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She obeyed, her stomach cramping with unease.
Moonlight spilled through the large window behind her father and mingled with the soft glow from his sleek brass desk lamp. The silver streaks in his hair glinted in the dimness, and world-weariness settled deep in the lines and crags of his face.
He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and surveyed his only daughter with an unreadable expression.
“How is everything going with Gloria?”
“Fine.”
His brows rushed down at her unenthusiastic response. “I hope you’re putting in the effort to get along with her. It’s important.”
“Why doIhave to try to get along withher?” Kris retorted in a rare slip of control. “Why can’t she try to get along with me? She’s the intruder.”
“Gloriaistrying, and we’ve been engaged for almost a year now. She says you spurn her attempts to get to know you better at every turn.”
“Right. And there’s no chance she’s lying.”
She was going to cheat on you! If you hadn’t arrived when you did, she would’ve been rolling around in bed with my boyfriend!Kris wanted to yell.
Fine, Nate hadn’t been her real boyfriend at the time, and Kris had concocted the setup, but Gloria had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. If she truly loved Roger, she wouldn’t have been tempted by another man, no matter how good-looking he was.
But Kris couldn’t say that. She had no evidence, and her father would dismiss it as another sign that she was unjustly biased toward his bride-to-be.
Kris sucked in a deep breath and tried to think happy thoughts.Sample sale. Limited edition. Chanel.
“You forget I’m your father,” Roger said dryly. “I know how defensive and guarded you can be. I’m not blaming you, after what your…mother did.” A shadow crossed his face the way it always did when he spoke of the woman who’d abandoned him and her then-two-year-old daughter. “But you need a maternal figure in your life. Gloria can be that for you.”
Fury and disbelief seized Kris’s throat. Her father couldn’t be serious. He thought Gloria, who was only six years older than Kris and was as cuddly as a den of vipers, could be amaternal figure?“She’s twenty-seven,” Kris said, striving for a calm, even tone. It didn’t work. “She’s only a few years older than me, and I’m well past the age where I need a ‘maternal figure.’” She placed the last two words in air quotes.
She’d needed a mother when she’d gotten her period for the first time. She’d needed a mother when her father went away on weeks-long business trips, leaving Kris in a mansion with servants who treated her like a china doll instead of a human being. She’d needed a mother to talk to about boys and makeup and the devastation she’d felt when she found out her middle school “best friend” had only been friends with her for the free holiday trips and extravagant gifts. Roger, while inattentive, had never shied away from showering his daughter and her friends with monetary affection.
But Kris hadn’t had a mother to hold her hand through childhood or guide her through her teen years. She’d figured shit out on her own when it became clear no one would be there to do it for her, and she’d turned out fine. She sure as hell didn’t need a mother now, at the ripe old age of twenty-one.
Her father shot her a warning look. “Gloria may be on the younger side, but she’s been through a lot. She can help guide you.”
“Through what? Pilfering your bank account? I thought you were a savvy businessman.” Kris’s eyes flashed. “How can you be so blind to what’s right in front of you? Gloria is a gold digger!”
Roger’s expression darkened. “Watch your tone,” he growled. “Don’t forget whose roof you’re living under, and whose money paid for your car, your clothes, and your vacations. I’ve been lenient with you all these years, but I will not let you speak to me that way in my own house. Gloria is going to be your stepmother, and that’s final. I suggest you come to terms with it. It will make life easier for you and everyone else in the household.”
Kris’s throat and nose burned with unshed tears. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? You just want to make thingseasierfor yourself. You never stopped to consider that maybe I need a father more than I need some woman masquerading as my ‘mother.’ But why should you? You’re never around, anyway.” She stood, so angry her body trembled. “Marry Gloria if you want, but you can’t make me like her. It’s never going to happen.”
She fled from the library before the tears could spill over. When she arrived at her room, she locked the door behind her and took huge, gasping breaths.
It wasn’t until her breathing evened and her mind cleared that she realized what a big mistake she’d made.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Losing her cool like that in front of her father was a dumb move, but the words had spilled out like water through a broken dam. Trying to hold them back would’ve been futile.
She pressed her knuckles to her eyes.Sample sale. Limited edition. Chanel.
For once, the mantra didn’t soothe her.
Kris walked to her closet and yanked open the doors. It wasn’t as well-stocked as her five-hundred-square-foot walk-in in Seattle, but it resembled an exclusive boutique with its rows of colorful dresses, designer heels, and sparkling jewelry displayed in glass boxes on the center island.
She soaked in the sight, seeking comfort in the most luxurious items money could buy.
That didn’t work either.
