Page 42 of Salvaged Hearts

“I don’t waste my time with cheap entertainment.”

“Greyson,” he scolded, shoulders slumping in a sudden wave of exasperation. “A man of your stature cannot just run off and marry his assistant. Suitable alliances are forged for years—and with people of equitable caliber.”

“What do you know of Alessandra’scaliber?” I asked, sliding my hands into my pockets and turning to face him.

“That she has none,” he hissed. “You’re squandering your one opportunity to elevate our name. To merge with an empire just as advantageous as ours.” He threw an arm back at the bathroom door.

“What is this, 1312? We don’t need to marry for advantage. You’re being ridiculous.”

“And you’re being shortsighted. That girl will never fit in here.”

“That womanis the first to look at me for me and not our name. She has more than earned my respect, and if you could think logically instead of flying off the cuff when I step outside the lines of your plan for me, I think you’d love her, too. And, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I don’t fit in our circle, either.”

“All the more reason to select a woman whothrives. Let her plan your parties and forge relationships.She—” he wielded the empty glass in his white-knuckled fist back toward the ballroom, “was raised gutting fish andbondingwithbears. She doesn’t belong here. Never has. Never will.Marrying hershows me just how little you think of our previously pristine family lineage.”

“Alessandra possesses more substance in her left pinky than those brainless inflatables parading around in their daddy’s jewels will ever have.”

“Alessandra, much like Carly, is after a favorable prenup, my boy.” This time, his ice clinked in his glass as he pointed it at me. “That’s what all of them are after.”

“She’s different,” I ground out, trying to breathe away the red clouding my vision.

“That’s what they all say,” he scoffed, tossing his free hand up, face spectacularly red.

“Reggie!” I barked, desperate to keep the rapidly dissolving hold I had on my temper. “Sheisdifferent. All those things you criticize are traits I happen to adore. She grew up humble—which, unfortunately for me, means she’s far more impressed with a work ethic and dedication to family than she’ll ever be by a fat wallet or name in print.”

“I should have known when you kicked me out of your office that she had her claws in you,” he sneered. “You’re both subtle, I’ll give you that.” He shook his head, upper lip curling. “Once she carries your seed, she’ll turn tail and run. These lower-class women are overpriced surrogates, nothing more.”

Lunging into his space, it took all my control not to smash his face in. One hundred easy ways to kill a man and none of them could get me out of here in one piece. Not with the bustling venue just outside the cracked-open door.

I wanted to growl like some kind of beast and shove his head through the nearest wall.Needed to. My hands started shaking as my body geared up for a fight that couldn’t come. Instead, I sneered down at him, relishing in my extra four inches as I used his lapel to yank him closer before straightening it as I gritted out, “Get. Out.”

“Excuse me?”

“Uncle or not,” I growled, dusting invisible lint from his shoulders before sliding down his jacket and giving it a quick tug. “Chairman or not. You willnotcome into my venue, insultmy brideand my judgment, and then indulge inmyfood and booze. Get. Out.”

“Mark my words,” he declared, jamming his sausage of a finger into my chest. “You’ll regret this. This is a mistake.” He threw up his hands as he walked away. “I can’t stand by and watch you marry some gold digger filling your head with lies.”

“Then don’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’twatch,then,” I over-enunciated every word, satisfied as his nostrils flared. He looked a breath away from dropping dead, and not for the first time, some cruel, vindictive part of me wished he would. His absence would certainly make my life easier. “I didn’t have an invitation printed for you anyway.” I shooed him away, teeth still grinding. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a party to attend.”

9

The Help Talk

ALICE

It was the engagement party of my nightmares.

Every little girl grows up dreaming aboutPrince Charmingwhisking them away to live their fairytale. Even those of us who were closer acquainted with mud, briny water, and the reek of fish than we were designer bags and pools of silk.

My teenage visions looked like a mountaintop meadow overgrown with violet lupine. A handful of friends and family gathered in the tall, wild grasses of Mistyvale, overlooking the black rock cliffs and the rumbling gray ocean below.

As for an engagement party? If we bothered with the formality, it would’ve been greasy burgers or a fish fry in the local pool hall, filled with my siblings, cousins, and so much laughter that my cheeks hurt.

Instead, I was passed from one insufferable blue blood to another, like the latest commodity in a ballroom, more social statement than venue. The miles of shimmering white and gold marble reflected ostentatious chandeliers where they dripped diamonds like collected spring rain.

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