Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(8)

We both looked incredibly out of place. He was in a thousand-dollar business suit, and I was dressed to impress in an outfit Amy had insisted on. A pair of Amy’s Louboutins and a sleek dress and jacket combo that I never would have purchased for myself. Sleek wasn’t typically how I described myself. More like bohemian with oversize, flowy dresses and sandals. My silvery hair long and unmanageable or in a high, messy bun on top of my head. Not stick straight to my waist like Amy had insisted on this morning. Or the makeup she’d carefully applied to my face like I was a doll.

Lewis sank into a chair across from me without complaint. Though I knew he would have preferred somewhere fancier. Lewis, unlike Penn, was a hundred percent Upper East Side. He had none of Penn’s qualms about living this life. He’d been born and raised into more money than God. I knew he enjoyed it.

“So,” he began.

“Yep.” I took a long sip of my drink.

“I’m amazed you gave in.”

“I didn’t give in. I’m merely humoring you until Amy finishes screwing her latest artist.”

He chuckled. “She found someone already?”

“You’d be amazed at how easy it is for Amy to find someone to fuck.” I shrugged. “Or maybe you wouldn’t.”

“I’m hardly Amy’s type.”

“No, I do remember you being shocked because she was the only woman who had ever rebuffed you for your money.” I waved my hand around. “Oh, look, happened again.”

He pointed his finger at me. “You’re a different case. The money makes you uncomfortable. It doesn’t make Amy uncomfortable. She just doesn’t want to date someone like her parents.”

I was surprised at how well he’d read us both in that moment. Amy had been raised in money, and she defied it all by dating artistic losers. I’d been raised poor, and no matter how much I spent time around wealthy people, it wasn’t me. Not to mention that I had no interest in living that Upper East Side life. Not then, when Penn had begged me to come back…and not now.

“Maybe,” I conceded. “And here I thought, you didn’t even like to talk about money. Isn’t that right? People with money don’t think about it. It just…is.”

“Well, aren’t you one of us now?”

I tightened my grip on my cup. “I am not one of you.”

“I mean that this book is paying you handsomely.”

“You and I both know that doesn’t make me like you. You have to be born into your part of society. And you generally need billions…or the right name.”

“That’s right,” he acknowledged. “A name sometimes can mean more than the money.”

I shrugged and leaned backward. That wasn’t my world. Character should mean more than name or money. But not for them. Not for someone like Katherine Van Pelt. Katherine, who had precipitated my downfall, all to try to get to Penn. All because her name meant something, yet she was penniless. She’d entered into an arranged marriage with Camden Percy, the most despicable person I’d ever met, and thought Penn was her way out. It was all so backward. If I didn’t hate her so much, I’d almost feel bad for her. Almost.

The pizza arrived then—thin crust, covered in toppings, and steaming. I took the time to eat and collect my thoughts. So far, this lunch hadn’t been that horrible. It could have been worse at least.

“So, Bet on It, huh?” Lewis asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep.”

“Are you ready for it to come out tomorrow?”

“Honestly?” I asked. “I’m really nervous.”

“You? But why? It’s gold.”

“Oh, don’t flatter me.”

I took another bite of pizza, so I didn’t have to look into those big brown eyes. I’d long wondered if Lewis had had something to do with the fact that I’d gotten the deal with Warren Publishing. Even though Hartfield had offered first and the entire thing had gone to auction with thirteen publishers, Warren had still won. It made me wonder. But I knew that I couldn’t ask him. I didn’t want to know. Not right before release day. I’d always wanted to believe I’d won this on my own merit despite years of rejection saying otherwise. I wasn’t sure my fragile heart could handle it if it was the other way around.

“I’m not flattering you, Natalie. I’ve read the book. It’s outstanding. Your prose is so sharp, so biting. The story…well, we both know how much of it is based on a true story. But it’s the way you weave it together and bring fact with fiction that really shines. It’s the in-between moments that make you pause and really think. I was captivated from page one until the very end. And not just because I’m a character in this story.”

My jaw fell open at his words. He’d actually read the book. I couldn’t believe it. I had known that Lewis enjoyed reading, but I hadn’t thought he’d pick mine up for anything more than morbid curiosity.

“Well, thank you.” A blush graced my cheeks. “I didn’t think you’d read it. I’m a little amazed anyone has read it.”

“You’ve had glowing reviews in all the major journals. Of course people are going to read it. And I’m glad they are. Clearly, you knew it was a story worth telling.”

“I started it when I was in the Hamptons,” I confessed. Though I had no idea why.