicate skin from the July sun. Juliet had been hired as a personal assistant shortly after Edward’s death, when Nina was inundated with messages of condolence and had no patience for replying. The lie of it all. She wasn’t sad, she was free. Juliet took the annoying bits off her hands. Small and dainty, in her customary uniform of black pantsuit and glasses, her dark hair pulled back, she had an air of bland efficiency that Nina found soothing. As Nina stepped into a bigger role at the company, Juliet came along, making the transition seamless. Now she was indispensable, a combination personal and executive assistant and paid companion. She traveled with Nina, and spent weeks on end at Windswept, overseeing the household staff when that responsibility felt like too much. Nina could disappear into her love affair with Connor, knowing Juliet would be there to pick up the slack.
They went over the day’s schedule as they crossed the soaring marble lobby to the company’s dedicated elevator bank.
“Board meeting in thirty minutes,” Juliet said as they got on the elevator, “giving you time to review the packet I prepared. Hank canceled your dinner date—”
“He canceled?”
Hank must’ve heard the gossip about Nina and Connor. This could be touchy.
“Do you know why?” Nina asked.
Juliet shot a meaningful look upward to the top corner of the sleek chrome cab, where a shiny cylinder concealed a camera. They were being watched. That was expected at Levitt Global, and they were well-versed in the location of surveillance dead spots. They got out on the executive floor and Nina followed Juliet down the hallway to an overlooked corner behind a potted plant.
“My take on it is, he’s upset about your relationship with Connor. You should know, he and Lauren are going after him,” Juliet said.
“Going after Connor? How?”
“Complaining about his work on the Saudi deal. Levitt Global is getting trashed in the press. They’re blaming Connor, saying he mishandled the roll-out.”
“I warned Hank that deal would not be popular. Of course the press is bad. You can’t spin shit into gold.”
“He’s leaning on Lauren to move up Connor’s performance review. Since Connor’s only been at the company for ten months, he’s technically on probationary status. A negative performance review could lead to termination.”
“This is personal, you know. Hank’s jealous.”
“I believe you.” She shrugged and raised her eyebrows, as if to say, What can you do?
“I’m going to speak to him right now,” Nina said.
“You’re not in his calendar.”
“You’re telling me he’s trying to ruin Connor’s career. I won’t sit still for that.”
Juliet followed Nina down the hall. The corner suite occupied by Hank and his staff had once belonged to Edward. Nina had an office just across the elevator bank, the better to keep an eye on company business. She was an activist board chair, and Hank didn’t like that. He didn’t fancy being overseen by the founder’s widow. Interesting that his aggressive push for a personal relationship with Nina coincided with her growing role as a check on his corporate ambitions. She wondered whether he truly cared, or just wanted to control her.
As Nina swept through the anteroom, Hank’s two assistants popped up from their desks like Whac-A-Moles to intercept her. She waved them off. Juliet ran interference, stepping in to mollify them.
Hank looked up from his computer, his eyes mild behind his glasses.
“Ah, Nina. What a surprise.”
But, was it? Hank would have known the second she entered the building, if not sooner. Knowing Hank, he had spies at the helipad. She sat down in a leather chair across from his enormous glass desk. He’d had the office gutted and redone. It was sleekly contemporary now, where in Edward’s day it had been all dark paneling, cigars, and power. The view behind the CEO was the same, however—the island of Manhattan laid at his feet.
Hank looked past her to his assistants, who stood at the door with worried expressions.
“Bring Mrs. Levitt her beverage of choice, please,” he said.
They scurried off. Hank leaned back in his chair.
“Here to review the Saudi deal before the board meeting?”
There were other, more pressing concerns on her mind.
“Back off,” she said.
He looked amused. “I beg your pardon?”
“You’re screwing with Connor because you’re jealous.”
“Ah, right, got it now. Look, Nina, Lauren told me he put in a leave request for a ridiculous amount of vacation this summer—”
“Since when do you care about the inner workings of the PR department?”
“It affects the bottom line. Have you seen the press on this Saudi deal? It’s scathing.”
“Because we’re getting in bed with a terrorist regime.”
“Because somebody’s not doing his job. Perhaps you’re unable to see that because of who you’re in bed with.”
“You’re proving my point. This is personal for you.”
One of Hank’s assistants tiptoed in with Nina’s iced skim flat white in a crystal glass, set it on a coaster on Hank’s desk, and tiptoed out. She took a sip. It was so perfect that she knew Juliet had made it.
Hank raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s personal for you. I see you on the verge of making a big mistake, and I feel it’s my duty to warn you.”
“Warn me.”
“Yes. I have to ask—how much do you actually know about this man?”
He swiveled in his chair and pulled a file from a cabinet, then slid it across the desk to her with a soft, white hand. A spark of fear shot through her.
“What is that?”
“Connor’s approaching a year with the company. This next performance review will determine whether he’s retained. Naturally, we’ve done a thorough background check.”
“Something tells me that’s not his HR file.”
“Read it. I think you’ll find it very interesting.”
“I know what I need to know about him.”
Nina was not naïve enough to believe that she knew everything about Connor. Yes, they’d talked for hours, and he’d told her enough ugly things to make him seem transparent. But nobody was completely honest, in her experience. There was always something held back.
“After a few days in bed? Come on. Read it. Unless you’re afraid to find out what it says.”
She picked up the file, her chest tight with nerves. Hank was the king of digging up dirt. He’d vetted Nina back in the day. When she and Edward met, she was fresh out of Barnard, working as a gallerina in SoHo, living in a fifth-floor walk-up in Alphabet City when that neighborhood was just rats and riots. Blue blood ran in her veins, and Edward liked that. But she was poor as a beggar, spending her days shilling art of questionable value and nights snorting whatever was on offer in the bathrooms at the Limelight. Everyone had their skeletons. Nina knew what Hank was capable of—and yes, she was afraid to read his dossier on Connor.
For the next ten minutes, she read in silence, doing her best to maintain a poker face, conscious of Hank’s eyes on her the whole time. Finally, she closed the file and looked at him, smoothing her features into a bored expression.
“It’s nothing I didn’t know,” she said.
He snorted. “Really? The part about the missing girl? You didn’t know that.”
“Someone he was once involved with, who went missing years after they broke up. Why should that trouble me?”
“You’re in denial. There’s evidence of his involvement.”
Nina sighed. “I see what you’re doing, Hank.”
“I’m trying to inform you that the man you’re involved with has a possible murder in his past.”
She reached across the desk and touched his hand. “I’m sorry if things didn’t work out how you hoped between us. But smearing Connor won’t change that.”
He pulled his hand away, coloring. “This has nothing to do with us. Whether we’re together or not, I consider you a friend, and I don’t want to see you hurt. I can only conclude that your grief over Edward’s death has impaired your judgment. Or else you’d see this man for what he is.”
“And what’s that?”
“A con artist, who’s after your money, and who might be dangerous.”
“Because he couldn’t possibly be interested in me for myself.”
“You know I don’t think that. You’re beautiful and very desirable. That doesn’t make his intentions honorable.”
“I know you’re trying to protect me, Hank, and I appreciate that very much. But it is what it is. My feelings are not going to change.”
He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that. I think you’re making a grave mistake.”
He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. Hank was nothing if not a shrewd businessman. He’d lost, and he knew it. He wasn’t going to give her any more trouble. But that didn’t mean he’d drop his vendetta against Connor. Nina would have to offer a real incentive if she wanted to protect Connor from Hank.
“I have a proposal for how to handle this, going forward,” she said. “Hear me out.”
She told him she would drop her opposition to the Saudi contract in exchange for Hank backing off on Connor and agreeing that he should be reassigned. Connor would no longer work for Lauren in PR, but rather become special assistant to the chairwoman of the board—Nina herself. Once he worked for her, he could travel with her, and nobody would raise an eyebrow.
“What you’re proposing would be an HR violation,” Hank said.
“This company is hardly a model of compliance. You were married to someone in your chain of command for ten years. And Edward—how many female employees did he sleep with over the years?”
“Exactly. And the company’s spent millions on payouts on sexual-harassment claims. I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t want to face that again.”
“You won’t have to. This is entirely consensual.”
“We’d have to get the lawyers involved, to review what you’re suggesting.”
“Are you saying you agree?”
“I don’t have much choice. I need your vote on this project, and you’re holding it for ransom.”
Nina was flush with relief. “Thank you. And Hank, your friendship means so much to me.”
He waved her off angrily.
“Enough bullshit, all right? You’re no better than Edward, looking for some boy toy. You never cared about me. Well, you got what you wanted. Don’t expect us to be friends going forward. I see you for who you are now. I have work to do. Get out of my office.”
Nina got up and walked out with her cheeks burning.
“If you’re stupid enough to marry him, you’ll get what you deserve,” Hank tossed after her.