I catch our waiter’s eye, and he makes his way over. I decide to splurge on the second most expensive. The first has an absurd four-figure price tag. It’s suddenly occurring to me that maybe I should think about saving my pennies.
“No answers until the bottle comes back,” I say, giving them both warning looks.
“Fine then,” Mom says with a pert smile, then she straightens up, her eyes going wide. “One of Theo’s friends was killed while you were gone! Did he tell you?”
“No. Really?” I remark, thankful I don’t have any champagne in my mouth to go down the wrong tube.
“Yes, I don’t know if you ever met him. Linus…”
“Caldwell,” Dad confirms, both sides of his mouth turned down. “I only met him once, didn’t like the look of him.”
It makes sense they wouldn’t be as familiar with him. Theo always came to me when he was worried or got into trouble. Neither of us likes disappointing our parents.
“Still, he didn’t deserve to die,” Dad continues, tilting his head to the side to concede the point.
“That’s terrible. How did he die?” I ask to maintain the front.
“Shot, during a mugging or something. Theo was completely distraught. Came to see us the same day he found out. Even wanted to spend the night. It’s a tragic thing when someone you know is killed so violently.”
“Yes,” I agree, feeling my throat go dry. I can only imagine what it must have been like for him during that period, knowing he couldn’t tell them anything.
Thankfully, the champagne comes back. Suddenly, telling them about my unemployed status seems like a nice change in topic.
The cork is popped, and a glass is poured for all of us.
“So, what are we celebrating?” Mom says with a broad smile on her lips, already holding her glass in the air.
“Actually—”
That’s when I see him.
Magnus Reinhardt.
He’s sitting at the bar of the restaurant staring right at me.
I don’t know how long I sit there, my mouth open, eyes wide as I stare back at him.
“Actually, what, Sloane?” Dad asks, trying to get my attention.
I distractedly turn to him and blink as though in a daze.
“I...” It’s all I manage before I drag my eyes back to Magnus, like a damn magnet. They widen in surprise as he rises and walks through the restaurant toward our table.
By now, both my parents notice him. Hell, the entire damn restaurant notices him. Someone that large and imposing and handsome would draw anyone’s eyes.
But Magnus only has eyes for me.
“Who’s this now?” Dad asks.
“Um…” I swallow, unable to say more as Magnus finally reaches the table.
“Sloane.” His voice is direct, and determined.
“Magnus.” Mine is weak and uncertain.
We stare at each other until both my parents begin shifting in their seats.
Magnus tears his hard gaze away from me, softening it as he turns to my mother with a gracious smile. “I’m sorry to intrude on your meal. I’m Magnus Reinhardt. I…worked with your daughter in Monte Carlo.”
I slowly release the breath I sucked in when he turned to her.
“Is that so?” Mom says, a smile finally coming to her face.
“Yes,” he says with a nod, then turns to my father. “You must be her mother and father. I can definitely see the resemblance.”
When his gaze comes back to me, those green eyes are like dark gemstones, glimmering with intensity. “I just thought I would stop by to tell you both what a pleasure it was to work with your daughter this past month. I was sorry to see her leave.”
“Oh, do you work with Douglas & Foster?” Mom asks, turning back to me, beaming. “Sloane was just about to tell us the good news.”
A wrinkle of confusion creases Magnus’s brow. “Good news?”
That tells me he obviously knows about me leaving Douglas & Foster. I wonder if he terminated his standing contract with the firm yet. No wonder they kept calling all week long. It only proves they don’t value me for myself, and leaving was the right thing.
“How did you know I was here?”
Magnus just raises one eyebrow, as though I should already know the answer to that. After all, he is a man who can get what he wants. It wouldn’t take too much to figure out where I was. I wonder if he literally stepped off the plane and headed right here.
“Why don’t you join us?” Dad says. “No sense, just standing there.”
My eyes dart to my father in panic, but I erase it by the time he turns back to me.
“I’m sure Magnus has other things to do,” I hint, giving him a pointed look.
“I landed here in New York tonight for one thing and one thing only,” Magnus says, staring hard at me as he pulls out the fourth chair at our table.
“We need another champagne glass,” Mom remarks, looking around for our waiter.
“Actually, no we don’t,” I say, finally giving up the pretense.
Who the hell does he think he is, coming here to New York and—
“I love you.”
I gasp, losing every bit of breath my lungs hold in the process.
“You what now?” Dad asks, leaning in as though he didn’t quite hear correctly.
“Sloane?” Mom asks, giving me a curious look as though to ask what’s going on.
I can’t tear my eyes away from Magnus, who holds them in the emerald cage of his gaze.
“I’m saying it without strings, without expectations, without demands. But now you know how I feel. Those words are yours to do with what you will. My heart is in your hands now, Sloane.”
I can see my mother and father staring at each other in my periphery. I know they must be going wild with confusion, but I can’t pull myself away to deal with them right now.
“I think maybe your mother and I deserve some answers here, Sloane. Does this young man work with you or not? What’s this business about Monte Carlo? Is he one of the attorneys at Douglas & Foster?”
“No,” I say, blinking
