“Hardly ever,” her mother muttered before walking away.
“Be nice. Go mingle,” her dad instructed.
Katherine downed the contents of her glass and then handed it to her dad. Sighing, she took off to mingle. Being social was basically her job. Her parents supported her financially, and she helped maintain their image of the perfect American family. It was a sort of partnership.
She scanned the room for someone she disliked the least. Unfortunately, her eyes landed on Larry, and he was headed her way.
“What’s up, Kate?”
“Larry,” she greeted dryly.
Because of his wealthy family, her parents thought of Larry as a great catch. They had no idea what a slimeball he actually was. Sure, he was tall and somewhat good-looking, but he was also a bully and a raging alcoholic.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Katherine ignored the corny line and walked over to the bar where Gabby, their housekeeper, was tending.
“Hey, Katie. Pinot?” Gabby asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
Gabby poured a glass of pinot noir and handed it to Katherine. “How are you holding up? I know you hate these things.”
Katherine rolled her eyes. “I just gotta smile at people for an hour. That’s how long it’ll take for our esteemed hosts to get drunk enough not to notice that I’ve left.”
Gabby laughed and held the bottle over Katherine’s glass. “Let me top you off.”
Katherine flinched at the feel of a hand on the small of her back. She turned and came face to face with her father. She reached back and slapped his hand away. Katherine could tell that he was feeling no pain. That was usually when things went bad.
“How are you drunk already?”
He looked from her to Gabby, and his fear of causing a scene made him throw his hands up in surrender. “Okay, Katie. I’ll just go find your mother.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Katherine grumbled.
She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. For now, she had no means of supporting herself or paying for school. However, as soon as she was able, she planned to run as far as possible without looking back. In her mind, she’d earned every penny her parents had spent on her.
“Katie, can you grab me a couple of bottles of merlot from the cellar?”
“Sure,” Katherine agreed with a smile. She was grateful for any task that got her out of mingling with a bunch of people she had nothing in common with other than wealth.
Katherine weaved her way through the crowd, greeting folks as she left the parlor. After a long hallway, she took the stairs down to the cellar. Her father’s wine cellar was his pride and joy, but it was her salvation. If she wasn’t hiding from her folks, she was pilfering very old and very expensive wine.
After grabbing a basket from the island and hooking it on her arm, she walked over to the reds and collected four bottles of Tuscan merlot.
“Fancy.”
Katherine turned toward the familiar voice and frowned when her eyes landed on Larry. “I’m sure you have a similar situation over at Casa de Crane.”
“Something like this, but not as well-stocked,” Larry admitted with a smirk.
“I’m sure you have a lot to do with that,” Katherine quipped.
She moved to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm. He tried to lead her to a corner, but she resisted.
She didn’t like being handled.
“Get your hand off me!” she demanded.
