AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cigar,” Hector said, nonchalant. I could have hugged him.
“Darling, the wedding breakfast is beginning in ten minutes and we have to be announced.” Elspeth took my arm and shooed Hector and Dax ahead of us. “Go on. The rest of the wedding party has already left.”
Jasper dipped his head. “Congratulations again.”
“Thanks,” I replied, knowing he was referring to a lot more than my bride.
“You won’t believe what Sienna said to me.” Elspeth gripped my arm as we crossed the green to the waiting cars. “She compared my dress to her great-grandmother’s! This is a brand new design, handmade by Izabel DuPont herself. She had the nerve to eye me up and down and curl her Botoxed lip as though I was wearing something from the eighteen-hundreds.”
The enormous diamond my mother had insisted I give glittered on her finger as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. The rock dwarfed her hand.
“I swear, she’s so jealous she can hardly breathe.”
I struggled to focus. Images of Ossian between Vivian’s legs flashed across my eyelids, making everything beneath my skin burn with hatred. I forced myself to sound engaged even though my focus was somewhere else entirely.
“Why would she be jealous?”
A butler opened the door of my father’s vintage Jaguar. It was a pristine specimen, polished to within an inch of its life, but Elspeth didn’t even notice. Instead of climbing in, she turned, blocking my path.
“Of me, of course! She’s jealous that you chose me, not her.”
She flashed me a smug smile then slid gracefully into the passenger seat while I mentally recalled the fact I hadn’t chosen anyone at all. Mother and Father had chosen for me. I closed the door and sat in the driver’s seat.
We drove along the north side of the island, the route the trucks would normally have taken in the dead of night. Adrenalin buzzed in my chest at the thought that we may never see the trucks here again, and that Father and Ossian had no idea. I couldn’t wait to finish the job, wipe out the business, then take Vivian far away from this place.
“I haven’t seen Ossian for a while,” Elspeth said, suddenly. “Not that I miss him – his absence does lighten the occasion – but it’s unusual for him to not be drinking himself into a stupor and dragging all the attention his way.”
I breathed steadily and turned a corner. Even that small action made my chest hurt. As much as she tried not to show it, Vivian always had a thing for the way I drove. She’d never said anything about it, but if I had a fifty for every time I clocked her eyeing my palm spinning the wheel, I’d be richer than, well, a billionaire.
“He felt unwell. I think he went home for a bit.”
Elspeth chuckled. “Wow, it must have been bad for him to miss a party like this. Usually, the bigger the party, the bigger an arse he becomes.”
“It might have had something to do with the laxative Hector put in his whisky,” I lied. I’d have to remember to bring Hector up to speed. But it wouldn’t hurt for Elspeth to think Ossian was missing for a good reason. Hopefully, she’d cover for me if Mother and Father became suspicious.
Her face lit up as she laughed out loud. “That’s genius! I wish I’d thought of that. What a way to keep him from ruining our day.” She shook her head releasing a few more curls. “Maybe we should give a bunch of them to Marcia.”
I smiled and drove through the gates to Blackcap Hall. The long drive had been lined with white ribbons and millions of fairy lights. Glass cloches ran along the edges of the drive encasing large cathedral candles that burned defiantly against the winter breeze.
“This is magical,” Elspeth sighed. “I’ve never seen Blackcap Hall look so bewitching.”
I had to agree. Mother had gone to quite some lengths to create a display for the other Consortium families. We were the most revered family on the island; it was our job to put on a show. The Hall itself was floodlit from the ground up making it seem a lot less intimidating.
A host was waiting at the door for us. I dropped the keys to the Jag in his hand and he led us through to the ballroom. Two butlers opened the large doors and stepped briskly to the side.
“Please be standing to welcome our guests of honour, Mr Rupert and Mrs Elspeth Thorn!”
The room erupted in cheers and claps, the acoustics of the large space creating an echo that only served to amplify the applause. Elspeth radiated pride, soaking it all up while I hardened my chest, blocking it all out. We followed the host to the top table, me seated next to Elspeth’s mother, which I was thankful for, and Elspeth next to my father, an arrangement I was sure he’d feel quite displeased about.
“Doesn’t she look like an angel?” A hand rested lightly on mine and I looked sideways into the relatively kind eyes of Mrs Cartwright. As greedy, egotistical and penny-pinching as Elspeth’s father was, her mother was tolerable. And more maternal towards me than my own.
“She does. I couldn’t feel prouder to be called her husband.”
Mrs Cartwright’s eyes welled up and she squeezed my fingers. Then she dipped her chin and spoke quietly. “I know it’s not perfect, for either of you, but she can and will make you happy, Rupert.”
“I know that,” I replied.
“Elspeth’s father and I… We’d never looked at each other in that way, if you know what I mean. But, with compassion, respect and shared values and goals, we’ve made it work. And I love him.” She looked up as if that would convince me in a way her words didn’t. “I really do.”
