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Shane Madrigal was Jacob Ellis’s adopted son and the absolute black sheep of his family. A rogue elephant. An inglorious delinquent.
And my arch enemy, through no fault of my own.
I hadn’t seen him once since the night I met him. The night when he gave me a fake name and fucked me over. Maybe I’d hoped that he might’ve forgotten about the whole thing by now. Or at least forgotten how enjoyable he seemed to find fucking me over.
The look in his eyes when I glanced up and found him watching me said that he hadn’t forgotten a thing.
I turned away, quick.
“God, I hate that guy,” I grumbled to Aunt Madeleine. I tucked myself in next to her at a buffet table—yes, I was hiding—and slammed a croissant and a scone onto my plate.
“Which one?” Madeleine glanced across the room at my soon-to-be-stepbrothers, clearly amused.
“The asshole.” I tossed a dollop of clotted cream on my plate.
“I didn’t realize you disliked him so much.” Really, no surprise that she knew exactly whothe assholewas.
“I don’t dislike him. I literally hate him.”
“How can you hate him? Have you even met him?”
“Oh, I met him.”Once.“And that was more than enough.”
The man I’d met that night had a gorgeous face, a body to match, charisma for miles and apparently no scruples about anything. Even his family seemed to think he was shady as fuck. I’d gathered a mountain of gossip on him, via my cousins, over the last four years.
But most of all I hated Shane Madrigal because he’d fucked me—in every sense of the word.
“Dani doesn’t like him,” I informed Madeleine. “I’m pretty sure even Danica doesn’t like him, even though she won’t say so. She’s still trying to give him a chance. You know, for my mom’s sake.”
“Which is exactly what you should be doing.”
I snorted grouchily.
“They’re notourfamily,” Madeleine pointed out. “Yet. I’m sure there are nuances that we aren’t all privy to. I can’t imagine it’s easy being the adopted son, when there are three others who get so much more of Daddy’s attention.” She glanced over at them. “Imagine if there were three more ofyouwhom Margot preferred.”
I laughed non-humorously. “Are you kidding me? She’d be off my back. Sounds like a dream.”
“Yes. Well, Jacob Ellis is not your mother.”
She was right about that. “No, Jacob is a proud father who seems to live for his sons’ happiness. I was my mother’s great disappointment and as you know, she’s vocal about it.”
Madeleine eyed me. “Maybe Shane was his dad’s disappointment.”
Maybe. Probably. But fuck if I was mustering a shred of sympathy for him.
“If his family is disappointed in him,” I grumbled, “I’m sure he’s earned it.”
“Hmm. Let’s not eat our feelings,” she advised. “Croissantorscone. Choose one.”
I tossed the croissant back onto the mountain of them. Aunt Madeleine, my former boss and Mom’s youngest sister, was usually the cool aunt. She hadn’t aged a minute since I’d moved away, her hourglass curves poured into a little black dress that some women half her age couldn’t pull off. Unlike my mom, she didn’t judge and I could talk to her about literally anything. I’d kinda gotten the vibe she didn’t much care for Shane, either. Why was she not validating my position on this?
Clearly, Shane was a bad seed. Even kindhearted Danica knew it.
“He’s coming over,” Madeleine said under her breath. I looked up to find Shane making his way along the food spread, loading his plate, and yes, coming this way. “Be nice. For Margot.”
Fuck that.
I turned to bolt, but he kinda boxed me in when he leaned past me to get a pickle.
