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“Yes, and I was a wife and mother at her age.”
“Purely because you were pregnant and I did the right thing by you. This is not the same situation.”
Boom! I wanted to laugh at the mic drop my father landed. He rarely spoke to her, and never had I ever heard him speak against what she was saying. I hid my joy though as I watched her carefully placed niceness drop.
“Well, I’m sorry I destroyed your life.”
“Look, I’m your only daughter,” I interjected, hoping like hell I sounded sweet. “I get that you want the best for me. Let me at least meet the man, as an adult, and see what I think.”
Diane seemed pleased with the answer but Edward merely shrugged. He didn’t seem to want me to marry him but I knew he’d be thinking about the money the royal man could bring to us.
“That sounds like a great plan, but I doubt you’ll think anything but nice things about him. He certainly is good looking.”
That’s when it hit. She wanted him in the family so she could seduce him, like she seduced every male wait staff we ever had.
Whatever.
I didn’t care about marriage, it was never going to be my end goal but if meeting and letting this man try and woo me meant I would be introduced to the big players in the city. The big players who could help me take out my father’s empire, I would act the fool and let them wine and dine me.
My stupid parents were making it a piece of cake to destroy them and I was here for it.
Chapter Three
Roman
If I were to give the Caldwell’s any props it would be for their lavish parties. Their mansion was done up in a very extravagant way, almost as if we had stepped onto the stage of a production of Phantom of the Opera. I made sure my mask was fastened tight on my face to make sure I didn’t start a rumble before I stepped past the guards and followed Gunnar down the long path to the front doors. Two of the Caldwell men stood at the doors, I didn’t know their names because they didn’t work for Tyler but I knew if they saw my face, I’d be hauled in chains to the sheriff’s office if I wasn’t taken outside of Verona to be shot, execution style.
I knew that’s what Tyler would have wanted.
Gunnar led Bennett and I through the doors without a fuss. The foyer was grander than I thought it would be, but it made sense. Edward liked to show off his wealth by having parties and dinners here all the time, whereas my father showed off his wealth by purchasing clubs and restaurants to show off how wealthy he was.
They were the same and yet if you asked them, they were different.
I spotted Rose talking to some guests, her fake smile pasted on her face was fooling everyone but me. She hated these formal gatherings, and had a wild side that no one knew about. I knew though, boy, did I know how wild that girl could be. She was the only one I revisited, the only woman who had seen the inside of my apartment.
I lingered close by with Bennett at my side. I knew he’d not leave me alone, but he also desperately didn’t want to be here. When the time came, he would shoot out that door, the fastest he could. He was here for me…to make sure I didn’t cause a scene and get myself killed.
“Will you get a drink and relax?” I said to him. “You’re killing my buzz.”
“We shouldn’t be here, can you imagine what your father would say?”
“And how exactly would he find out?”
“You don’t think Tyler would tell the sheriff and cause a scene the second he finds out you’re here?”
“Well then maybe you should blend in so he doesn’t take notice.”
Bennett sighed, and headed to the bar for a drink. I was finally able to locate Rose again in the crowd, heading toward a hallway. I moved off, slinking amongst the guests and following her until we were alone in the hallway.
She knew she wasn’t alone. Slowly, she turned around, gasping when she recognized the lower half of my face.
“Are you crazy?” she asked me in a near whisper, pulling me out of sight, hidden behind a potted fern. “If Tyler were to see you here.”
“I don’t care,” I told her. “You think your brother scares me?”
Her smile was hard to miss. She was getting off on this. “You came here because I wouldn’t come over the other night?”
“You think by hooking up with Tommy, you’re free of me?”
