Page 327 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"Enough," the older man said. He looked a little like James. He must be his father. "You will not treat a guest in our house like this."
The woman, who I assumed was his mother, cleared her throat and nodded toward James.
Rob's face was red when he turned around. He looked directly at me. He looked more sad than upset. His eyes landed on James and he shook his head.
James' grip tightened around my hand.
A hand wrapped around Rob's arm, pushing him to the side. Isabella was standing there with a smug look on her face. She looked me up and down and then whispered something to James' mother. Both women laughed.
"Hippopotamus," I whispered. When we had first moved to New York, James had always made me promise to tell him if I was ever uncomfortable. That was our word. Whenever I said that, he knew I wanted to leave. I had never used it before. When we had chosen it, we thought that whatever the situation, it would make us laugh. Neither one of us was laughing now.
Eruption - Chapter 8
Friday
Rob quickly walked over to us. "Penny, I'm so sorry. If I had known I would have told you guys."
I didn't even know what to say.
James dropped my hand. "Can you take Penny into the main room? I need to talk to our parents."
"James, please..." I said.
But he didn't seem to hear me. He had already started walking toward his parents and Isabella.
My whole body felt cold. I couldn't do this. I didn't belong here. I turned around so I could walk out the door, but Rob caught my hand.
"It's okay," he said. "Hey, it's okay. There's a bunch of people in the other room that actually want to see you."
"I can't do this, Rob. They don't want me here."
"Well, I want you here." He linked his arm in mine. "Come on, don't let my parents ruin tonight. Everyone is here to celebrate you and James." He pulled me past them and through a long hallway.
I could hear James raising his voice. It echoed in the large foyer, making it impossible to hear what he was saying. Rob picked up his pace, trying to put distance between them and me.
I breathed in through my nose, not even trying to hide the sniffling noise.
"Oh, geez." Rob looked down at me and stopped. "Don't cry." He pulled me to his chest. "Don't show them that they won. That's the last thing you want."
"They did win. They didn't even give me a chance."
He put his hands on my shoulders. "Part of being in this family is learning how to ignore my parents. You have to have thick skin. You can't let stuff like this bother you."
"They invited his ex wife to our engagement party."
"Yeah, my parents suck. That can't come as a surprise to you. They're the fucking worst."
I laughed and wiped away a few tears that had fallen down my cheeks.
"You're going to be my little sister. I'm going to help watch out for you. But you can't let them get under your skin. Show them that you don't care. That's what the three of us do."
I took a deep breath. Rob always joked around with me. It was nice to hear that he truly cared.
"And they're not even doing this because of you. They're mad at James. And trust me, not having their approval makes us all like you even more. So cheer up." He lightly bumped my chin with his fist.
I laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm still focused on the fact that you said I was going to be your little sister."
"Ugh. Don't hold that against me. I mean, if you're looking for less drama, I don't have an ex wife." He winked at me.
