“Do you know how to castrate?”
Her question makes me jolt, the glass in my hand slipping. Luckily it was close to the shelf and didn’t drop far enough to break. Focusing back on her, I contemplate what to say.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter if I don’t know how to do it. It’s not like I’m going for a clean, comfortable removal.”
“Eh…” I grab a tall glass and fill it with coke. Putting it beside her gin and tonic, I make sure our gazes are locked before I speak. “Who are we castrating?”
“Two men, who, now that I think about it, probably don’t have balls anyway,” she mutters.
My brain is stuck on the first part. “Two men?”
With a sigh she lowers her chin to the surface of the bar and looks up at me with wet eyes. “I overheard my fiancé getting his dick sucked by the best man.”
Her words run on repeat in my head. I hear them. I understand them. But I’ll be fucked if they make sense. “Your fiancé had a woman as his best man?” That right there seems like a red flag.
Lips trembling in a small smile, she whispers, “No. Darryl is very much a man.”
Bending over, I rest my forearms on the bar and bring our faces inches apart. “Peter”—just saying the guy’s name has my gut clenching and my hands wanting to fist—“and Darryl were getting it on? Before the wedding?”
She nods and a single tear rolls down her cheek. “Know what upsets me the most?”
I shake my head.
“I knew he wasn’t in love with me. I’m not in love with him. But I need to get married. Need to have a husband so my grandfather will hand over control of the company to me and my brother.”
“A marriage of convenience? Does it matter that he likes a guy sucking his dick if that’s what you were doing?”
“That’s not what we were doing.” She frowns. “At least that’s not what we agreed to. He’s been wooing me for over a year, proposed at the Sapphire Ball six months ago?—”
“You got engaged the same night as Carter and Livi?” I didn’t know that. And I have to wonder why I didn’t. From what I know of her fiancé—ex—he’d be all over a big flashy proposal in front of as many people as possible and then rubbing it in everyone’s faces that she was engaged to him.
“I couldn’t say no.”
The look on her face tells me more than her words do. She couldn’t say no because of where he chose to do the asking. “I would never propose to a woman like that.”
“I need to think about a way to get back at him. Castration seems like a good start but I’m not sure if I want to touch him. I haven’t before and?—”
“Wait. You haven’t touched his dick?”
“No.” She shudders, her face screwing up. “We were waiting until…”
That fucker.I take a deep breath and shove back the rage rising in my chest. “Okay. Let’s brainstorm. He made you cry. What would make him cry?”
The smile that curves her lips is the first happy one she’s given me since she walked in and sat down. “Take away his standing.”
“His standing?”
“Yes. His place. In our social circle. He’s from money, although from what I overheard, maybe that’s no longer there. His family is old money, been a mainstay for generations.”
“Okay. So what? Embarrass him? Strip his reputation?”
“That.” She straightens, a spark of light in her eyes. “His reputation. He loved telling everyone he was engaged to a Foxworth.”
“Well, he’s not engaged to one anymore.”
“No. But I’m sure he’s spinning it to look as though I’m at fault.”
“You didn’t confront him?”
