Page 85 of Wild Promise

Every rehearsed word, every carefully planned sentence, every version of the speech I’d been building in my head—all of it evaporated.

“Hey,” she said when she finally reached me.

“Hey,” I croaked.

Her eyes searched mine, but I couldn’t tell if she’d come to throw me out or throw me a lifeline.

“Melina, I need to talk?—”

“I know.” Her voice was tight. “And I need to talk to you too. But not yet. Okay?”

I swallowed past the boulder in my throat but still couldn’t manage more than a nod.

The lights flashed. A spotlight fell on the raised podium beside the DJ table, and the last person I expected to see stepped up to the microphone.

My uncle.

Glenn didn’t do public. He was reserved, private, content to let Wyatt handle anything with a crowd. But tonight he was front and center, wearing a smile I hadn’t seen on him since Eric’s wedding.

My hands balled into fists at my sides as he welcomed the room. The words washed over me because all I could focus on was the fact that my uncle was standing at that podium.

Then his gaze swept the room, landed on Melina, and his whole face softened. He announced her promotion like it was the highlight of his evening. And fuck, maybe it was. Every word out of his mouth was deserved, and hearing someone finally say it out loud, in front of this many people, filled my chest until it felt like it might split in two.

I was clapping before he’d even finished. Hard and fast and probably too loud, but I didn’t care. She’d earned this. Every late night, every crisis, every second of stress—it had all led here.

“That’s my girl,” I murmured, my gaze locked on hers.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and I wanted so badly to wrap her in my arms. To kiss her senseless. Claim her in front of everyone.

But Glenn wasn’t done.

“I also have a family announcement,” he said, and something in his tone shifted. It was heavier. More personal. And it made my stomach drop.

He said something about the family legacy, then mentioned my father’s name and a single word that changed everything.

Sold.

It hit me like a sucker punch. My hands fell to my sides and every muscle in my body locked.

What the hell was going on?

Melina’s hand found mine. Her fingers slid through my own and held on, and some distant part of my brain registered that her grip was deliberate. Like she knew what was coming.

But that was impossible.

“As of this morning,” Glenn continued, like his speech was just fucking routine. “The new co-owner of Copper Ridge Resort is my nephew. Zane Alexander.”

The room erupted around me, but everything was muffled and distant, like it was happening to someone else.

My ears were ringing. My lungs had stopped working. My hand clamped down on Melina’s so hard I was probably hurting her, but I couldn’t make myself let go.

He’d named me co-owner. Me.

That wasn’t my plan. I hadn’t bought anything. I’d quit. I’d flown to New York and sat in my father’s cold office and accepted a job I didn’t want because it was the only way I could think of to get out of Melina’s way.

And now I owned half the resort?

How the fuck…