A Dress to Die For (28 page)

“My sister’s coming. No sister, no deal, and you can burn the dress for all I care.”

Salvadore paused, looking down at her with his good eye. “Of course. And you will tolerate Soso Oseigh and a few others.” He held his hand closer.

“Another entourage,” she said, handing over her phone. “Nice to know nothing changes.”

**

Ruby put her hands on her hips. She’d been stuck in the lobby, sitting on the leather couches, for half an hour while keeping company with Soso, Poly Print (whose name was Hector, apparently), Construction Boots (better dressed and named Arturo), and Catherine, who was in her early thirties, lovely, and about five months pregnant with the heir to the throne. If, of course, the heir was a boy.

Laura pulled Ruby out of earshot. “They want to flush Dad out, and they want to use us to do it. Personally, I think it stinks, but I don’t feel like we have a choice. If we don’t go, I lose the dress, and we won’t get the chance to warn Dad what’s coming for him. And before you say anything, he didn’t earn us helping him out. I know that. But he’s Dad, and I have a heart.”

“I have something to do tonight,” Ruby said, as if to make it perfectly clear that she didn’t have a heart.

“No, you don’t.”

“Do you know how hard it is to get seats at this fundraiser?”

“Do you know many nights I’ve put off Jeremy, including the night before he left for China and tonight, because of this whole mess? Do you know how many international calls I missed?”

“These sound a lot like
your
problems.”

Laura saw a look on her sister’s face that she didn’t like, not one bit. It was a look that implied none of this affected her. “If that dress is lost, Jeremy loses his bond, and in case you forgot in that sieve of a brain of yours, he’s your backer, which means
his
financial health affects the financial health of
your
little company. We’re not going to make a dime for him for another couple of seasons. So believe me, if he has to cut us loose to save his own ass, he will, and I’ll still sleep with him after that because it’s business. And unlike everyone else in my life right now, I am
not
confused about what that means. Are you understanding me?”

Ruby chewed on that for a second before saying, “You’re being bossy.”

“You coming or not?”

“This had better be the most fabulous night out I have ever experienced.”

“I promise nothing. I don’t think these people get out much.”

**

The first order of business was being seen, but not by just anyone. They needed to be seen by someone who immediately tweeted, Facebooked, and posted photos to a blog, because they weren’t flush with time on the whole drawing-Dad-out thing. Salvadore was quite clear that it was tonight or never if she ever wanted to see the dress again.

“Lanai it is then,” Laura said, and Ruby concurred.

The new entourage loaded into two limos and went downtown to the hip Polynesian place. Catherine stayed at the Iroquois, which seemed wise considering Laura intended to get lit up like a Christmas tree and didn’t want to knock over a pregnant woman accidentally while wearing said woman’s husband’s late wife’s shoes.

Hector and Arturo got into a smaller limo while Laura, Ruby, Soso, and Salvadore sat in the back of the bigger car. The seats faced each other, so she had a perfect view of Soso, whose legs stretched clear across the floor in black leather pants.

“So,” Laura said, “now that I’m trapped in a car with you, can you tell me what you expected you’d do with Philomena? She couldn’t make you heirs, and there’s no male to take your place anywhere on Brunico. What was the plan? Were you going to expose her as a man and pass the title to her if you died?”

Soso glanced at the prince, who only had an eye for Laura.

“He knew,” Laura replied, then said to Soso, “you knew.”

“Of course, but we don’t talk about it outside the circle.”

“We found out the hard way,” Ruby muttered.

“My first wife was a woman where it mattered, in her heart.” Salvadore punched his chest. “The Brunican people would never accept her any other way.”

“Maybe they’d accept a woman on the throne?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “The high prince must sign any changes to the constitution.”

“And you never would.”

“Never.”

“What if your new wife is carrying a daughter?”

“She’s not.” He said it with such confidence she knew he must have gotten some sort of invasive test done.

The next logical question was, “Is it yours?” quickly followed by, “And how did you conceive it?” However, she wouldn’t ask either of those because not only was it rude, she also really didn’t want the answer after knowing she had been conceived by a man who wasn’t attracted to her mother in the right way.

“So you couldn’t divorce Philomena because your citizens would run you out. Obviously, you killed her so you could make yourself an heir.” Even as Laura said it, she knew it wasn’t true, but she had to walk the blind alley and touch the back wall before she could turn around and back onto the street.

“Your father set that fire. It was days after his release. Why do you think I’m looking for him, young lady?”

She looked at him for a long time. He believed Dad had killed Philomena, and she saw the logic of it. He got out, and in a fit of anger against the people who put him there, for drawing him away, for tricking him into a political situation, for making him build a nation he hated, he lashed out at the person responsible. But first, he acquired the dress and shipped it to Barnabas’s sister. And for what? Insurance money? Possibly, considering Dad had probably left Brunico penniless and pissed off.

“You Americans think your way is the only right way,” Salvadore said. “Brunico has been the way it is for as long as it has been ruled. We are stable, except for one incident. Our jails are nearly empty.”

“Except for my father, who probably built the prison before you put him in it.”

“Really?” Ruby looked away from the window long enough to fling a sarcastic jibe. “Can we get to the part where you tell me he had it coming before I die of suspense?”

Salvadore smiled. As Laura watched the exchange between him and Ruby, she saw not her annoying sister but someone’s daughter, the daughter of the man who had caused the high prince pain and who had been the victim of that prince’s anger. Because if Dad hadn’t been trapped on Brunico for twenty years, he would have come home to his children. Yes, it would have been uncomfortable, and he would have taken long trips, but he would have existed to them. And the beautiful, cranky girl sitting across from Laura wouldn’t have been the victim of Salvadore’s sense of entitlement but instead whatever she would have been without the fistfights and struggles.

“Yes, Salvadore,” Laura said, “you stole our father from us for twenty years. You might want to explain yourself.”

“That’s an impertinent accusation.”

“Big word,” Ruby said, shocking Laura into a half-second of silence. The man was royalty, for whatever that was worth, and their elder, and… a complete dumbass, actually.

“To be clear,” Laura said, “we said we’d come with you, but we didn’t say we’d be nice. And you can hold the dress over me if you want, but the fact is you don’t even have it. If you did, it would have been on the truck, but you only had the form to store it on once you got it back. My father has it, and that’s really bugging you, because he can use it to expose you.”

They pulled up in front of Lanai, behind the limousine carrying the rest of the entourage. Laura figured the Prince wasn’t going to be in an enclosed space alone with the two sisters again, which was good. She didn’t like him, or his scar, or his expectations of deference. She didn’t like the fact that he’d thought nothing of stealing her father, and she didn’t care for his reverence for backward laws, even if they only affected twelve hundred Brunicans.

Dionne Frescan stood outside, bouncing up and down in her faux-fur scarf and the usual matte-black bomber jacket. She held a cigarette with one hand while tapping on her phone with the other and holding court with her snide mouth and easy laugh.

“You can call it,” Ruby mumbled when she saw Dionne. “C-grade celebrity suits you.”

“Okay, Prince,” Laura said. “That’s the lady. Make sure she sees you, and give her a second to tweet about it.”

The prince put his hand on Laura’s back, which made her want to throttle him because someone’s camera-phone had invariably caught it. Jeremy was going to have either a good laugh or a good joke about it, but the rest of the garment center would whisper and cackle. She’d go from minor opportunist to major slut in fifteen minutes. She reminded herself that she had it easy with Jeremy and his teasing. There were men who would behave worse about less.

They were seated at the bar immediately, with the promise of an emergency table in mere seconds. Salvadore’s face had been all over the television, and his presence at Lanai was going to get the restaurant in more than a few celebrity blogs in minutes. It would be a shame if the prince wasn’t seated before TMZ put it up.

Ruby sat next to Laura and ordered drinks as if she didn’t care about the bill, which would be adequate to pay off a student loan, if one were to exaggerate. The bottles were hidden behind a screen made of some kind of fiber optic mesh that displayed beautiful nature scenes. When the bartender touched the screen, a box popped up, and when he asked for a type of liquor, the screen opened to exactly the spot. That couldn’t have been any easier or faster than working in a dive bar where you could grab the seventeen-year-old bottle of Cynar without having to open a screen or knowing how to spell it, but the futuristic screens coupled with the old growth woods and navy damask made the place look so expensive, the bartenders could make up for the difference in time with their extra tips.

Laura was two gins in half an hour later, sitting in a window booth that they’d invariably cheated someone out of, probably someone who had gotten their reservations a month ago like a good girl or boy. Salvadore sat on one side of her and Hector on the other. There was food and the wine that Soso brought to be drank with the milk delivered from behind the bar. Portuguese was being flung around with English, and Ruby and Laura made a real pretend effort to learn a few words. But the person they were putting on the show for was on her way across the room in her matte-black bomber jacket.

Laura yanked on the Prince’s lapel. “Did you tell the rest of the entourage why we’re out?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Salvadore just smirked. Bastard. Laura didn’t have an extra second to hate him because Dionne Frescan arrived, big plastic smile under big plastic glasses. “Oh my God!” she cried. “How
are
you, darlings?”

Perfect. Laura pushed Hector, and he shifted over so she could get out of the booth. Ruby was already on the far side, and the seating arrangement went to hell as two of Dionne’s friends started chattering with whichever entourage member seemed closest. Air kisses were flung, big smiles were flashed. She reminded herself what Jeremy had taught her. She smiled through it, trying not to look as though she was deducing what they wanted from her, putting nothing on her face but attention and pleasure.

She suddenly felt sober. Appearing happy to see Dionne took too much concentration for tipsiness.

“You came with the crown prince of Brunico?” Dionne asked. “Moving up in the world.”

“High prince,” Laura said. “And we’re just out for drinks, silly.”

As if she could sense the lie on her sister’s lips, Ruby jumped in. “Oh my God, Dionne. I saw your piece on us. I owe you a drink.”

The thing in
W
must have come out. Laura had missed it in the fray and was glad of it. Soso looked over at her and tipped his drink in her direction. She smiled stiffly. Looking back at Salvadore, he nodded at one of Dionne’s friends who was talking a mile a minute. He looked miserable and uncomfortable, eyes darting around, probably looking for Dad. Laura decided the best way to piss him off was to have a conversation he couldn’t hear.

She squeezed past Dionne, who was tap-tapping into her phone as she and Ruby giggled about something, and went to Soso Oseigh.

“What’s his plan?” she said into Soso’s ear.

“To have a good time.”

“What’s your plan?”

“Someplace with more air.”

“Anything in mind?”

“Actually, I believe there’s a roof?”

“Fantastic.”

Soso’s concerned face despite the fact that he didn’t know what the Prince was up to had told Laura that he wasn’t a bit player in the drama. Laura was interested in shaking up whatever Salvadore had planned, because throwing him off course would give her a minute to think about what needed to be done to save the dress and possibly the negligent, absent, jerk of a father she had yet to meet.

Soso made excuses, and they headed out.

Ruby caught up to them at the stairwell. “Where are you going?”

“It’s getting crowded in there, and being near Dionne gives me a rash.”

“Please, no one takes the stairs but tourists.” She guided Soso and Laura back through the restaurant, where they picked up the rest of the entourage like lint. It wasn’t what Laura had hoped for, but she’d gotten tired of that table.

Apparently, anyone who was anyone got up to the roof of the four-story building the illegal way, via the fire escape. Salvadore did seem thrown for half a second as they exited into the street, went down the little driveway thing between buildings, and took the fire escape up to the roof. It was a long journey, with partiers coming down as they were going up, carrying the Lanai-style glasses that looked chipped from a block of ice and smoking cigarettes like criminals. Four stories later, Laura curved her body around the metal ladder and stepped onto the roof patio. It was a barely legal enterprise with a wooden awning on one side with grape leaves twisted in the lattice like a woman’s untrimmed bangs and a half-floor with a bar and bathrooms. A DJ spun with the New Jersey waterfront behind him, his fingertips exposed through slit tops of leather gloves. It was a breath of fresh air, with hors d'oeuvres served by part-time actors wearing full-time smiles. The entourage came behind her: Salvadore, Ruby, Soso, Hector, and Arturo. They seemed to have shaken Dionne for the moment, and Laura needed that moment to talk to Ruby.