“How?”
“They can vote against me. When the fire happened, and the building got shut down, we lost a lot of clients, therefore money. This is a good opportunity for them to show how incompetent I am.”
“I’m sorry.” Her voice is filled with guilt. “I’m sorry the fire happened.”
“I want our company to be back in the family.” This is the first time I say it out loud to anyone other than Noah. “Where it belongs. This is why I need the shares.”
“And my father has the majority?”
“No,” I reply with a shake of my head. “But he has enough to make me a majority owner. Us. Noah and me. We can veto any decision if we have it.”
Her white teeth show up for a moment and bite into her lower lip. “And me?”
“Read.” I push my phone into her hand. She brings it to her face and starts reading.
“It says we have to stay married for five years,” she says, lifting her face to me. “No one told me about that yesterday.”
“Yes. It’s your father’s condition or he pulls the shares back.”
She keeps reading, and after a few more moments, she passes the phone back to me with a sigh. “It all looks good for you. You get the shares and the fantastic company for the foreseeable future. And what do I get really?”
“Freedom.” I shrug. “In all meanings of the word.”
She worries her bottom lip before nodding. “Okay. Let’s do it. But we will live our separate lives.”
“To an extent,” I reply vaguely, fucking happy she didn’t read the whole thing apparently.
She looks down at herself. “I don’t think I can show up at my own wedding looking like this.”
I grab her hand gently. “I think you look ready to take on the world. But if you need armor to stand against it, I’ll support you. Do you want to go and put something on?”
Her eyes brighten as she stares at my face. Then she looks down at herself again, letting go of the edges of the blazer she’s been holding. “Nope,” she finally says. “I’m good.”
32
Maeve
His pupils dilate when I say that. His tongue peeks out to lick his lower lip just as his throat bobs.
“You’re good,” he says huskily with unfocused eyes. His obvious interest gives me the courage I needed.
Squaring my shoulders back, I fluff my hair, giving it volume and happy that it didn’t go down in flames like my dress, and head back to the venue, hoping he’ll follow. Otherwise, my return won’t be so epic.
He doesn’t let me down. Hot on my heels, Ezra’s there too. A quiet presence of power. Someone who doesn’t bow under my father’s pressure because he’s got enough of his own. Someone who can teach me to do the same.
The moment we show up, cameras start clicking, and Ezra quickly moves to walk by my side, showing the whole world that I’m not a lonely psycho in grandma’s panties and a corset covered in diamonds. Mom hired the paparazzi toshow how awesome this ceremony would be. Well, the joke’s on her. Now the whole world will see what really happened here. Even though I’m sure she’ll be controlling what can be shown from today’s disaster.
“And she’s back,” my father announces the obvious for everyone. “Just like we predicted,” he cackles, and I skip a step. Ezra’s hand instantly grabs mine, steadying me before anyone notices my misstep.
“The whole world,” he whispers.
“The whole world,” I say, sending him a grateful look.
Bea’s standing by the arch at the bride’s side. She has a bouquet of white flowers in her hands and a very concentrated look on her face. When she notices me, she tries drawing my attention with a subtle wave of her hand. When I look at her face, she mouths‘I’m sorry.’I give her a quick nod of acknowledgment because she has nothing to be sorry about. But she still looks like I’m about to walk into a death trap. I should have been more honest with her and told her that I’m not opposed to extending our deserted vacation and spending more time with Ezra.
Noah’s standing with his hands behind his back, his pants wet from walking into the ocean to offer me his jacket. He drops his hands by his sides when he sees us coming.
The official is wiping down sweat from his forehead. He looks tortured. He probably didn’t expect to be in the center of such a pickle when he woke up this morning. When he notices us, he quickly grabs his book from the table and flips through the pages.
