Claire kicked and swam toward the smear of silver light. Her head broke the ocean surface. She floated and took a breath of warm, salt air, shaking the water from her eyes. She was a few hundred yards down the beach from the Chandlers and her husband, and she swam back toward the canopy and torches.
A young couple strolled along the flat wooden bridge that connected their strip of beach to the cluster of bungalows across the lagoon. They were heading over from the wedding reception to join her group. Claire recognized them and swam faster.
After fucking Burke for an hour she'd gone swimming, both to rinse away the sweat and sand and cum and because she knew that the Chandlers intended to make Herb a career offer tonight. She'd already put in her two cents on that score and wasn't didn't care to sit through that conversation.
She waded out onto the hard damp sand. So long after sunset, the air was a few degrees colder but still tropical.
I wonder...if you lived here, would you ever need to wear clothes at all?
The notion intrigued her. The lights of the big island, Kai'ulau, were just visible through the mist on the horizon. When Simone had offered the use of this little private isle for the wedding, Claire had asked if she and Burke owned it. "Oh, no. Friends, darling--clients, actually, the Novaks. I adore them. They make Konstantyn look positively Amish."
She could hear Burke giving Herb the bad news as she approached the group. "I think Grigor was leaning toward you until it became clear that Claire and Robyn would not be accompanying you to Europe," he said. "Andrei, I'm afraid, always favored Loretta."
"You're giving the satellite office to Murphy," Herb repeated slowly. He looked stunned and slurred his words as if he'd gone a couple of losing rounds in a prizefight. "You always intended to give it to her."
"Not true," Simone interjected sharply. "Not
entirely
true. It was the client's call. And frankly, it's easy enough to understand the son's preference for Loretta, if you've seen her sandwiched between him and his father."
"You can take some pride in that, you know," Burke added. "If I recall, Loretta was nearly a newlywed when she started working with you, wasn't she? It didn't take you long to turn her out and recruit her into your style of client service. So, fruits of your labor, right? She's showed the Konstantyns that there is nothing she won't do to satisfy them. I don't think you'd suit their expectations nearly so well."
"You said that the decision was mostly theirs," Herb objected. "What about the other part?"
"Afraid that was me," Claire spoke up. "I made my preference clear to Simone. I lobbied for Loretta."
"But why? To torment me? To keep punishing me?"
"Torment you? Me? Don't be silly." Claire laughed. "I didn't want you gone off alone so far away. We're a family and you're my
husband,
dearest. I mean, goodness, think of the kids."
"Yeah, Dad. Think of us." Noah and Erika Tan stepped into the torchlight together. They were the couple Claire had seen walking across from the hotel. "I guess that'd be a stretch for you, huh?" he sneered, letting go of Erika's hand and embracing Claire. He cupped her bare breasts in his hands and leaned down to kiss her on the mouth. Herb could only stare at them, disconsolate and disbelieving.
"Get hold of yourself, man!" Burke snapped. "You look like somebody shot your damn dog." Erika perched herself on his knee. Her fingers wandered teasingly through the forest of dark curls on his chest. His tone softened ever so slightly as he continued, "Now, to be fair...I'll grant that perhaps we've put you through something of a wringer these last few months. And I know this seems like a big setback and a disappointment right now. But you can either mope about it or move forward. We do have another offer for you."
"With Loretta Murphy moving on to other things, your wife is going to need a new assistant," Simone chimed in. "We expect Claire will become quite the rainmaker. I suppose we could assign a junior person to run her office and, you know, the day-to-day...but we want someone special to manage her social contacts and engagements with an eye to business potential. Someone devoted to her success. Someone with the right kind of experience."
"Excuse me?" Herb's chest grew tight with horror at Simone's implication.
"We want you to do your thing again." Burke waved his hand casually. He could not completely disguise his wolfish satisfaction at sinking the knife. "See to it that Claire is fucking the right people. You may be working with Robyn as well, Claire has suggested that we bring her on as--"
"You want me to pimp for my wife. And my daughter." Herb's voice was flat and toneless. He looked disbelievingly from Burke to Simone and then to Claire.
"Come on, you're good at this." Burke sounded for all the world as if he were encouraging a youngster in a volunteer softball program. "You've always had the knack..."
Herb stood up and took two steps toward Burke, fists raised...then something finally snapped inside him, that last thread of hope. He broke down in helpless laughter, the mirthless, mindless screech of a madman, and miserable tears ran down his face. What they proposed was at the same time too awful to fathom and yet somehow had an inevitability to it: this was where it had all been leading from the beginning.
Somewhere inside Herb the last vestige of his old self--the schemer, the strategist--clawed at his attention with the futile question:
What are your options?
