Every single asshole is looking at me, talking about me.

I may as well be standing in the middle of the room naked, waving a neon sign that reads: look at me!

Furtive glances. Muted conversations. All eyes aimed my way.

Okay, maybe some aren’t, but it sure as fuck feels like it.

Sweat gathers at the base of my neck and I swallow the ever-growing lump in my throat. I shouldn’t be this nervous. I never am, but my current legal predicament has me on edge. I need a drink. Preferably one that’s stiff and guaranteed to take the edge off.

“Sir?” A tap on my shoulder has me spinning around.

I find my publicist Treena looking up at me with soft, brown eyes. She’s nearly twenty years older than me and, despite her kind heart, she’s a hawk when it comes to protecting my brand with the magazine. Just the type of person I need in my corner right now.

I rake a nervous hand through my hair and eye the others in the room before turning back to Treena.

“Vanessa Burrell is here and wants to meet with you,” she whispers, sliding her gaze to the side as though someone might be listening.

“Where?” The lump swells in my throat, and I try to clear it away.

“Conference room, down the hall.”

I blow out a heavy breath, hoping to catch a glimpse of my favorite blonde wallflower before leaving the ballroom. I search the black linen-topped tables with guests gathered around them, hoping to find her stunning face, but they’re all covered in shadows. Mainly thanks to the dim lighting filling the enormous ballroom my sister picked out for her auction venue.

I’ve got to hand it to Julianna, her work is impressive. But right now, I’m cursing her for choosing the lowest lighting possible, making it difficult to find who I’m looking for.

Her. The one I search for in every room I enter.

Seeing her will settle my nerves. At least I hope it will. Every other time, my heart gets this jolt of electricity that shoots straight for my dick, begging to know what it feel like to sink between her luscious thighs.

Fuck. Focus, Holt.

Disappointment eats away at me when I can’t find her, but I keep my cool.

“Let’s go,” I mutter, following Treena out of the ballroom and down the hall.

Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I steel myself for this conversation, knowing it won’t be easy. Piano music plays quietly in the distance, melding with the sharp echoes of heels clicking against the marble tile of the Omni Plaza Hotel. We walk down to the opposite end of the hallway before Treena stops in front of an indiscriminate door and holds it open for me. I give her a curt nod and enter the tiny room.

Carpeted and covered in bland, off-white paint means there’s nothing special about this room. It’s as if the auction is a million miles away in a completely different world.

Keeping my hands stuffed into my pockets, I stop just inside the door and square my shoulders.

My lawyer, Vanessa Burrell, is standing near the back corner of the room, with a black briefcase resting at her side. But it’s the flash of bright blue sequins that has me shifting my attention. My sister Julianna is standing beside her.

“Mr. Capuleti. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.” Vanessa holds her hand out for me.

I accept her gesture but don’t take my eyes off my sister. “No problem,” I mutter quickly, then to Julianna ask, “What are you doing here?”

Julianna arches one of her eyebrows and purses her lips. Her brown hair is pulled back tightly, revealing her sharp, venomous stare. “I was greeting the auction attendees when I saw Vanessa. Anytime she’s involved, I know shit is going down. If you thought I wasn’t going to follow her and see why, you’re crazy.”

“You told Julianna what’s going on?” I shift my focus to Vanessa.

“No.” Vanessa clears her throat. “She hasn’t stopped asking what’s going on, though. She insisted on attending this meeting.”

“Of course she did.”

Julianna plants her hands on her hips and sticks out her chin. “When I’m on a mission, I don’t give up easily.”

“We know.” I run my hand down the front of my face while still standing by the door, not wanting to drag out this meeting longer than it needs to be. Treena hasn’t moved from her spot near the propped open door, either.

“Anyway.” I wave my hand in a let’s get this going motion.

“Right.” Vanessa nods once, then gestures toward the black bag in her hand. “I went over the lawsuit you were given.”

Julianna’s jaw drops immediately, and her once narrowed eyes widen in horror. I ignore her.

“And?”

“It’s legit.”

“Fuck.” I hiss, raising both my arms in the air to rake my fingers through my hair as my stomach sinks to a pit I didn’t even know existed. I’m going to be fucking sick.

“I did what you asked. I tracked down the law firm representing the plaintiff, and they have a proper, valid complaint,” Vanessa continues. “I tried to see if they were willing to discuss this outside of court, and they refused. The lawsuit will move forward.”

“Lawsuit?” Julianna shouts. “What lawsuit?”

“Will you keep it down?” I glance over my shoulder.

Without instruction, Treena shuts the door to the hallway. The loud laughter and chatter from the hall is muted instantly.

“Um, excuse me?” Julianna crosses her arms over her chest. “My brother is being sued, hasn’t mentioned a single word of this to me, and now you’re asking me to keep it down?”

“Yes,” I clip, angrily. Annoyance simmers under my skin. My sister always manages to twist every situation to reflect how she’s feeling. “This isn’t about you, Julianna.” I growl, spinning and resting a hand on my hip while my other rubs at my mouth.

An ear-piercing silence swells in the room as everyone waits for me to react.

My sister breaks the silence.

“Who is suing Holt?”

“Not just Holt,” Vanessa answers weakly. “He’s suing Holt’s magazine Scribe as well.”

“He?”

“Rome Montogomery.” His name spills from my mouth fast and bitterly, and I raise my head high enough to face my sister.

She laughs in disbelief. You think she’d just been told her favorite makeup brand was going bankrupt and she was ready to riot. I should know, because that’s exactly what she did when she was fourteen years old.

Julianna wasn’t bullshitting when she said she’s relentless in her pursuits.

Her head is tipped back as her laughter pours free and tears well in the corners of her eyes. Eventually, she calms enough to stare straight at me with her glassy, humor-filled gaze. “You’re kidding, right? Is this another one of your pranks?”

“No.”

Her face falls. Then it turns red.

Our family has had a long, sordid battle with the Montgomerys—a classic tale of competing families—but the personal vendetta my sister holds against Rome Montgomery, the prodigal son, takes our family rivalry and jacks it up on steroids. Her hatred for him runs deep.

“Rome is suing the magazine?” She’s shooting daggers at me, but I know they’re really meant for Rome. “Why?” she squeaks out. “Why is Rome suing the magazine?”

“Defamation, apparently.” I wave my hand flippantly. “Some article in my anonymous column.”

“Our legal team is working on the case right now and gathering details to decide where to go from here,” Vanessa interrupts. “We don’t have the full story just yet, but we’ll build a strong case in your defense, Mr. Capuleti.”

“Defamation.” Julianna’s neck bobs as she swallows, and for a moment, she avoids my stare, biting down on her lip. The reality of the lawsuit must be hitting her. She knows the damage this will do to me and my company. “When did he bring this lawsuit on?”

“The night West and London held The Veiled Door reopening.”

Julianna’s eyes widen, her memories of that night evident. The night all of us watched our best-friend’s brother get demolished by a New York City Tour bus after finding out he’d faked his own death due to giving poor investment advice to members of the Irish fucking mob.

“Don’t worry about the details,” I offer Julianna, not wanting to think about that clusterfuck of a night any more than the rest of us.

“Oh, um, okay.” She nods once with a faraway glaze to her eyes.

“You shouldn’t be surprised. This is Rome Montgomery we’re talking about. I’ve tried to soften the hatred our families hold for quite some time now, and it doesn’t seem to have worked, so this doesn’t exactly come as a complete surprise. His blades are quite sharp.”

“Wait,” Julianna says. “Is this why you’ve been cozying up to him lately? Not-so-chalantly inviting him into our friend group?”

“Yes.”

The corner of her mouth lifts. “So, it wasn’t just to piss me off?”

“No. That was an unexpected perk, however.”

“I hate you.”

“Feeling is mutual.”

She seems to let go of wanting to know the details, and I’m thankful.

The slight lightness in our conversation is momentary. The beige, bland walls close in on me, and I’m suddenly dying to leave this room. The weight of Rome’s lawsuit is tearing me up and I’m starting to not recognize myself. My life is measured, tucked, and folded neatly into a box. I’m not a celebrity in the sense of an acting or music career, but I am a well-known face in this city. The face of a magazine willing to dig deep and write about a multitude of topics which matter to people.

A stack of metal chairs is pushed against the far wall, but my mind wanders to the one person I truly came here to see. Instead of these stupid fucking chairs, I wish I was looking at a head of blonde hair, green eyes, and a body of full hips instead.

“But… wait,” Julianna blurts, tearing me from the thoughts of her best friend. “Your magazine is sponsoring this auction, Holt. If this gets out, your reputation will be ruined, along with mine.”

“The auction is the perfect diversion actually,” Treena cuts in. “You need to do whatever it takes to preserve your reputation, Mr. Capuleti. Once this news hits, and it will, it will be rough. You need a distraction.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this auction a distraction. The magazine is just a sponsor,” I argue.

“We’ll figure it out.” Julianna shrugs a shoulder.

“Just be present tonight,” Treena encourages me. “We’ll work on damage control later. Honestly, I’m surprised we’ve kept this lawsuit quiet for this long.”

“Rome won’t keep his mouth shut for long,” Julianna practically growls. “The man loves to hear himself talk too much.”

“Actually,” Vanessa announces, holding her phone up to the three of us. “Seems we’ve manifested his big mouth already.”

I lean forward, reading the headline to the article she has pulled up.

Venture Mogul Rome Montgomery sues Scribe Magazine and its CEO Holt Capuleti for defamation in new major lawsuit.

The article was posted ten minutes ago.

“Well, shitballs!” Julianna hisses. “Here we go. Terrible timing when this auction is set to start in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll read over this article and see what the public knows.” Vanessa tucks her phone into the front pocket of her briefcase. “I doubt it’ll effect tonight’s auction since it’s for various charities. You may be the number one topic for gossip, but it’ll all be in secret.”

“Great.” I sneer. “Because it’s better to have those talking behind your back instead of out in the open.”

“Everything will be fine, Mr. Capuleti,” Treena tries to reassure me. “Just go about your night as usual. Lay low and try not to get dragged into the spotlight. We’ll get this sorted and reconvene on Monday.”

“That’ll be difficult.” Julianna snorts.

Treena turns in her direction. “What do you mean?”

Julianna glowers at her. “You’re my brother’s publicist, but you don’t know he’s supposed to be bidding tonight?”

Treena snaps her mouth shut and inhales a long breath through her nose.

“What sort of auction is this?” Vanessa asks, stepping closer into our circle.

“Scribe and a few other organizations are sponsoring it, but it’s an auction to raise money for children’s research hospitals throughout the five boroughs and Jersey. The way I organized tonight’s auction was meant to draw in a large crowd, and when I say large, what I mean is massive.”

“What’s so different about this auction that has it drawing such a large crowd?” Vanessa’s penciled brows pull together.

Julianna’s expression transforms. She’s practically bursting with excitement, proud of herself. “We’re auctioning off dates.”

“Dates?” Vanessa’s eyebrows unravel, rising across her forehead.

“Yeah.” Julianna shrugs, turning her hand over and inspecting her nails as though Vanessa’s questions are boring her, but I recognize it as her defense mechanism whenever she feels someone judging her. “Both women and men volunteer themselves, some models, and local celebrities for a night out with the highest bidder. There’s no pressure for them to follow through on the date, and those bidding know that.”

“Well, it’s solved, then!” Treena blurts out. “Holt just won’t place any bids.”

“Oh, come on.” Julianna’s shoulders sag. I can practically see the air deflating out of her chest like a sad, day-old party balloon.

“I wasn’t planning on following through with the date anyway, Jules,” I tell her.

“Of course you weren’t.”

I let her sarcastic comment slide. “If Treena thinks it’ll only shine a brighter spotlight on me by participating, I won’t. I’ll still donate money to the charities. You know I will.”

Julianna stares at me without saying a word, her eyes reminding me of our mother’s. Soft yet strong.

Though it doesn’t come easy to her, she concedes. “Fine.” She blows out a heavy breath, crossing her arms over her chest.

A soft knock on the door catches our attention. We all snap our heads in that direction as the door softly opens. A woman with an earpiece stuffed into her right ear, the kind with a spiraled cord that disappears under the back of her shirt, pokes her head between the door and doorframe. She winces, then finds my sister.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have an issue we need your help with.”

“I’ll be out in a minute, Hannah.”

The woman, apparently named Hannah, anxiously glances around the room. “It’s sort of an emergency.”

“Okay.” Julianna runs her hands down the front of her dress before leaving the room, but not before she brushes past me. She stops and wraps her small hand around my arm, giving it a squeeze. “This will all work out. We’ll get through this.”

“It doesn’t exactly feel like it right now.”

“This is Rome Montgomery, remember? You said it yourself. If this rivalry has taught us anything, it’s that our family name won’t allow us to be defeated. He won’t win.”

I close my mouth and nod.

Julianna gives me a weak smile before leaving, and her absence is felt immediately.

I must appear to be on the brink of falling apart because Treena is now looking at me as though she’s worried I’m going to snap. She could be right. My head feels like it’s going to explode and paint these bland walls with crimson.

“Your sister is right, Mr. Capuleti,” Treena says. “Just go out there and act normal.”

“Right.” I laugh sarcastically. “Like I can just go out there and pretend my entire world isn’t about to blow up.”

My world is about to change the second I step foot out of this room. The paranoia of secretive glances won’t just be in my head, they’ll be real.

I try not to let panic set in, but I know it’s too late. My palms are sweaty and the floor shifts underneath my feet. I’ve fought for years to keep myself together and not let my past dictate my future. I’ve built a life for myself and my magazine, focusing on what I need to do to succeed. Now, Rome Montgomery is threatening to ruin it all over a stupid article I had no idea was even published.

Treena’s phone rings from her pocket. She plucks it out, reads the screen, then looks up at me. “I need to take this. I’ll meet up with you later at the end of the event.”

I nod in acknowledgement, and she slips out the door, leaving Vanessa and me alone.

I adjust the cuffs of my suit and shake out my nerves. If I’m going to walk back out into the ballroom feeling like I’m knee-deep in legal metaphorical horseshit, I need to at least do it with my head held high.

Then an idea occurs to me.

I tug my phone from my pocket and type out a quick yet massive email to my entire writing staff to meet with me first thing Monday morning. I don’t care if Vanessa and her team of lawyers are working the investigation. I’ll work my own and figure out who the anonymous writer was. We’re set to meet anyway to discuss a story idea for an editorial column I think will catapult my magazine to the forefront in a city where it’s easy to slip into the background.

After hitting send, I brace myself for the fallout of tonight, knowing I’m basically marching straight into the lion’s den that is my sister’s auction.

“I need to get going as well,” Vanessa says, walking toward me. She holds her briefcase in front of her, the top of her full breasts swelling beneath the gap of her open blouse.

I don’t tell her about my email to my staff or how I’ll be secretly conducting my own investigation, too.

“I’ll walk you out.” I don’t waste any more time rejoining the auction. I’m ripping off the Band-Aid, so to speak.

I swing the door open and step out into the hallway, only to immediately crash into a delicate frame that has me knocking her off her feet. I’m quickly surrounded by blonde hair, various shades of bright yellow, and a sweet floral scent that makes my stomach clench in delight.

“Shit!” I hiss, wrapping my arms around her to catch her before she falls to the glistening marble floor. One of my arms is wrapped around her waist while I have her head cradled in the palm of my other hand.

My eyes search her beautiful face and then it hits me. It smacks me directly in the face. I’ve never been this close to Selene. I quickly take inventory of the tiny golden flecks in her otherwise intense green eyes, counting every lash surrounding them. I note the way her bright red-painted lips part as she breathes in a shaky breath. She’s a bright fucking ray of sunshine in my arms.

“Holt.” My name falling from her mouth on a whisper sounds like fucking heaven.

“Are you okay?” I ask, not even attempting to straighten either of us up. We’re caught in suspension in the middle of this hallway, bent over as if I’ve dipped Selene in the middle of a dance. The bubble we’re in is a nice delay from what I know is coming when I step out into that ballroom.

“Yeah.” Her chest heaves before she swallows. “Thank you for catching me.”

I smirk before chuckling. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her eyebrows pinch, and her mouth dips into a ghost of a frown.

“I didn’t think you lying on the floor with a split skull and a pool of blood would have complimented this dress.” My smile widens, and my gaze flicks to her chest.

Her mouth falls open, but her eyebrows lose their tension. “Oh, right. No… it wouldn’t. My day has already been quite shitty, so that would have been the icing on the cake.”

Shitty? Why has her day been shitty?

I want to ask her, but I don’t. I’m at a loss for words while staring at her beauty. She’s always been stunning, but being this close to her feels as if I’ve been launched into another galaxy. Selene has stolen the breath from my lungs—a feeling I’ve never felt before. Not this intensely, anyway.

Her eyes search my face. The tip of her tongue pushes out, and she sweeps it across her bottom lip. Then she looks up and over my shoulder.

After following what’s caught her attention, I see Vanessa standing behind me, watching us.

“Can you let go of me now?” Selene asks, still draped in my arms.

I whip my head back to her, and my face falls. “Yeah, of course.”

I lift Selene, and her grip slips away from my arms, the absence of her touch almost immediate. Smoothing her hands across the front of her silky, yellow dress, she straightens herself out before fixing her hair and sweeping it away from her face.

Her dress clings effortlessly to her body, gliding against the full curves of her hips. The front dips between her breasts, revealing the soft, supple flesh and the pale blue stone resting there.

She tilts her head to the side. “Thanks again for catching me.”

“Well, I owed it to you.” I run my hand through my hair, trying not to notice the eyes of passersby clinging to me longer than necessary. “It was me who bumped into you.”

“Right.” She smiles. “You did.”

Raking my eyes over her once more, as if I haven’t already gotten my fill, I gesture toward her. “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”

Her cheeks flush red. Always so modest, Wallflower.

“Thank you. You two look great as well.” She gestures between Vanessa and me.

My eyebrows pinch, and I open my mouth to tell her Vanessa and I aren’t an item, that we didn’t come here together, and I sure as fuck don’t think of her like that. I’m done with using other women as a distraction, hoping that this feeling I have for Selene will go away. My hardened dick beneath my Armani slacks can attest to that.

She hitches her thumb over her shoulder and half turns away. “I was searching for the girls, so….” Her words are clipped, and her eyes widen. She does a double take when she eyes the man stepping out of the men’s bathroom at the end of the hall, near the entrance to the ballroom.

The man emerges, tucking in the front of his button-down white shirt before closing the single button of his bland, generic gray suit. He stops, glances up and down the hall, then looks down at his phone.

I recognize him. He’s the man Selene had her arm wrapped around the night of The Veiled Door’s re-opening just weeks ago.

A lump lodges itself in my throat, but I force myself to keep my cool and not let my inner feelings show.

“How are you, by the way?” I ask Selene, not wanting her to leave just yet. If she does, I’ll be forced to face my reality unfolding in real time.

Selene turns and looks up at me. Her expression softens. “I’m sorry, I really should get going.” She gestures over her shoulder again toward the man she’s been dating.

The fucker is still standing outside the bathroom, engrossed in whatever is on his phone screen.

Selene backs away, her lips spreading into a wide grin. “I’ll see you out there later, right?”

My grin returns. “Absolutely.”

Her gaze knocks me off my feet until she’s spinning on her heel, marching down the hall toward the ballroom. I watch the sway of her hips as she weaves in between the countless auction attendees and guests, not looking away from her even as Vanessa says her goodbye and leaves me standing there alone.

The way Selene’s blonde hair is twisted, with tendrils resting against the base of her neck, and the silky yellow fabric shaping her silhouette makes me think I’ve seen it somewhere before. A movie, maybe.

Whatever the fuck it was. The one with Matthew McConaughey.

“How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days,” my sister’s whispering voice hits my ear.

“What?” I turn, shocked by her sudden appearance, shoulder to shoulder beside me.

“That’s where the inspiration for her dress came from. You know, the movie with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

A grin stretches from ear to ear. “Isn’t Massimo great?”

“Yeah.” I swallow.

“I’m just thankful she isn’t with that asshole Adam anymore.”

I try not to show how this new revelation makes me feel inside.

“She deserves someone better,” Julianna simply states, not giving me any more details.

I’m still watching Selene walk away. “She does.”

I feel my sister’s narrowed gaze, her suspicion piquing.

Shit. My honesty catches both of us off guard.

“Need I remind you of Rebec⁠—”

“She was looking for you, by the way,” I cut in, wanting to drop this conversation faster than a burning piece of coal.

My sister doesn’t trust me when it comes to women, especially as far as her friends are concerned. Honestly, I can’t blame her. Deep down, she’s probably thankful her other two friends are spoken for. As if I was ever interested in them, anyway.

“I thought you had an auction to get underway,” I add.

Julianna takes a step forward but abruptly stops before whipping back around to me. She’s no longer in her usual playful mood. Clearly, she’s irritated with me. She stares my way for several beats before her body language softens slightly and she lowers the daggers she has pointed at me. “I just wanted to tell you the rumor mill has already started around here. I’ve overheard several conversations, all with yours and Rome’s names being uttered. I think you should heed Treena’s advice and stay under the radar tonight. Don’t do anything you would normally do.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, and you know exactly what I mean.” The corner of her mouth curls. “Just try not to be Holt Capuleti tonight.”

I try not to take her comment to heart but, fuck, it’s hard not to when she’s not only said this, but she’s also bringing up my past. Clearly, my history hasn’t been forgotten around here, and now I’m afraid it’s only going to be thrust further into the limelight with this lawsuit hanging over my head.

I’m fucked.