Page 34 of Vicious Heir

That’s a surprise. I glance around us and she’s right. Everyone’s watching intently. But I just assumed they’re as taken with her as I am. “Why do you think that?”

“These people turned on my family the second they smelled blood in the water. They’re just a bunch of hungry sharks. They’re only here because it’s some big social event.”

“I thought they were your family friends.”

“Not even slightly.” She laughs bitterly. “Some of them used to be my friends, but then the big scandal broke.” She lowers her voice in mock horror. “The Willing-Morris hedge fund is nearly out of money. They’re a bunch of frauds.”

I hold her tighter. “Imagine, a bunch of rich people are shallow about money.”

“Great, you can make jokes and laugh at me too, but they tore into me. When it all came out, I was nothing to them. I was less than nothing. And then my parents—” She stops herself. I know her mother and father had an accident and died suddenly, but I don’t know the details about what happened. She shakes her head and glares up at me, her eyes shining with tears. “I just want to get this over with, that’s all.”

Well, fuck. I had no clue. I knew her family was on the outskirts of the social world and had lost considerable sway thanks to their financial scandal, but I didn’t realize how personal it had gotten.

But to her, that’s all it could be. This is her life, and these were her friends.

“Fuck them,” I say and find myself meaning it. I grip her hard, feeling her warm body. “If any one of them dares laugh at my wife, I’ll break their fucking neck.”

“Oh, yeah? Is my big bad mafia husband going to kill every single rich asshole in Philadelphia?”

“If I have to.”

She laughs, but it’s lighter this time. “I almost like the idea.”

“Good. You’re mine now, Lucy. You’re my wife. And nobody laughs at you, not ever again.”

“It’s cute you think that.” She leans into me and stares off across the crowd. “I just hate how fake this is. None of this is real, and it’s like I’m just drifting through someone else’s story.”

I hold her as we sway together, rage boiling in me. “What’s real to you then?”

“I don’t even know anymore.”

“Is this real?” I grip her hips tighter, digging my fingers into her skin.

“That’s real,” she whispers.

“What about this?” My hands move to the small of her back. I lean down to whisper in her ear. “Is this real?”

“I think so.” She shivers, trembling in my arms. “Only I don’t know if I should want it.”

“There’s no such thing asshouldin this world.”

I want to tell her expectations only matter so long as she cares about them, but before I can say anything else, a sudden, intense boom rips through the building, and the whole room sways.

Glasses fall from tables and shatter on the floor. Women scream, and several men shout in surprise as the lights flicker and the chandeliers shake wildly. I think it’s an earthquake, but it ends as quickly as it arrived. There’s panic as people look around, and some of my men go running to the door. I spot more than a few guns drawn.

I grab Lucy and hold her tight against me. “I’ve got you,” I say, looking around for an invisible threat. An old woman is being helped up beside a nearby table. Several of the food stations tipped over, spilling hors d’oeuvres all over the floor.

Bianca comes running over, her face pale.

“What happened?” I bark at her.

She’s listening to her headset. “There was… an explosion. Downstairs. I think…” Her eyes go wide. “It was a car bomb. The first floor is a total wreck. I think the building’s on fire.”

Lucy

I didn’t have high hopes for my wedding day.

This is definitely worse than I thought.

---