“So take them off before I cut off your feet!”
“Oh my God, you’re going to wear the shoes I wore while fucking your fiancé?” Vonnie throws the stilettos on the spot near me, since she doesn’t have the balls to throw thematme. She doesn’t want to provoke me too much. She never forgot about the burnt pearls—and some other things I’ve done since.
“No, I’m going to fantasize they’re your face while I pour acid on them.” I grab a pillow, strip it of its case and shove the shoes inside. Then I straighten and regard the anxious Preston, ready to give him the tongue lashing he so richly deserves.
“I was doing this for you,” he says quickly.
“What?In what crazy universe is any of this forme?”
He stretches his arms out beseechingly. “This was a dress rehearsal for the photoshoot. I was getting nervous about it, you know, because we have to show everyone how much we’re in love with each other, so I asked Vonnie to help me.”
“Help youwhat?”
“You know. Practice.”
Holy mother of God.Horror starts to mix into my rage. I’m engaged to an idiot. Actually, calling him an idiot is an insult to all the idiots of the world. There has to be some other term reserved just for this, this…
Vonnie smirks and lifts her left hand. A pink, fifteen-carat, heart-shaped diamond winks on her ring finger.
I stare at the hideous monstrosity.That’s what he chose over my blue diamond? What am I? Five? I hate pink and I hate hearts. If Preston had bothered to check my preferences, he would’ve known.
“And your penis just happened to fall into her vagina when you slid that ring onto her finger?” It occurs to me that the Guccis inside the pillowcase would make a pretty good weapon. Would beating him bloody be a crime in Spain, given the circumstances?
“I kind of slipped,” Preston says.
They’re Latin. They’ll understand.
“He was sleeping with me before you took him from me!” Vonnie yells, throwing gasoline onto the fire. “I had him first!”
“Vonnie!” he hisses.
“Then why did he agree to bemyfiancé?” I say, not bothering to hide the disgust coloring my voice.
She merely glares. Typical. She always does that when she has nothing to say. Then she smirks. “He might’ve agreed to be your fiancé for money or whatever. But it’s me hewants.”
Humiliation burns my face. Men generally prefer Vonnie over me. They call her nicer and sweeter. I’m an impossible bitch because I won’t tolerate crap from anybody, including my so-called family. She’s gotten worse since Grandfather’s death because he left her nothing. She thought she’d be able to get something for all the sucking up she’d done over the years.
“I just want you to know, it’s you I want to marry, Lucienne,” Preston says quickly.
“Fuck off. You’re fired!” I start to walk away. I’ve seen enough, and my brain feels like it’s full of nuclear toxic waste. If he’d cheated on me with some anonymous hooker, I might’ve overlooked it—because I’m just that desperate at this point—butVonnie?
No. I just can’t. I’ll have to find a new husband.
“Wait, what? You can’t do that! I’m your fiancé!” The bed creaks as he hops off to follow me.
“Uh-huh. And who just had his penis in my half-sister’s vagina?” I continue my march to the door.
“Lucienne, please. I only got to thrust, like, twice. I didn’t even get to come!” Like that excuses what I had to witness. “What about my money? The company I’m supposed to get?”
“Take it up with your grandparents.”
“Wait!” He wraps his hand around my wrist. “But the ring! It’s really pretty. Don’t you want it on your finger? It’shuge! Fifteen-point-one carats!”
Okay, so stupidandblind. No one with any taste would think that ring was pretty or deserved to grace my hand. “What was it you said, Preston?” I give him my most sugary voice. “Dicks are like diamonds.” My gaze flickers down, then rises back to his face, and I smile. “I’ve seen bigger and better.”
His face turns dull red.
Dropping the fake smile, I break his hold and start to walk out.
