Chapter 65: Bruised Ego

"And what am I supposed to do? Sit around while he gets closer to her?" Richard snapped throwing a hand in the air.

"Yes, if the alternative is drawing him closer to you." Victor’s answer came without hesitation. "As my future in-law," he added, "that’s the best advice I can give you."

Richard leaned back. His thoughts spinning. He wasn’t sure whether to take the advise or not.

"Now will you please take yourself away from my office? I have things to do," Victor said.

Richard stared at him for a moment before pushing himself to his feet. He smoothed the front of his jacket, refusing to give the man the satisfaction of seeing just how much the conversation had irritated him. "Let me make this clear...If I find another eligible bachelor I can have Naomi married to, be sure that I will take it. And everything I have on you goes straight out into the public."

Victor looked up at him. Then he smiled. "Aren’t you exhausted, Richard? Really. Aren’t you tired?" Victor gestured at him. "Constantly trying to force your way into rooms."

"You think you’re better than me?"

"I know I’ve worked harder than you. Cunning alone doesn’t open the way into this world. You have to be hardworking, disciplined, ruthless."

"I am ruthless."

Victor gave a short laugh. "Yes, Richard. You are very good at making people around you miserable. Congratulations. Tell me, aside from embezzling Naomi’s entitlements, what else do you have going for you? How are things at Whitmore Wealth Management these days? Do you even go to your office?"

Richard scowled. Of course he went to his office.

When necessary.

He had people for the daily running of things. People who handled parts of business that successful men should not have to waste their time doing themselves.

Victor wouldn’t understand that. Or perhaps he would, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Victor enjoyed looking down on him.

They all did. Men like Victor Sterling loved pretending their wealth had appeared because of superior intelligence.

Richard turned toward the door. "Stupid rich bastard," he muttered and stormed out.

The receptionist glanced up as he passed, but he barely noticed her this time. His mind was spinning too fast.

Victor’s words followed him down the corridor. Whitmore Wealth Management existed because of him.

Yes, Naomi’s money had helped.

So what?

He had managed it. Put it to use. Money sitting around was useless anyway. Naomi certainly wouldn’t have known what to do with it.

Richard pushed through the lobby, anger rising with every step. Stupid rich people. They were all the same.

Always looking down their noses at everyone else. Always acting like anyone outside their circle should be grateful just to stand near them.

Richard would show them. He would show every single one of them that he belonged in that world. He made it through the main doors and stepped outside, still so consumed by his anger that he didn’t notice the car pulling up near the entrance.

The rear door opened. Callum Sterling stepped out. He adjusted his jacket and glanced toward the building.

Then he saw Richard.

"Richard!"

Richard stopped and turned slowly. His scowl deepened.

Wonderful.

Exactly what he needed.

Another Sterling.

Callum took a few steps toward him. "What is it you want this time?"

"Ask your father."

"Richard?" Callum said in a warning tone.

"Look, I do not have the energy to deal with your condescending attitude right now, okay?"

Then, with a little too much casualness, Callum asked, "How is Naomi?"

"Shouldn’t you know that?" Richard gave him a long stare.

"I don’t actually. Her husband seems to be blocking my path."

Richard said nothing, but that answer immediately caught his attention. Callum slipped one hand into his trouser pocket and looked toward the entrance of the SMC building, as though he were already bored with the conversation.

"Listen, I do not particularly care about your niece. I guess I have said it countless times already, but I would like to knock Heathcliffe down a peg or two."

Richard’s anger cooled slightly. "Really?"

Maybe he had gone to the wrong Sterling after all. Victor had spent the last half hour practically warning him to run in the opposite direction whenever Dorian Heathcliffe appeared. Callum, on the other hand, looked as though he had been waiting for an excuse to go after the man.

"What exactly happened between you two?"

"He has a habit of behaving as though everyone around him is beneath his notice. I am not a man to be dismissed, Whitmore."

There was enough wounded ego in the sentence to make Richard understand exactly what this was.

"What do you have in mind?" Richard asked.

"How about we have a meeting sometime and talk?" Callum suggested.

Richard nodded slowly. That was better. "Call me."

Callum raised a brow. The expression was small, but Richard caught it. There it was again. That Sterling superiority.

Even while suggesting they work together, Callum still couldn’t quite bring himself to treat Richard as an equal.

"I’ll have my assistant schedule a meeting with you," Callum said, gave a slight nod and turned away. He might need Richard right now, but that did not put them both on the same level.

Richard watched him walk toward the building. His irritation returned, but this time it was mixed with opportunity.

Callum was younger. Easier to provoke. And, most importantly, he had something Richard could use.

Pride.

Richard headed toward his car with the first real sense of possibility he had felt all morning. Maybe this could still work.

*****

Naomi was already halfway through her morning when she realized the house was almost out of several things. She had been preparing to leave when she stopped in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She sighed and reached for her phone, updating the grocery list.

The funds for Ginny’s wedding had finally been paid. Now she needed to find a commercial kitchen to rent.

The wedding was still weeks away, but she intended to be ready long before then. This couldn’t simply go well.

It had to go brilliantly. If she pulled it off, Ginny’s wedding could become exactly what she needed.

Word of mouth. People with money talked to other people with money. If she could land even two or three jobs like this in a month, she would finally be moving toward something that looked like financial freedom.

She could pay down the debt faster. She could build Chef Bennett into something real. That was why Ginny’s wedding had to be perfect.

By the time she finished, the grocery list had become much longer than intended. Naomi grabbed her handbag from the stool nearby and started toward the door.

Then something on the kitchen island caught her eye.

Dorian’s iPad.

Naomi frowned and walked toward it. Dorian took the thing almost everywhere, especially on workdays. Half his life seemed to exist between that tablet, his phone and laptop.

He must have forgotten to leave with it.

She smiled as she picked up the device. The last couple of days had been... strange. She had never had anyone take care of her like that before.

Her cramps had always been terrible. Sometimes manageable, sometimes vicious enough to make her curl into herself and wonder if her uterus had something against her.

Most of the men she had dated had been useless about it. A few had acted sympathetic for all of ten minutes before getting bored. Others had assumed she was exaggerating for attention, as though she had nothing better to do with her life than fake abdominal pain for male sympathy.

To be fair, Dorian had an advantage. He had two sisters. And from everything she had learned about the Heathcliffes so far, they were ridiculously kind to one another.

Maybe Dorian had picked up one or two things along the way. Maybe that was all this was. Nothing she needed to attach some deeper meaning to.

Stopping by to give it to him was nothing considering everything he had done for her. She was going in that general direction anyway.

Naomi pulled out her phone and called Dorian.

No answer.

"Hmmm..."