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I sat down on a bench. What had I just done? I put my head in my hands. The time to leave Kit was not at our wedding. It was a week ago. A month ago. The day after he proposed. I stared down at my ring he’d given me. It was princess shaped. I hated it. I should have known then. Poor Kit. Oh fuck. What was I going to do?
Thoughts raced but I had no answers for them, so there was nothing to do but sit there and…and what? I didn’t even know.
Several cars came to a screeching stop in front of me, and my solitude was over. How long had I sat here? Three minutes. My father. Our security, led by a man named Michael Li, chased after him. My sisters. Justin. They were all there, and all of them started talking all at once, but it was only my father’s voice I could hear.
“How could you do this?” he yelled, putting his finger right in my face so close, he grazed the edge of my nose. He’d never hit us. That would have required him to care a lot more than he actually did most of the time. Nannies handled things, and then we went to college. As long as we never ended up in jail, we were pretty much golden with him.
Lately, he’d been downright happy with me. I’d even gotten a smile last night at the rehearsal dinner. But he wasn’t happy with me now.
I sucked in a breath. I couldn’t even blame him for this. The Allards had planned the wedding, but my dad had paid for it. “I’m sorry, Dad. I was walking down the aisle, and all I could think was that I couldn’t possibly go another step toward him. He’s not the one. He’s not… I’m sorry. I really am. Daddy, I know this was the wrong timing and…”
“The wrong timing?” He laughed. “Do you know how long
I had to work to convince them to let you two get married at all?”
Wait…what? I’d barely digested that when he continued.
“My stupid daughter who will never amount to anything. Marrying Kit was the best thing to ever happen to you. Do you know what this wedding cost? But forget that, do you know what you’ve ruined?”
Tears that should have probably shown up before now streamed down my face. I wasn’t crying for Kit. No, it was because my father was yelling. I’d never been able to abide being screamed at. It was almost automatic for me to weep just from the raised voice alone, forget what they were saying to me altogether.
“You are going to pay me back for this.”
I didn’t understand. “How am I going to do that?”
“Dad.” Bridget sat down next to me, drawing me against her. “Stop it. I’m personally relieved that she didn’t marry that asshole. Kit is a piece of shit.”
He ignored her. “You have ruined me, and I am done with you. Forget your life. As of this moment, you are cut off. Live, die. I don’t care. Your security? Your checking account? It’s all over. Layla Radford, you are now the nothing you’ve always been.”
“No,” Hope yelled next to him. “You can’t do this to her.”
The trouble was that he could, and I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do.
2
“Father.” Justin approached. Dad had always preferred him. The son he’d wanted before he got saddled with triplet girls and no wife to raise them. “Maybe we should calm down.”
My father threw his head back. “This could ruin me. Calm down. Layla, every cent of this disaster will be on your shoulders until you pay me back. I hope you like that bench. You’ll be sleeping on it.”
“No, she’s not.” Hope’s cheeks flushed red. “We won’t let you do that to her. She’ll stay with me or with Bridget. You’re not putting her out on the street because she didn’t want to marry a man she’s not in love with. Kit isn’t worth her spit. Not with her kind heart. Just no.”
He pointed at Hope and then at Bridget. “If you two interfere in this, then you’re cut off, too.”
I gasped. No, I wouldn’t allow that. Hope and Bridget were worth ten of me. They were smart, brilliant. I wouldn’t take away their opportunities. No, that couldn’t happen.
“I’m sure we can work this out.” Justin smiled, a tight lifting of his cheeks.
“The only way this works out is if she comes back to me on her knees begging. And even then, she’ll pay back every cent she owes me for this farce. You’re on your own, Layla. I’m done with you. Your credit cards are closed. I’m taking my money out of your bank account. We’ll call it paying off your tab.” With a long look he glared at my siblings. “You have five minutes to say your goodbyes. Or you’re done, too.”
He stormed into his car, leaving Michael Li to stand there staring at us. His people had guarded us for almost a decade. Although my father had declared himself done with me, it would seem Michael wasn’t quite sure what to do. Did he leave us there or go with my father? His gaze halted on the bench, and he changed his stance, broadening how he took up space in the world. I guessed he didn’t mean to leave.
I rubbed at my face. This was just like me. I made a rash decision, and now everyone was going to suffer. This was going to be exactly like the time I’d wanted to sneak out to go see that concert in Central Park and we’d all been grounded because of it. No, I could do better this time.
“You guys need to go.”
Bridget shook her head. “We’re not leaving you here on this bench to be homeless. He can go…suck a duck.”
I stared at her a long second before Hope and I both cracked up. Suck a duck? English was our first—and in my case only—language, but sometimes, I could hear our nannies in her expressions. That one was one of our first nannies. Her name had been Nadia, and she’d lived with us when we temporarily resided in Monaco. That had been the years Dad had been looking for a better tax haven. I hadn’t understood that then. I’d just thought it was stunningly beautiful, and I’d loved the views from my bedroom every morning.
