“There you are.” Karl’s gravelly voice comes from behind me.
Tension returns in full. The muscles at the base of my neck bunch, and my shoulders rise until they almost hit my ears. I turn around and stare at him. “What are you doing here?” I demand. “This area’s off-limits.”
“What? I can’t visit my sister’s home?”
“Half-sister. And you aren’t visiting. You’re trespassing.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a bitch. Jeez, no wonder nobody likes you.”
“Get out of the way!” Irritation drips into me like poison. This pantry has only one entry point, and Karl’s blocking it.
“Make me.”
The taunt is juvenile, but the expression on his face is serious. The amused air of entitlement is gone. In its place is an anger that’s been simmering for a while, edged with desperation.
Dread wraps its little tendrils around my pounding heart. But I do my best to hide my fear. He’s a bully who loves to bluster and intimidate, but he can’t do anything to me. I won. And this is my home.
“Ah, but you can’t,” he says, smirking. “You’re nothing without your husband and your money. You little whore. Why’d you have to cut me off and sic your fucking lawyers on me? Wilhelm made me an executive at Peery for good reason, but you pulled me away and now you’re trying to fucking ruin me!”
“You couldn’t bother to come to work, so of course I fired you and asked my lawyers to get back all the money we paid you!”
“Shut your fucking mouth! I need my fair share.”
“What ‘fair share’?”
“Half a million.” He shakes his head. “Actually, twenty.”
The nerve!“Are you askingmefor money?”
“I’m notaskingfor anything! I’m taking what’s rightfully mine! I’m Wilhelm’s grandson, too! Why should I be left with nothing?”
“What have you done to be a good grandson to him? Drinking? Gambling? Womanizing? Should he have been grateful you managed to not spawn any babies?” Then I stop as another possibility occurs. “You owe the casino.”
His face is so red, it’s almost purple. “It wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t such a greedy cunt!”
I’m sick of this—and him. “Get a job and pay it off!”
He steps forward. “You fucking bitch!”
Pain explodes in my face. Stars burst in my dimming vision. A metallic taste floods my mouth, and I lose my balance and hit the shelves hard enough to make things behind me rattle.
“I’m gonna teach you a lesson.”
Chapter 25
Sebastian
The party becomes lackluster without Luce pressed against my side. It isn’t exactly my idea of good time to smile and nod while people congratulate me on a forced marriage.
Roderick comes over. “Have you seen Lucie? I can’t seem to find her.”
“She stepped out for a moment. Do you want me to tell her you need to see her when she’s back?”
“No, no.” He smiles. “That won’t be necessary. I wanted to talk to you, actually.”
I cock an eyebrow. He and I don’t travel in the same circles. I met him once at his wife’s funeral. Luce made an impression. He didn’t. If somebody had asked me about him afterward, I wouldn’t have had a single thing to say.
“I’m sorry about Karl being a little obnoxious earlier. He thought she was making a mistake.” He gestures at the wedding band on my hand.
