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“Tonight is about the celebration of family,” I started. “It was something I didn’t appreciate or understand very well growing up. My dear brother and I weren’t close, always combative in everything we did. While we competed in school, with sports, for our parents’ attention and vying to be the top dog in a company my father built from the ground up, we forgot how important family truly was. It took a mystery man on a plane to remind me of that.”
There were several murmurs from the groomsmen and other bridesmaids, who sadly had no idea what was about to occur. Then I continued.
“The Warrington family has always been powerful and unfortunately, that placed a target on our backs. We were fair game for our enemies to try and bring us to destruction. When they couldn’t do it through typical methods, they resorted to more nefarious ones, including pitting us against one another. And it almost worked.” I threw a sly look to Steinbeck who rose from his chair. “But it didn’t.”
“What is going on?” Ashley asked as she lifted her head, immediately searching her father’s eyes. Senator Winslow was already furious, as if he knew the hammer was about to come down.
“Dear brother of mine. Will you do the honors?” I continued.
“Certainly, fabulous sister. I will be happy to. Unfortunately, there won’t be a wedding, although we will continue to party after two of our guests are taken into custody,” Steinbeck said and on cue, police officers entered the room. It was good my father was very close with the head of the department. With the evidence Grayson had gathered along with some follow-up from my father, convincing the chief to make a couple of arrests had been easy.
“What the hell is going?” Senator Winslow demanded as he jerked to his feet, tossing his napkin.
I couldn’t help but notice Ashley was on the verge of tears, or so she wanted everyone in the room to believe. Bullshit. She was a master manipulator.
Kendrick tugged on my arm and I sat down. Then he leaned over, wrapping his fingers around my knee and nuzzling against my neck. “What did you do, bad girl of mine?”
“Exactly what you’d do. It would seem you’ve rubbed off on me.”
“Mmm… Maybe that’s not such a good thing.”
“My sister is right,” Steinbeck continued. “We almost lost ourselves in a competition that doesn’t need to exist, fueled by an enemy. Helped by a man my father trusted. How does it feel, Mr. Garrison, to betray an old friend?”
Almost everyone at the table gasped, Jack jerking to his feet. “I did no such thing.”
“I assure you that Steinbeck has proof, Jack. Sit the fuck down. The show’s just beginning,” my father said with absolute authority. Jack had access to information, everything he wanted. He’d also had connections, including back in Kentucky. He’d been the one to convince the DEA that Kendrick was as guilty as his father, putting the heat on him to try to dissuade him from continuing in California.
They didn’t know my fiancé very well. He never backed down from anything.
“That stops today,” Steinbeck continued. “Given my sister was almost killed, the Warrington family can’t go on with this charade.”
It was true that pictures were worth their weight in gold. Seeing Senator Winslow and his daughter over the course of a few months trying to railroad both Steinbeck and our father was disgusting. Ashley had never loved my brother, but I could learn something from her acting skills. She was truly brilliant at faking it.
As the PowerPoint presentation began, I bit my lower lip, tingling from the way Kendrick was stroking my leg. Even the photograph of the senator meeting with the assassin had been included, evidence the police already had.
“You are such a naughty girl,” he whispered a few minutes later.
“Yes, I am. And you love that about me.”
“Baby, I love you for the woman you are inside and out.”
The words were some I’d longed to hear my entire life and as I turned my head, I could tell he was being serious. A single tear slipped past my lashes.
Maybe the future looked bright after all.
* * *
“I can tell you have something else up your sleeve,” Kendrick said as he joined me on the terrace of our hotel room. He handed me a glass of wine and for the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt complete.
It also felt good to be home.
“But I’m not wearing any sleeves,” I teased, which prompted him to smack me on the butt.
“You know what I mean.” He leaned over the railing, studying the lights of the city. “You now have everything you want including control of your father’s company.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
