How I was able to show up at the bakery and rehearsal dinner without Bobby showing up and fucking with my plan.
Also, how I was able to fly Meirna and I out the next morning.
Alexander let Bobby free the moment we were in the air.
“Whereis she?”
“With me.”
Bobby has already lost it. His stillness on the other line competes with my calm because he never knew how to handle things on his own.
Catherine babies him.
Alan bitches then does it for him. Harding Holdings is about to take a massive shit, and all their clients are going to jump ship.
It’s going to inevitably fail.
“You justhadto take what was mine, didn’t you? You couldn’tjust go off and live your own pathetic life, you had to steal my girl?—”
“Which one?”
“You stupid son of a bitch,” he leers in my ear. “You think telling about my side pieces was going to win you some brownie points?”
“You think being a bitch was going to get you some? I’m disappointed, Bobby. You put zero effort into covering it up.”
“Mylifeand what Idohave nothing to fucking do with you.”
I clench my phone a little harder than I’d like. I don’t want to lose control, but I feel it slipping through my fingertips the more he speaks about Meirna being nothing but a solution to his problems.
“It is when you took what was mine first.”
“And what the fuck are you going to offer? You have no trust fund. No fucking?—”
“Don’t need it. I’ve already taken over my family’s company, and it’s thriving. I don’t need Daddy’s money to make Meirna want me.”
“Want you?” he scoffs just as Meirna steps out of the bedroom, dressed in blue jeans, black and pink puffy boots, and a white sweater that barely covers her midriff. “You meanme. You’re second best, Bronte. Always have been. Always will be. No one wants you, so you decided to kidnap my fiancé, and what did you think that was going to do, huh? You’re fucking pathetic.”
“Not when I’m the one five million dollars in debt.”
Meirna’s brows perk, immediately picking up on who I’d be speaking to because there’s only one person who we both share in common that would be financially ruined.
“You think you know everything?!” I pull the phone from my ear and put him on speakerphone, tossing the device onto the couch so Meirna can hear everything there is to know about her ex. “You stupid prick, I’m better than you! It’s why our parents sent you away. You think they were going to take youback? You didn’t even want Harding Holdings. And what, now that you’re a loser, you want to come around and take what belongs to me? Meirna is mine! My wife! My property! My little slut who’s going to give me the image I need to get Dad’s spot. Not you! Never you, Bronte.”
“That cuts deep, Bobby,” I deadpan flatly, slowly making my way toward Meirna. “Really.”
My brother scoffs haughtily. “Yeah, wait until I find you, asshole. You may have given Meirna what you thought was going to get her to break things off with me, but that’s a fool’s dream. She’s in deeper with me than she ever thought she could be. I have her name tied in case shit goes South. You don’t want to fuck with me, Bronte. I have the Giordano mob on my side.”
“You mean youowethe Giordano mob on your side,” I retort, arriving in front of Meirna as she lifts her chin to look up at me.
Beautiful honey brown eyes, those perfect freckles along her nose and cheekbones, and her wild curls. Bobby is a complete fucking idiot for not seeing what he had right in front of her.
“You don’t know shit!” Bobby rages on.
“Then what did you need Meirna for?” I cup her bicep, offering comfort because I know his next words before he says them, and it’s cruel that I’m permitting her to hear all this, but I don’t want there to be any miscommunication where there is none.
Bobby is a fucking tool—period.
“Collateral,” Bobby spits out. “If I can’t pay, then they go for her shit.”
