“Your pitch is impressive. Your paperwork is in order. But I’ll be honest,” he said after I addressed his concerns about potential competitors on the market. “I don’t buy that you’ve changed so much, so fast. You’ve never owned, started, or operated a business, and you have a well-deserved reputation for reckless partying.”

“I don’t know about reckless…”

“I’m also aware your inheritance hinges on this club,” he continued, ignoring me. “What happens if it doesn’t pass muster during its first evaluation?”

It was a good question, one I tried not to think about too often. The prospect of failing so spectacularly in the public eye was like falling off that bridge in my nightmares: terrifying, out of my control, and damn near inevitable.

“I understand your concerns.” I covered the sudden lurch in my stomach with a confident smile. Fake it till you make it. “But what I did in my past doesn’t define who I am now. Yes, I’ve spent the better part of my twenties engaging in…other activities besides entrepreneurship, but as the progress I’ve already made proves, I’m serious about this.”

Alex stared at me, unmoved.

Dammit. Talking to the man was like talking to an iceberg—a low-key hostile one.

I searched for an argument that didn’t rehash what he already knew, and my eye caught on the single framed photo adorning his desk. In it, he stood next to a beautiful woman with long black hair and a sunny smile. Each held a baby in their arms; one was swaddled in pink, the other in blue.

Alex wasn’t smiling, exactly, but his face contained more warmth than I’d thought him capable of. He’d been married for a while, but I distinctly remembered a time when the cold, seemingly unfeeling CEO’s relationship with his now wife had made waves.

No one had thought he was capable of falling in love—until he did.

“You say you don’t buy that I’ve changed so much, so fast, but not all change is gradual,” I said slowly, forming my words as I went. “Sometimes, an unexpected event forces us to step up in ways we haven’t before, or we meet someone who changes our outlook. It happens every day. My father’s death was one of those triggers for me.” Sort of. But I wasn’t about to discuss my inheritance or my mother’s letter with a near stranger. “I’m not proud of the time I’ve wasted, but I’m trying to make up for it now.” I met Alex’s gaze with a steady one of my own. “Have you ever done something you regretted? Something you were desperate to fix but relied on someone, somewhere taking a leap of faith on you for it to change?”

He didn’t move, but a tiny glint of emotion flickered in his eyes.

“We don’t know each other well,” I said. “But I promise, if you take this leap of faith on me, I’ll do the location justice. Because it’s not just your name and reputation riding on this—it’s also mine.”

The ensuing silence stretched taut beneath the quiet hum of the heater. It was impossible to read Alex’s face, and just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, his chin dipped a fraction of an inch.

“Bring on a business partner. If I deem them acceptable, the vault is yours.”

My heart soared and crashed in the span of five seconds.

It was a bigger concession than I’d expected from Alex, and it was exactly what I didn’t want to hear.

Vuk wanted the location confirmed before he signed on. Alex wanted Vuk or someone like Vuk attached before he confirmed. It was one hell of a catch-22.

The universe truly loves fucking with me.

“I’m way ahead of you.” I smiled, projecting assuredness I absolutely did not have. “I’m in the process of bringing Vuk Markovic on as a silent partner.”

“Good. Then producing a signed contract with him shouldn’t be a problem.” Alex checked his watch. “I expect the contract before Thanksgiving, Mr. Castillo. I’ve already received multiple offers on the vault, but since I’m intrigued by your proposal, I’ll give you a grace period. My offer expires on November 26 at midnight.”

“Noted.” I did a quick calculation of my odds between Vuk and Alex. I had an infinitesimally better chance of getting Vuk to bend than Alex, if only because he lived in New York and I could badger him more easily. “Thanks for your time. I appreciate it.”

Mental note: Go back to Vuk and figure out how the hell to get him on board. Not necessarily in that order.

I exited Alex’s office, my mind spinning with fragments of ideas and strategies. A flat wall-mounted screen played silently while I waited for the elevator. The big story of the day was the birth of Princess Camilla, Eldorra’s newest royal baby.

I envied her. Babies didn’t have to worry about bars and business.

They just cried and slept and ate, and people still loved them.

Once I made it downstairs, I instructed the driver I’d hired for the day to take me to Harper Security headquarters. Every nightclub needed security, and Christian Harper provided the best.

Name number five.

I hoped my meeting with him went better than the one with Alex.

Upside: my meeting with Christian did, in fact, go better than the one with Alex, probably because he got paid whether my club sank or swam. If he didn’t, he’d simply pull his services.

Downside: I had no clue how to get Vuk to sign a binding contract in eighteen days without a location.

I could try to secure another space. I had a list of backups in case the old bank vault fell through, but my gut told me they weren’t the right fit.

People’s first impression of a nightclub was its location. I wasn’t going to water it down and go with any old spot.

After my meeting with Christian, I swung by Silver & Klein’s offices to meet with Jules. She was their youngest senior associate, and she was handling all my legal paperwork, including licenses, permits, and contracts. She assured me she’d have a silent partner contract drawn up and ready to sign by early next week.

Instead of staying the night in DC, I took the train back to New York and spent the weekend devising methods to convince Vuk, ranging from aboveboard to, uh, ethically questionable.

The charges for temporary kidnapping couldn’t be that bad, right? It wasn’t like I was going to keep or kill the guy. He might kill me after, but once I made him a shit ton of money, perhaps he’d forget I hired someone to hold him hostage until he signed on the dotted line. Hypothetically.

The fact I was even considering that course of action, however jokingly, spoke to my desperation.

The weekend’s only bright spot winked into existence on Sunday. I’d convinced Sloane to meet me in Queens for a surprise, and the concrete weighing on my chest eased when I saw her at our designated meeting spot.

Queens was out of the way for both of us, but that was necessary given the circumstances.

She stood near the building entrance, resplendent in a white dress, coat, and boots. Her hair was back up in a bun, but a smile played on her lips as I approached.

“This better be good,” she said. “I’m missing brunch with the girls.”

I gave her a kiss hello, savoring her softness before I pulled back. “Consider this a Story Sunday.” At her questioning brow, I clarified, “A Sunday where you do something so exciting, you’ll have a story to tell at your next brunch.”

Her laugh unlocked a rush of dopamine, like a song I’d heard once and loved but never discovered the name of, only to stumble upon it again years later.

“That’s not a thing,” she said, following me inside. “But since we’re here, can you tell me what all the cloak-and-dagger stuff is about? Why are we in Queens on a Sunday morning?”

“You’ll see.” I took her down the hallway toward our reserved room. I’d checked in earlier, and I may have bribed the staff into letting us enter through the back entrance. “How’s Pen?”

Sloane sobered at the mention of her sister. “According to Rhea, she’s recovering quickly from her crash, which is good. And her injuries will heal in time. But…” She sighed. “I’m still worried, especially since Pen tries to brush these things off. She’s afraid it’ll make us coddle her more, which she hates.”

“And you can’t visit her again?”

“She’s been discharged from the hospital, and I can’t visit her at her house without alerting my father and Caroline.” Storm clouds rolled in, turning Sloane’s eyes blue gray. “Part of me is waiting for them to ship her off to a distant cousin in Europe. They’d do that just to spite me and make it harder for me to see her.”

I would say it was hard to imagine a parent doing that to their child, but as someone who’d practically been raised in boarding schools, I knew better.