Zoe Cavalier wasn’t having a good day.
Her flight to Boston had been late, then someone stole her purse—with Zoe's credit card, her passport, and all her cash—and now the guy who was supposed to pick her up was late too.
Zoe glanced at her phone for what felt like the hundredth time and frowned, looking around the crowded Boston Airport. Her elder brother had assured her that his American friend would pick her up, but it had been an hour since her arrival and the bloke was still nowhere to be seen.
Ugh...
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t as though she needed to be picked up, she was already twenty, not a child, but fighting her overbearing eldest brother on this was more trouble than it was worth. As the youngest child and the only girl, in her large family, Zoe had long ago learned when to pick her battles and when to save her breath.
Zachary had always been overprotective of her. He thought of Zoe as more of a daughter than a sister. It was probably unavoidable, considering their significant age difference and the fact that Zachary had practically raised her since Zoe was a toddler.
Needless to say, Zachary didn’t approve of her decision to spend the summer overseas all by herself and insisted on Zoe’s staying at his friend’s place. At least he hadn’t outright forbidden her from going. He could have, since Zoe was a broke student financially dependent on her eldest brother.
It made Zoe a little embarrassed, to be honest, that he was still treated such a baby, but she’d mostly made peace with it and already accepted her role in the family. Initially, she’d tried to be independent before—when she had moved out of Zachary’s house at eighteen—but she hadn’t expected how difficult being on her own would be. London was expensive, and she’d ended up sharing a tiny room with two other girls from her class.
It had certainly been a learning experience: she had learned that sometimes pride was stupid and pointless. She’d been embarrassed but relieved to return to Zachary’s house with her tail between her legs. Since then, she hadn’t rebelled again, accepting Zachary’s financial support until the time she would be able to be independent without having to skip meals to pay rent.
But still, having to depend on Zachary’s financial support for her travels while she tried to figure what she want to do in life made Zoe more than a little uncomfortable. That was why she had agreed to stay at Zachary’s friend’s place: she didn’t want Zachary to pay for her hotels too.
Her phone went off in her hand.
Xandro Murphy, the caller ID said.
Relieved, Zoe answered. “Hi,” she said, a little awkwardly. She and Xandro actually didn’t know each other all that well. Xandro had been invited to dinner at their house when he’d been in London last summer, but with how large Zoe’s family was, they had barely talked to each other. “Thanks for coming to pick me up. I’m at Terminal—”
“Actually,” Xandro cut her off. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t pick you up. You have no idea how sorry I am, but you won’t be able to stay at our place either.”
Zoe blinked, at a loss. “Oh. That’s—” That’s fine, she wanted to say, but it wasn’t really fine. She was in an unfamiliar city, in a different country, with no money, no credit card, and no passport.
“My fiancé’s parents got into a serious accident in Brazil yesterday,” Xandro said, his voice apologetic but distracted. “We’re already in Rio. We should have left you a key, but we left in such a hurry, your arrival slipped my mind.”
“Oh,” Zoe said, frowning. “Are they okay?”
“Not really,” Xandro replied, his voice grim and tired. “My fiancé is a mess right now, and it’s been…” He sighed. “Anyway, look, I’m really sorry for this. I already asked our friends to pick you up and host you until our return—”
“You didn’t have to,” Zoe said, wincing a little. It was one thing to stay at the place of a relative of a family friend—Xandro’s cousin, Jared, was an old family friend—but it was completely another to have to depend on strangers she didn’t know at all. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“You won’t be,” Xandro said. “You’ll stay at Montreal Manor. It has thirty bedrooms. Your presence there won’t make a difference, kiddo.”
“I’m not a kid,” Zoe said without much heat.
“The Montreal will send someone to pick you up soon. Sit tight.” Xandro sounded distracted again. “Okay, I have to go. Call me if you need anything. And I mean anything, all right? I promised Jared I would keep an eye on you, and he’ll have my balls if anything happens to you.”
Zoe shook her head with a crooked smile. She knew Jared was protective of him, too—most of Zachary’s old friends were—but she hadn’t expected that Jared would personally ask his cousin to keep an eye on her.
“Thanks,” Zoe said, but Xandro had already ended the call.
Grimacing a little, she really hated being an inconvenience to someone she barely knew, Zoe looked at her phone and typed a message to Zachary, telling him that everything was fine. There was no way in hell she could tell her overprotective brother that she had already managed to lose her money and her ID. Zachary would never let her live it down.
But before Zoe could send the message, her phone went off again. It was an unfamiliar number.
Zoe answered.
“Zoe Cavalier?” someone said. “My name is Tom. I’m Mr. Montreal’s driver. I was sent for you.”
Zoe sagged in relief and smiled...
___________________________________________
