Page 13 of Not His Bride

“Gallagher.”

I shut up. She looks at her father next. “And I’m not going back in there to save your investors.”

Phillip’s jaw tightens. “Lilith, this merger affects more than your feelings.”

That word pisses me off. Feelings. Like his daughter wasn’t humiliated in front of hundreds of people.

“Her feelings?” I repeat.

Phillip looks at me like he forgot I was standing there.

“Your daughter just found out, at her wedding reception, that you offered her to me because Debbie was unavailable.”

“That arrangement benefited everyone.”

Lilith stares at him then. Whatever she was waiting for her father to say, that clearly wasn’t it.

“But did it benefit her? I fucked up. She deserved better back then, and she definitely deserves better now.”

I don’t know whether I’ve helped or made everything worse, but I’m done pretending that this is normal.

Tammy reaches for Lilith, but she pulls away before she can. “Honey,” her mother begins. “Why don’t we go upstairs for a few minutes? You can calm down, and then we can figure out what to tell everyone.”

“I am calm. I want to leave.”

Phillip answers, “Absolutely not.” At the same time, I say, “Okay.”

Forcing her back to the wedding would only make everything worse.

“I don’t need anyone’s permission,” she spits.

She leaves, the lobby doors closing behind her.

My first instinct is to go after her again, but I make myself stay where I am. She said she wanted to leave. Chasing her through another set of doors isn’t going to prove I suddenly know how to listen.

Debbie lets out a breath. “Well, that was dramatic.”

I point at Phillip, completely ignoring Debbie. “You coddle her. And no, I don’t mean Lilith. Debbie. I hadn’t paid attention at the time, but you said Debbie deserved the best, so what about Lilith?”

Phillip’s expression hardens. “Don’t lecture me about my daughters.”

“I’m not lecturing you. I’m asking.”

Debbie lets out a laugh behind him. “Oh, please. He has one conversation with Lilith, and suddenly he knows our entire family?”

“No,” I say. “But I know what I learned.”

“And that is?” Debbie stupidly asks.

“Let me ask you, is it true that Lilith is the driving force behind your collaboration with Maison Ziterweigen?”

“She handles some of the business side, yes.”

“Some? You mean she negotiated the European distribution contract,” I say. “She got the distributor down to nineteen percent. She expanded the line to twelve countries and saved you over nine million dollars in the first year.”

Phillip finally says, “Lilith is very good at what she does.” For what it’s worth, there’s a smidge of warmth in his voice, but it’s not worth much right now. “The collaboration works because both of my daughters have different strengths. Debbie is the face of it; Lilith handles more of the operational side.”

“By more of, do you mean all of?”