The Acquisition (Neymar Jr. Fan fiction)

5. Dinners and Do-overs

-Neymar POV-

"So you're the man who's fucking my brother's wife," she said as a matter of fact.

My eyes widened and my body ran cold. "I'm sorry?" was all I managed to get out.

She didn't bother repeat herself. "Please, I'm not a natural blonde. I'm a lot smarter than I appear, much more so than my brother," she chuckled and flipped her dirty blonde hair away from her face. "Not to mention the fact you look at her like one of Palov's dogs after hearing a bell," she scoffed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I denied with a laugh.

She shrugged and leaned back in her seat. Just then the waiter brought her a noisette. She thanked him and brought the mug to her lips, blowing away the heat. "You're not her first affair, you know," she said.

Only my eyes shifted up to check if she was serious and her expression told me she was. "That got your attention," she muttered. I diverted my eyes from her piercing light brown one's, they reminded me too much of her brother's. "The first time I caught Carmen having an affair was just a month after they'd been married. They were still living in England. I walked right in and saw her on top of the co-founder of my brother's former company. Shortly thereafter, the company was sold. A company that today would've been worth 3 times what it sold for, gone in the blink of an eye. Spencer said Carmen told him he could do better, that he was tying up his assets in the wrong markets and he should diversify. He listens to her more than he should," she explained.

"Maybe because she's his wife," I stated the obvious.

"Maybe because he's pussy-whipped. That's more likely," she corrected. "Carmen has only ever done one thing well, and that's spread her legs."

"I can see why she's not a big fan of yours," I noted.

She smiled a smug smile at that like she was proud of Carmen's distaste for her. "Carmen isn't a fan of anyone who holds more power than she does but you already know that," she said. I furrowed my eyebrows at her and was baffled by the amount of certainty in her voice. She spoke as though she knew me in and out. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right about that. Carmen preferred everything on her own terms. She made that clear even an hour ago through very obvious subtext that she had no intention of leaving Spencer just because I asked her to. That fact hurt me more than I cared to admit.

"So what, you're going to tell your brother? You want something from me?" I asked eager to get to the point.

She shook her head nonchalantly despite my somewhat aggressive tone. "Don't worry, It'll stay our secret," she said to me with a wink.

"Why would I believe that? You would keep a secret like that from your brother?" I wondered somewhat incriminatingly but we were way past incrimination.

"My brother is many things. He might be a first rate jackass but he is also a blind lover. Our parents are divorced, he swore he'd find love and keep it forever. I love too much to ever ruin that for him. Ignorance is bliss. Maybe he knows, maybe he always knew, but he won't hear it from me," she sighed, taking another sip from her espresso. "Besides, Carmen is thorough. She makes sure her business remains her business," she added cryptically.

I knew exactly what that meant. "She pays you," I realized with furrowed eyebrows.

"Santorini is beautiful this time of year," Amelia said ominously. "So was Bali a few months ago, St. Barths last year, Dubai the year before, I'll never forget St. Trop-"

"I get it," I stopped her from going further down the list. Every destination represented one of Carmen's affairs and it made my stomach turn. Was I really just another man on Carmen's roster. That couldn't be true.