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“I prayed that you’d come back to me,” he admitted. “I just… I would have taken you any which way, I didn’t care.”
“You called me your fiancée,” I whispered, meeting his eyes.
He sucked in a breath, then laughed. So did I.
“My parents are going to besopissed,” I said, laughing almost hysterically.
“We’ll talk about that later. I’m starving, and I know you are too. Plus, there’s some people who want to hang out with you right now, and I’m sure Keely and Moira will beat down this door if you don’t come out eventually.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Pete
Grant’s house was oddly quiet despite the amount of people stuffed between the dining room and large front living area. Day was at a sleepover, and little Holly fell asleep before dessert was on the table, having been lulled to sleep by waves of murmured conversation.
Sierra, to her credit, acted as if nothing was amiss during a dinner of burger and fries. Keely served milkshakes with homemade whipped cream, and then I ushered Sierra back to the guestroom and tucked her into bed.
Sleep came easy to her, but not to me. All I could think about was the idea of her being hunted while carrying our secret—our baby—something her family would detest.
It was after ten when Moira finally went up to bed and George and Keely went home, leaving me with Grant, the two of us sitting at the snug kitchen table accompanied by a bottle of fine bourbon.
He poured me a glass, his eyes downcast as he poured his own, then he sighed heavily like a weight pressed into his shoulders.
“Did you know the whole time that her family was like this?” he asked in a near whisper, as if he was worried his voice would carry into the rooms where everyone slept.
“Not until she came and told me she was pregnant,” I answered, then drained half my glass in one go. “She was honest about running from her family. I thought it was… weird. Odd, I guess. She’s twenty-nine. What woman in her late twenties is still under the control of her family, you know? But meeting her mom today…”
Grant nodded, shaking his head. “Could there be more going on?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. Grant was, all things considered, the closest we had in this town to someone with money on the caliber as the Golds. He was a self-made tech billionaire who sold it all and bought a ranch. He’d wanted out.
So had Sierra.
But her parents…
“Money makes people do things that the average person wouldn’t dream of,” Grant began, twisting his glass in circle. “I saw it firsthand. People throwing themselves at you, begging for you attention. Begging for your influence to help them skyrocket their fortune, their fame, their reputations…” He met my eye, a silent understanding passing between us. “Are her parents hurting for money, and she was their ticket into better circumstances?”
“I don’t think so.” I stretched my arms over my head, tapping my foot underneath the table as I mulled the situation over. “She makes it sound like this arrangement had more to do with their reputation than anything. She brought up… new money. That her family was new money.”
“And Jonah Lawley is old money.”
“Yeah.”
Grant leaned back in his chair and drained his glass before asking, “Did they sell her to this man?”
“Jesus, Grant—”
“I have to ask,” he amended, holding a steady hand out in surrender. “Her mother’s behavior was damn near desperate. She was ready to physically take Sierra out of your bar.”
“I know.”
My thoughts spun over the idea that Sierra’s parents could have made a deal with the Lawley family, using their own daughter as a pawn to get something they wanted.
“Sierra is the one to ask,” I said eventually, running my hands through my hair.
“I have a guy coming to talk to her—to both of you.”
I arched my brow, but Grant only chuckled.
