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“I need you to read the talking points, and if you could have Bentley seat us together, I can do all the talking for both of us. That would make things much easier all around.”

“Grandma can’t make it?” I ask.

“Your grandmother will be there,” he says, “obviously.”

“Then why would you want to sit by me?”

“Since you won’t have a plus one?—”

“Grandpa, Easton’s coming as my plus one.”

“He hasn’t spoken to you yet?”

A pit opens up in my stomach. “Spoken to me?”

“You will have to break up,” he says. “You set that in motion yourself. One thing Ciprianis can never be accused of is wishy-washiness. You made a clear pointabout the brand Easton Moorland runs, and it was a good one. It resonated.”

“That was an offhand comment at a party,” I say. “I didn’t mean?—”

“It was perfectly timed and exactly on message. For once in my life, one of my family members was pulling their weight. I spoke to the young man today, and he understood, probably better than you seem to, so it would be great if you could have Bentley seat us together.”

“Until I hear from Easton himself that he’s not going, I will not be doing that. In fact, especially if he’s not going, I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”

“Why?”

“Do you even hear yourself? When’s the last time you heard that I was dating someone?”

“Beatrice,” he says.

“No.” I park on the side of the road. I’m too upset to be driving. “No, you don’t get to tell my boyfriend to break up with me. And you don’t get to make me part of your checklist of managed assets, either. I’m not even related to you. Seren and Dave are my parents, and I’m done ignoring that.”

“Not related?—”

“Yes, not related. My real grandfather wouldn’t have ever surrendered me back to Mom, but I’m glad you did, because staying at your stupid mansion was even worse than being ignored by her.”

After I hang up, it takes me at least five minutes of sobbing to calm down enough to drive. And then, of course, I have a mild panic attack. In my entire life, I’ve never really stood up to Grandfather. Not when push comes to shove. I’ve always backed down.

Mom calls me five minutes later.

Her dad’s clearly yanking her leash. He’s probably threatening to stop paying for her posh rehab center if she can’t get me in line.

Good luck, Mom.

I delete her voicemail too, for good measure.

But then it occurs to me to wonder why Grandfather would be so sure that Easton would dump me. He should be worried that Easton might be crazy about me. He should be nervous that his plan to break us up will fail.

Unless. . . Could he have threatened him? Or his business?

ARE YOU AWAKE?

It’s after midnight and Easton has a real, respectable job. He should be asleep, and I should not be bothering him right now. But by the time I wake up, he’ll probably already be at work. Ugh.

INSOMNIAC.

That makes me smile. Not because I’m happy he’s an insomniac, but because he could send one word as a reply, and I know he’s telling me it’s fine to ding him. MY GRANDFATHER CALLED ME AND IT WAS A WEIRD CALL. That’s actually a redundant thing for me to say, but he probably doesn’t know yet that a call from my grandfather is always strange or bad or both.

AND?

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