“When are they filming?” he asked.
“At RED, tomorrow night.” She scrunched her brow as though it pained her. “But seriously, you don’t have to come. I told you I’d fix it and I will. Say what you want about me, but I always keep my word.”
Mateo was too angry to respond. If he didn’t show, he ran the risk of Ira seeking revenge by blocking Valentina’s transfer. If he did go, he’d get sucked further into the sort of Hollywood hype he abhorred. He had no choice but to go through with it, and it left him angry in a way he’d never felt before. There went another piece of his soul. Who said Ira wasn’t Satan?
“I know I crossed some boundaries, and I probably came on a little too strong and too fast. I just hope we can stay friends?”
Mateo couldn’t even imagine such a thing. But she was waiting for his reassurance, so the least he could do was nod in agreement. Surely she’d realize the promise was empty.
“I know this’ll probably sound silly,” she said. “But I have a thing about being the first to walk away. So—” She was halfway to the parking structure when she said, “For what it’s worth, I really did like you. For the short time we were together, I could forget everything and just feel happy for a change.”
Mateo watched her go, wondering what she’d meant. It was a strange thing to say for a girl as famous and successful as her.
Once she was gone, he typed a message to Layla.
Just solved the mystery of the anonymous text ? Heather Rollins.
His index finger hovered above the send arrow, but he hit delete instead.
Summer was nearly over. A new season was about to begin. And still there wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think about Layla a minimum of three times. But now that he’d ended things with Heather, it was clearly time to move forward, not back. The sooner he stopped finding excuses to be in touch with Layla, the sooner he could forge a new life without her.
One by one, he watched the words vanish. Then he slipped his phone into his pocket and headed back to his family.
TWENTY-NINE
GIRLS ON FILM
Tommy stood before the side door of the Vesper, jiggling the key in his palm as he continued to volley the pros, cons, and possible risks back and forth in his head.
Ira had given him the code, which meant Tommy was free to come and go as he pleased. In fact, since Tommy fully intended to check out the progress being made on the VIP room, he figured he was acting well within the confines of his job description. There was nothing for Ira to get upset about.
And yet, none of that would matter if Ira caught him breaking into his office. Tommy didn’t even want to think about how Ira might choose to handle such a breach.
He tightened his fist, causing the hard edge of the key card to cut into his palm. It would be a shame not to use one of the few tools he’d been given to help nudge the investigation along.
Without another thought, he tapped the card against the reader and slipped inside. Once the door closed behind him, the alarm began shrieking.
He punched a sequence of numbers onto the keypad. If Ira had changed the security code, Tommy was screwed.
With each individual tap, the buttons let out a chirp. By the time Tommy completed the sequence, the shrieking stopped and he audibly exhaled.
“So far so good,” he whispered out loud. He wasn’t in the habit of talking to himself, though in that particular case it helped lessen the tension.
He moved toward the stairs leading to Ira’s office and the VIP room beyond. When his foot hit the bottom step, he heard music drifting from one of the second-floor rooms. He wasn’t alone like he’d thought.
On any other day, someone blasting music wouldn’t be cause for alarm.
But on any other day, Tommy never would’ve attempted what he was planning to do.
The Vesper was closed until nine, and Layla had assured Tommy her dad was spending the day with a woman he’d recently started seeing. Was it possible H.D. had decided to bring her by the club to impress her with his work in progress?
Tommy shot a wary look toward the top of the stairs. He didn’t know which was worse—catching Layla’s dad getting intimate with his new girlfriend or having Ira catch him breaking into his office and immediately seeing right through any excuse Tommy tried to sell him.
Whoever was up there had purposely locked themselves inside. Yet they’d also blasted the music so loud it drowned out the alarm. It was entirely possible they still thought they were alone.
Tommy continued up the stairs. At the top of the landing he noticed the door to the VIP room was slightly ajar. If he edged up close enough, he might be able to get a glimpse inside. But that also put
him at risk of being seen.