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“What does that mean?”
He clinks a spoon against his glass. “Excuse me, everyone. Excuse me.”
The conversations in the room slowly soften to a soft lull.
“I know some of you may not know me, but my name is Dante Harris and I’m a businessman from Park City, Utah. The same place where a certain Dominic Reiss is from.”
I swallow as he continues speaking.
“I’d like to make a toast to celebrate one of the best resort stays I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Awwww!” “It is amazing here, isn’t it?” “It’s my best resort stay, too.” Other guests and a few of my family members smile at him in agreement.
“But I’d also like to share this toast with an old girlfriend of mine, Georgia Grey.”
“Huh?” Taryn is suddenly at my side, whispering. “You know him, Georgia?”
“Is he drunk?” Savannah mouths at me.
“We were kind of engaged last year, weren’t we, Georgia?” He smiles, and I glare at him.
“But sadly, things didn’t work out because well, she’s a cunt who was fucking her boss.”
The room falls completely silent.
“It’s a funny story, actually.” He sips from his glass. “She was spending so many nights in his office and so many hours away from home, that she got mad at me for finding someone else.”
“Georgia, what the hell is he talking about?” Taryn whispers again.
“I called her by accident to ask her the lovely Mrs. Hattie for her hand in marriage, and Georgia was supposed to tell you that it was a misunderstanding and that proposal was never meant to be.”
“So, imagine my surprise when I check in here and see Georgia claiming that she’s still engaged to a ‘Dante’ but then she’s concocted it somehow into Dominic Reiss.” He snorts. “Not only that, but she’s convinced you that they’ve been together all this time!”
He’s the only one laughing.
“I mean, how dense are you people?” He looks around. “You don’t think it’s suspicious that you’re just now meeting him? He’s a goddamn multimillionaire and he could’ve flown here on his jet anytime, but it’s not until Georgia is set to take over this estate?”
Silence.
“Is any of this true, Georgia?” Grandma Hattie steps in front of him, looking right at me.
“I…” I can feel the weight of the resort keys in my pocket, the feel of the manager badge pinned on my jacket, and yet…I can’t bring myself to justify how I “earned” them anymore.
“Yes,” I say. “It’s true.”
“Which parts?”
“All of it.” Tears prick my eyes, and murmurs sound behind my back.
Savannah shoots me a sympathetic look, and I can sense Taryn moving to get a better angle of us.
I’m hoping that Grandma will suggest that we take the rest of this meeting someplace private, but that’s never been her style. She doesn’t hold her tongue (or her disappointment) for anyone.
“So, let me get this straight.” She looks at Dante, then at me. “I kindly ask you to resign from this estate, so you can get some life experience and I can learn to trust you again. But instead of doing that, you make up a ton of lies, which means you’ve learned nothing?”
Dante nods in agreement behind her, grabbing a fresh champagne glass.
“Georgia Bee Grey,” she says, her voice as broken as I feel, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
