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The auction was almost over, with one final item, the trip to the Maldives, remaining. The bidding started at five thousand. Rory held up his paddle, but then several others in the crowd shot up. Conner held up his paddle at twelve thousand, but there were still more paddles. Rory shook his head, and Ainsley laughed, but Conner continued to fight for the trip until he won with a bid of twenty-five thousand dollars.
Hannah’s mouth went dry. Did Rory and Conner plan to pool their money? Did Conner really have that level of cash to burn on a vacation?
With the crowd invigorated by the auction, the music was turned up, and dinner was cleared. People began to mingle and make their way to the dance floor. Now all she had left to do was work the crowd for as many additional donations as she could. So far they’d raised just a little over $200,000, which would be enough to get the wharf transformed into a new community center. She just had to get the city council to do a vote and approve it. Looking around the room, she found Mariah at the bar in one corner talking to an older gentleman. She looked a little desperate, and the man walked away just as Hannah approached.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t a Little Miss Perfect as the belle of the ball,” Mariah’s whining voice said in a sneer as she sipped a large glass of wine.
Hannah took a deep breath. She wasn’t surprised to see Mariah looked just like she had in college: a frozen, made-up doll. Beautiful, until a person looked in her eyes and saw the anger.
“Hello, Mariah. Thank you for attending tonight and supporting the children,” Hannah said.
“Save the fake niceties. They’re wasted on me. I never bought your goody two-shoes persona anyway.”
The comment struck Hannah like a blow. “Persona? As if I’m pretending to be someone I’m not?”
“Exactly. Always your brother’s number one concern, always vying for everyone’s attention, acting like some perfect little everything.”
“Mariah, I think you have me confused with someone else,” she said.
“Oh no, you’re the one Parker always had to drop everything to help and Conner was obsessed with all through college. It was so annoying and disappointing. That someone as plain and boring could dominate their time and energy.”
That’s when it struck Hannah: maybe Mariah’s little stunt in college had been about revenge against her.
“Is that why you set Conner up that morning, so you could ruin his friendship with Parker and his chances with me?”
“No, I did it because he was super-hot and rich, and when men are offered a chance to sleep with me, they jump. I was pissed when Parker showed up too early and ruined my chance to get a piece of Conner.” She laughed and then sighed. “But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun to mess with all your heads. Your brother somehow thought we’d get married and live in some hovel the rest of my life. And poor little Hannah couldn’t have the man of her dreams.”
“I don’t understand. You hated me? Or you hated Conner? Why would you care if we got together?”
“Of course I would have to explain to you how annoying it was to witness you stumble over yourself with Conner, his adoration of you and rejection of me. I mean, look at you and then look at me.”
“Wow. You’re really awful, but you know what they say, what goes around comes around. You thought your family money and beauty would keep you relevant, but here you are, all alone, getting kicked out of a charity event.”
Hannah waved to a few of the security officers she’d hired to watch the auction items.
“Could you please escort this person out of the venue?” Hannah asked.
The men stood on either side of Mariah and ushered her toward the rear exit.
Mariah scoffed. “As if I want to stay at this horrible low-rent event a second longer.”
“Bye, then,” Hannah said with a smile.
Hannah spotted Parker close by and wondered if he’d heard any of her exchange with Mariah. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline of finally sticking up for herself. Plucking a glass of wine off a tray at the makeshift bar, she walked over to her brother.
“Why was she here?” Parker asked.
“I invited her. I wanted to confront her about all her lies, and I was right. She was too much of a snob to ever consider marrying you, and she tried to trick Conner into hooking up with her that morning, but you stormed in before she could get anywhere.”
“She said that?”
“Yes, but I don’t care anymore if you believe me or Conner. That’s going to be your problem because I’m in love with him. I’m not blowing my chance with him because you want to hold a grudge that was based on lies.”
Parker’s jaw was tight, and his mouth set in a hard line.
“You can push me away if that’s what you need, but I’ll always be there for you,” Hannah said before walking away.
Although she was searching for Conner in the crowd, she kept getting caught talking to people. Several of the city council members in attendance congratulated her and said they would support her plan for a new community center. She spoke with her dad briefly and saw Conner’s folks. Finally, she found Conner in the curtained-off auction area. He was looking at the large photo of the yacht out at sea. It looked exciting and romantic.
