Page 6 of Father of the Bride
He didn’t. “Anything I need to know?”
“Nothing you don’t know already.”
That was the problem.
He didn’t like going in blind with these people. Davion talked about his family very sparingly, and if Mark didn’t know him to be an upstanding young man, he would have thought the boy was hiding something. Learning his parents got divorced explained some of it, but Mark was still wary.
"I gotta handle some business,” he said to her as he walked toward his study. “Text me when they get here.”
Brooklyn nodded, her eyes glued to her screen.
Mark closed the door behind him and pulled out his phone. Knox, his attorney, had left him two messages. He’d read through the lawsuit, and he was preparing a countersuit. And yes, this could all wait until after the wedding. No rush. Enjoy yourself.
But Mark wasn’t so sure. He’d known Sterling Harris for years before they became business partners. He’d trusted the man, built a profitable business with him, treated him like family. But any man who can throw family under the boss was not to be trusted.
Mark dialed Knox.
Contrary to his reassuring message, Mark knew full well that this could not wait.
Chapter 4
Sunny’seyesgrewwideas the driver approached the villa. It sat on what had to be ten acres of prime beachfront land, surrounded on all sides by breathtaking views of the ocean.
Once upon a time, she and the man riding in the car behind them had talked about retiring to somewhere tropical and living in a place like this—maybe notthisgrand, but an affordable version close to the water.
That dream was dead now, just like so many others.
“What kind of doctor is her father?” she asked, her eyes still drinking in the spectacle.
“Plastic surgeon,” Davion muttered.
“Wow. I guess there’s big money in other peoples’ insecurities.”
“Believe it or not, he’s real down to earth.”
She scoffed at that. “Yes, I can tell.”
Davion’s quiet laughter sounded in her ear. “Don’t let all this fool you. He’s cool. A little stuffy, but cool.”
“You know what? I ain’t even mad at it.”
He sighed, tapping Sunny’s shoulder to get her full attention. “My dad called me. Again.”
She turned toward him, amazed that he looked like a little boy. He always did when he talked about Orion.
“When did you start calling him ‘my dad’?”
Just like that, his face hardened. “Since he broke up my family.”
“Dav—“
“Mama, I love you, but you don’t get to tell me how long to be pissed off about it.”
Sunny shot him a look. “Don’t say ‘pissed off’ to me.”
“Sorry.”
“But…you’re right,” she conceded. “You can be upset for as long as you want. I was just hoping you’d put it on pause this weekend so you can focus on joy and happiness.”
