Page 102 of Peyton's Price

The food had been prepared by Kari Jones, the celebrity chef Liam had hired to work at the Caislean New York. The restaurant there had just earned three Michelin stars, the highest honor possible, so the food was amazing.

“I think that dress is the best thing,” Maggie said, eyeing Peyton’s gown. The silk confection was stunning, its light gossamer skirt perfect for the heat of the island.

“Then thank you for choosing it.” Peyton laughed.

Maggie leaned forward. “I’m glad Ethan is here. I didn’t think he was going to come.”

“I knew he would,” Peyton said. Ethan might have been a little disappointed since she had announced the engagement, but in the months that followed, he hadn’t shown any signs of a broken heart. And she would know. For years, Peyton had considered herself the world’s foremost expert on them.

But not anymore.It was a title she was happy to relinquish.

“I should go say hi to him,” she said, spotting the dark-haired FBI near one of the hors d’oeuvre stations.

“Want some backup?” Maggie asked.

“Not necessary,” Peyton assured her with a smile.

Ethan was wearing his ever-present Aviator sunglasses, so it was hard to gauge his reaction as she approached with two champagne glasses in hand.

He accepted the glass, studying it briefly. “Got anything stronger?”

“I have always believed in having a full bar, regardless of the occasion,” she said. “Some of the bat mitzvahs we had at Caislean got very colorful as a result.”

Smiling, Ethan sipped the golden brew. “I’m glad to see Tyler finally got his head out of his ass,” he said with a nod in her grooms’ direction.

“Me too,” she said with a grin. “But seriously, I’m so happy to see you. Thank you for coming all this way.”

“Well, this was something I had to see—I mean, attending a wedding on a new country, not your…err…arrangement,” he said, raising a brow as he gave Liam and Matthias a once-over. “Although, I gotta ask. How will this kind of marriage work exactly?”

“Exactly the same as the kind between two people,” she said, then reflected it wasn’t the whole truth. “Just…more.”

“More what?”

“Everything.”

Ethan chuckled. “That’s what I like about you, Peyton. You never do anything halfway. Congratulations on the expansion of yours and Thalia’s program by the way.”

Ethan was referring to the vocational training program she and Trick’s wife had set up the previous year. Their focus had been on women who had escaped abusive relationships, but now they were growing beyond that.

She nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, we’ve partnered with some well-respected charities that help sex-trafficking victims. We’ve been focusing on the States, but we have started rolling it out in other countries—all known trafficking hotspots. The vocational training programs are going strong, but my new learn-to-code course has already discovered some genuine talent.”

“That’s great. And it’s good to know you’re putting your new husbands’ cash to good use. They have enough of it.”

“I’ll hit them up for donations soon enough. For now, though, I’m using my own funds,” Peyton corrected.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you had any.” Ethan’s expression filled with chagrin.

“It’s new.” She smiled. “Some of the irons I had in the fire paid off recently.”

“Bank heist?” He waved the waiter over, then requested a whiskey.

“No.” She giggled. “I just hit five hundred K in bug bounty rewards,” she said, explaining the various program designed to help white-hat hackers fix software and websites.

“Five hundred K as in half a milliondollars? Damn, girl.” He shook his head. “You are unbelievable—in a good way.”

“Thanks,” she said, tapping his glass with her own to toast her achievement.

Liam and Matthias materialized by their sides soon after. Peyton hid her grin. It didn’t matter that they had just gotten married. Liam still wasn’t keen on her spending time with Ethan. And after meeting him, Matthias had seemed to catch his overdeveloped sense of caution around the handsome FBI agent.

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