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“Don’t forget your ring,” Henry reminded her gesturing to the sizable three-carat emerald-cut diamond sitting on his dresser table. Bre rarely wore it, finding the weight to cumbersome on her small finger. The diamond was a family heirloom, worn by all the Duchess’ before her, and reluctantly given up by Henry’s mom. He insisted she have it, despite her reservations. It was beautiful if a little ostentatious for Bre.
“You look lovely. Don’t be nervous about tonight. I’ll be by your side the entire time,” Henry whispered his breath tickling the outer shell of her ear.
His presence both calmed Bre and started a fire in her belly. For a moment, she considered going back to his original plan of engaging in some delightful coitus before being fed to the wolves, but his nagging words rang in her ear, and the roaring fire dampened.
“Let’s do this,” she told him plastering the brightest, fakest smile on her face.
Bre might not get Henry for real, but tonight he was hers, and she planned to make the most of their time together.
* * *
The party proved successful with Bre only make one or two faux-pas at the dinner table. She noted that she needed to pay better attention to the videos she found online about dinnerware etiquette. But outside of that, the charity kickoff appeared to be a massive success. At last count, they’d raised over one-hundred thousand dollars. More than she’d ever even dreamed of when she planned the event. Bre knew some of the turn out came from the curiosity people held around who she was—the girl who stole the Duke of Rochester from the perfect Sienna Marlbourgh—but Bre didn’t care. The money she earned would go towards a great cause, one that she and Henry were creating.
She felt elated, so naturally, the universe put an obstacle in her way to tear her down.
“Ms. Reynolds!” a female-voiced called. Bre stopped in place. All night, people stopped her to congratulate her on her upcoming marriage, or ask asinine questions. She could not wait to see which way this particular conversation might fall.
Bre saw Sienna Marlborough coming towards her. All svelte, blonde, and designer. Her dress easily cost ten thousand, and it sparkled on her.
“Lady Marlborough,” Bre responded kindly attempting to quash the jealousy she felt at seeing Sienna. “I’m surprised to see you here,” Bre said honestly. Sienna avoided all society events since news broke of Bre and Henry.
Sienna laughed as if Bre told the funniest joke in the world. “Lady Rochester invited me. She knows how closely Henry and I worked on this in its beginning stages and thought I might like to see it get off the ground,” she said. The dig did not go unnoticed. “Nice to see Henry’s vision come true,” she told Bre. “He’s a wonderful man, with such a kind heart. His generosity impressed me in our brief time together,” she said.
Bre squirmed uncomfortably. Sienna might appear the nicest woman in the world, but Bre could smell passive-aggressive behavior a mile away.
“My fiancé enjoyed getting your perspective on our charity,” Bre told Sienna truthfully. “But he trusts my vision on how to take things to the next level.” It took everything in Bre not to add an expletive to the end of her rather cordial sentence. Bre knew if she engaged with Sienna, she’d come out looking like shit. Society still believed Bre swooped in and stole the handsome Duke from his perfect future-Duchess, and Sienna relished in her victimhood.
“That’s an interesting assessment,” Sienna countered, “Considering that the Dowager Duchess just inquired about my interested in coming on board to steer this new venture in the right direction.”
A slap from Sienna would have been less shocking than her words. Even though she knew Priscilla hated her, and also though her and Henry’s engagement was essentially fake, she’d done everything she could to build a kinder relationship with his mother. Priscilla wanted nothing to do with her and made that known; she undercut Bre at every moment, but this was the most hurtful.
Sienna must have read the shock on Bre’s face for what it was, as she continued on, driving the knife deeper. “Given that you have no experience with something like this, Priscilla thought my presence might be much needed, and I can see from this event that she was not incorrect.”
“We’ve raised over $100,000,” Bre stuttered out stunned.
Sienna laughed once more, and the sound grated on Bre’s nerves. “You invited some of the richest people in England here tonight, and what you raised barely made a dent in their wallets. Frankly, darling, the only reason you made what you did is that everyone is dying to see if Henry’s little-American is sporting a baby bump.”
Ten minutes ago, Bre felt as though putting herself out there was worth it for all the money they made, but now she wanted to vomit.
Bre wanted to retreat as quickly as possible. What felt like a great night had soured immeasurably.
“Is there anything else?” she asked, wanting to leave before Sienna completely stripped her of her dignity. She’d been ill-prepared to go head-to-head with someone like Sienna. Sure, she fended off cheerleaders in Pennsylvania, but Sienna had years of experience cutting people down to size, and Bre knew she never stood a chance against her.
“I look forward to working with you,” she told Bre before sauntering away to laugh with a group of friends leaving her opponent cold and isolated.
* * *
“You were a smashing success,” Henry told Bre later that evening as they enjoyed a celebratory drink in the estate gardens as the caterers cleaned up inside the house. Bre attempted to make the best of their night, but her spirits felt more deflated than ever.
“I’m not sure we were that successful,” she told him her mood souring as she considered her conversation with Sienna. After their conversation, Bre excused herself to the bathroom and looked up the net-worth of her first ten invitees. Sienna had been correct. Some of her guests could have easily donated tens of thousands of dollars without breaking a sweat, but apparently, they decided the price of their plate, as well as, a small donation was quite enough. In fact, The Marlborough family gave the highest amount of the night, once again, making it clear that the wrong girl wore the ring. After mentally crunching the numbers, Bre knew that after subtracting over-heard they barely profited.
“Raising all of that money for our charity at your first event is incredible!” Henry exclaimed, pouring her another glass of champagne. Bre downed it, hoping it would lessen her terrible mood.
“Did you know your mother offered Sienna Marlborough a spot on the charity’s board?” Bre questioned. From the look on Henry’s face, she guessed his mother failed to mention that. “Why is your mother even in charge of adding board members to my charity?” she asked her voice tight with accusation.
“My mother means well,” Henry started in an attempt to cool her rising temper.
Bre scoffed at his words. “No, she doesn’t.”
