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Would I see him again?
Rhys looped his arm through mine and led me over to his parents. He tipped his head at his father. “Grace, I’d like you to meet my dad, Remington.” Then his doting gaze landed on his mother, who was smiling at her son like he was a god. “And this is my mom, Helena.”
I was raised with manners, so I offered my hand to his father. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
His fingers slipped between mine, and he shook my hand like he was trying to break my knuckles. “Welcome to the family,daughter.”
He didn’t lovingly say that word. No, it sounded sinister and hateful, like how Rhys had been speaking to me all day.
His mother didn’t offer her hand nor hug me as our eyes met. Helena Vanderbilt seemed like a woman who could hold her own without a man. But standing beside Remington, she was even more powerful and disarming. She eyed me up as if I were nothing.
Less than her.
I should have treated them with the same disdain they showed me, but I was better than that.
Better thanthem.
“Rhys, darling.” Helena’s bright red lips turned up into a smile. “Fetch your mother another glass of champagne.” She glanced at me for a moment. “I’d like to have a word with your bride.Alone.”
Rhys brushed his thumb over my cheek. “I’ll be right back. Remember what I said earlier.”
He disappeared into the crowd, leaving me alone with his parents.
Remington grabbed Grayson by the shoulder. “We’ll give you two a moment.” He steered his youngest son toward the bar without another word.
Helena sipped from the champagne flute, inspecting my face. “My Rhys is a good boy,” she said after a moment of silence. “He does whatever his mother tells him.” She slid her hand beneath my jaw to get a better look at me, her cold, blue eyes hardened into slits. “You’re a beautiful girl. The perfect trophy wife for my Rhys.” Her hand dropped to her side. “But I hear you’re a troublemaker. You do whatever is necessary to get what you want.”
“That’s not true,” I said to defend myself. “Your son used me.”
“He was only doing what he was told,” she lilted. “Rhys played his part perfectly. This is exactly the result we expected. And if you do anything to mess with my plans, you will pay for it.”
Rhys said his dad was the manipulator, but maybe the real mastermind of this family was his mother. She was cunning and cruel, the love child of Cruella de Vil and Voldemort.
I could see why Rhys was so fucked up. His parents were terrible people and didn’t have good intentions.
Rhys reappeared seconds later with a fresh glass of champagne for his mother and a plate of canapés. “I thought you might be hungry. You always work up an appetite when you’re scheming.”
They were so messed up.
She took the drink and appetizers with a glowing smile. “So thoughtful, my dear boy. Always thinking of your mother’s needs.”
Vomit.
My mother died before I could form a real relationship with her. But I couldn’t recall her ever acting so strange. You would have thought Helena had a thing for her oldest son.
Maybe she had a Jocasta complex, which would have made Rhys Oedipus. I’d read that in high school and got sickened by the thought of a son marrying his mother. Helena could have her son because I didn’t want his lying, traitorous ass.
* * *
After the party ended, my grandfather pulled me into the great room by my arm. His fingers created a thick rope of red marks on my skin. When he treated me this way, I felt like the scared girl he dragged from the wreckage of my old life.
“If you think about messing with my plans,” Grandfather said with a cold stare aimed at me, “I’ll kill your boyfriend and his family.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I choked out, startled by his word choice.
“I heard the story from Rhys,” he said as he inched toward me like a hunter about to seize prey. “He told me every dirty detail about you and Cole Marshall. Everything you did this summer. You’re disgusting.” He shook his head. “Filthy animals, all of you. Corrupted by the Devil.”
Bile rose from my stomach, and I had to cover my mouth so I didn’t puke on the floor at his feet. Whenever he was around, my insides turned to slush.
