“I think my cheeks hurt from smiling,” Pippa whines next to me before taking a large gulp from the champagne flute in her hand. We stand off to the side of the dance floor, waiting for Beck and Margo to meet us before finding our table.
My eyes scan the room, looking for familiar faces. There’s an uneasy feeling in my stomach as I search for Daly. We need to have a conversation, but I have to find a way to do it without Pippa hearing. The pit in my stomach could also be from the idea of my parents being here. It depends on their mood if they show up to these events, and I hope tonight is a night where I get to avoid them.
I don’t want to introduce them to Pippa. They don’t deserve to meet the woman I love.
“If one more person asks if I’m pregnant, I might actually punch them in the throat,” Margo rants, walking up to us with Beck and Emma following closely behind.
“Want this?” Pippa offers, holding out her half-drank champagne glass.
Margo snatches it from her hand. “Thanks. I’ll need about five of these to dodge the baby questions all night.”
“Next time someone asks you if you’re pregnant, you should aim the question back at them,” Pippa suggests, a mischievous smile on her face.
Margo and Beck both laugh as Emma walks away to flag down a server with a tray full of more champagne.
“I might actually do that next time.” Her smile falters for a moment as she looks back at Beck. “There’s nothing I want more than to tell people we’re having a baby, but it hasn’t happened yet. And even if we were, I don’t feel comfortable telling people until we’re out of the first trimester.”
Pippa reaches out and squeezes Margo’s hand. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation. It’s nobody’s business. I’m sorry they’re asking you.”
“I told you we could avoid the press,” Beck offers, wrapping his arm around his wife.
Margo smiles up at him. “I don’t mind the press when they’re asking about our work or how much money we think will be raised for charity tonight. I just feel like the baby questions are out of hand.”
“Hold the champagne all night and people will stop asking,” Pippa adds.
Emma returns, her hands full of multiple champagne flutes. She holds them out to our little circle, each of us taking one. “Maybe we should just have you chugging from a bottle in front of everyone. That’ll make them stop.”
Everyone laughs. I hold up my champagne flute to declare a toast. “To the assholes who think they’re entitled to our business.”
“And to my rich friends who get me into these types of things,” Emma adds with a laugh. “Cheers!”
It’s quiet for a moment as each of us takes a drink. The champagne is bubbly and sweet as it goes down my throat.
Margo finishes her drink, turning to face her body toward Pippa and me. “Speaking of questions, how did your first red carpet go, Pippa?”
Pippa’s eyes widen as she lets out a slow breath. The exposed skin of her breasts moves with the breath, making me want to reach out and pop one of her perfect nipples free. Too bad there are too many people, and she’s making me wait to devour her until this night is over.
“It was actually terrifying,” Pippa answers with a resigned sigh. “They kept asking for my restaurant’s name as if any of them would have a clue about Wake and Bake.”
“Holy shit!” Emma calls, the back of her hand hitting Beck in the stomach with her sudden movement.
“What the hell, Emma,” Beck rants, giving her a look. She doesn’t notice it; she’s too busy looking at the grand staircase that leads down into the ballroom.
I follow her sight, catching on to what she sees at the same moment as everyone else.
“Is that Winnie?” Margo asks, completely shocked.
I squint my eyes, looking from the girls’ friend to Beck. “Is that Archer Moore?”
Beck watches the two of them with his eyebrows drawn in on his forehead. “It definitely is.”
We stare wide-eyed at Winnie, arm in arm with Archer Moore—someone Beck and I went to school with. And someone I thought Winnie’s family hated.
Pippa shifts next to me, leaning in close. “I recognize your friend Winnie. Did we not know she had a boyfriend?”
Emma lets out a low, long whistle. “I knew she had one. Just last time she confided in me, she was not with him.”
“I didn’t know she was with anyone at all,” Margo notes, staring at her best friend.
The word on the street is decades ago, there was a business deal that went wrong between the Moores and the Bishops. They were supposed to be business partners before Winnie’s grandfather pulled out, stabbing Archer’s family in the back in the process.
We all stare at them as they head in our direction. Archer seems to almost be dragging Winnie over to us. Her fingers are wrapped so tightly around his bicep I can see the little indentations on his suit from the pressure.
Archer stops in front of us, giving Beck and me a cold smile. “Sinclair. Hunter. Good to see you two.”
He shakes both of our hands, his handshake firm.
“I thought events like this were never your thing,” Beck comments, giving Archer and Winnie a polite smile. Archer was a year younger than us in school, but he was always avoiding parties at all costs. Even after we all graduated and moved on with our lives, he rarely showed up to functions hosted by New York’s elite.
“I had to come to celebrate,” Archer answers, his eyes flicking to Winnie at his side.
She’s always been quiet when I’ve seen her with Margo and Emma, but she seems unusually quiet tonight.
Emma tries to get Winnie’s attention, but she doesn’t say anything. She looks at Archer’s profile as if her life depended on it.
“Celebrate what, exactly?” Beck asks, looking at me, confused.
Archer lifts Winnie’s hand, a giant diamond ring on her gloved hand sparkling underneath the chandeliers.
“What?” Emma shrieks, ripping Winnie’s hand from Archer’s grip. Margo leans in close as well, inspecting what appears to be an engagement ring.
My head cocks for a moment, but before I can ask the questions running through my mind, Archer pulls Winnie’s hand from Emma’s grasp and plants a kiss to the glistening diamond on Winnie’s finger. “We couldn’t pass up the opportunity for our first event as husband and wife.”
“I think I might pass out,” Emma comments, her words coming out shaky.
“What is he talking about?” Margo presses, taking a step closer to Winnie.
Winnie looks up with a soft smile. “We’ve got some things to catch up on.”
Margo wraps her arm through Pippa’s, something I appreciate because I don’t want Pippa to feel left out, even though she clearly has no idea the impact of what’s transpiring in front of us.
“I need to go to the ladies’ room,” Margo chimes, pulling Pippa with her. She uses her other hand to grab Winnie, having to pretty much rip Winnie from Archer’s grasp. “You’re coming, too, Win.”
Winnie doesn’t argue, even though Archer’s lips press into a straight line of displeasure.
“You okay with that?” I ask Pippa, wanting to make sure she feels comfortable.
She smiles. “Yes.”
Margo doesn’t waste any more time. She pulls on Pippa and Winnie, gesturing for Emma to follow.
The three of us watch them leave, no one speaking until their bodies disappear into the group of partygoers.
After they’re gone, I turn to face Archer. “It appears congratulations are in order.”
Archer gives a curt nod. “Thanks, Hunter.”
“Did we miss an invite?” My eyes fly to Beck. Normally, I’m the one who is an asshole between the two of us.
“She wanted something small,” Archer answers, his eyes searching the room.
Beck and I share a look. Something seems different about this, but it’s not my place to say anything. My eyes catch on Daly talking in a group of people across the room.
“I’ll be back,” I tell the two of them, dismissing myself. As fun as it’d be to hear all about how Winnie ended up married to him, there are more pressing things for me to handle.
I weave in and out of the bodies of people until I find Daly. His eyes find mine immediately. He excuses himself from the conversation and stops in front of me.
I don’t waste time cutting to the chase. “Tell me you have more answers.”
Just by the way his face pinches together, I know he doesn’t have good news for me.
“The paperwork hasn’t fully gone through, but the real estate group said the sale is under contract.”
“Did they say with who?”
Daly shakes his head. “No. All they said was that it was all the properties on your block but yours and that it was a New York buyer.”
“Fuck.” I seethe, my mind racing with who it could be.
I’d asked Daly to help me get to the bottom of the notice Pippa was given. If the real estate group was wanting to sell, I’d gladly purchase all of the properties so the rent didn’t go up or wasn’t sold to someone else. Or at least give Pippa the opportunity to buy herself out like she said she wanted. It makes no sense why all of a sudden, someone from out of town has come in to buy Sutten real estate. It was a shock to most that I did. I don’t understand what business anyone has with those properties.
“At this point, we might just have to wait until the sale is final, and then if you choose, you could go to whoever purchased it and give them a number.”
I run a hand over my mouth, my eyes scanning the room to see if Pippa and the girls have returned yet. “Do you think we know them?”
Daly sighs. “It seems too coincidental for us not to, but I don’t know. I’m trying to think of anyone who could profit off those spaces.”
I frown, looking through the crowd of people, wondering if they’re here now. “I need to find out before it goes through. I can’t let Pippa know that the business location she’s worked so hard for might’ve been purchased from right underneath her.”
“Can she get a different space? I haven’t looked around.”
I shoot him a scathing look. “I’m not even going to put energy into your stupid question.”
His cheeks puff out as he looks at anything but me. He’s done with the conversation, which is fine. He’s not useful to me at the moment anyway.
Instead, I look out at the crowd of the wealthiest people in New York. Someone here has to have answers. I just have to find them.
