She pales a little. If she thought I’d say it was fine, she thought wrong. Her screwup bothers me more than I expected. I’m being manipulated into marrying a Webber to cement the families’ alliance. Normally, I’d do anything to stop the scheme. I might not have been so anxious to depart London if the woman I was being forced to wed was Vivienne.
For some reason I haven’t been able to sort out yet, I don’t want to leave Grace by herself at the altar. Perhaps having seen the hollow pain in her eyes when Nelson hit her affected me more than I realized. But I don’t ever want her to feel that bone-deep humiliation again, not in front of that godawful family of hers.
Once the plane touches down, I drive straight to the orangery. As I merge onto the highway, my phone alerts me to newly arrived texts.
–Grant: You ever gonna get here? Less than 2 hours left!
–Noah: Do you think Grace is armed?
–Nicholas: I wouldn’t blame her if she tried to shoot Hux. She wouldn’t even go to jail. One female juror, andbam! Not guilty.
I roll my eyes.
–Me: There will be no jury nullification. I’m in LA now. Already driving.
–Emmett: Don’t drive and text!
–Me: I’m dictating.
–Grant: I don’t believe you. You haven’t made any errors.
–Me: Jealousy is such an ugly emotion.
–Griffin: Forget dictation errors! The real problem is that Dad got here with Joey, and now I can’t find him anywhere.
Fuck. My hand tightens around the steering wheel.What’s Dad up to now?I should’ve been there hours ago to keep on eye on things, especially him and Joey! Fucking Madison.
–Grant: Jesus, this wedding is doomed.
–Noah: So what? Hux never wanted to marry her.
–Me: That doesn’t mean I’ll jilt her.
–Noah: Why? Somebody blackmailing you?
The question makes me pause, since I haven’t been able to figure out the why yet. So I go for the first answer that pops to my head.
–Me: No. Emma’s attending.
My brothers don’t say anything. They know how I feel about Emmett’s mom—and that she’s my moral compass. I’m grateful Emma never sided with my family when it came to my career choices. She’s always encouraged me to spread my wings and soar to the heights of my dreams.
–Griffin: It’s hard, living up to another person’s standards.
–Me: If we all lived up to yours, we’d be living in caves and grunting to communicate.
–Griffin: Fuck you.
I chuckle despite the tension of the last forty-two hours. Griffin hates it that his mother expects him to live up to her standards—beautiful, fit and accessible. She almost always has a crisis when she’s between boyfriends—who are generally at least thirty years younger—and demands Griffin make everything better for her.
As I pull into the venue, I blink at all the black and white decorations. White, I understand. But don’t women like to pick something other than black for weddings?
I climb out, and Emmett notices and rushes over. “Finally! Sebastian said he’d kill you if he couldn’t hand off your custom rings personally. Apparently, Lucie’s really looking forward to seeing the designs, and he hasn’t shown ’em to her yet.”
“So Seb came through with the hardware. Good.”
“Did you really tell him they needed to be kept secret until you guys exchanged the rings?”
I nod. “What’s up with these colors?”
