Five minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom a changed woman, makeup flawless, spine rigid.
Theo was waiting where I left him, looking like a Bond villain in his tuxedo. His gaze landed on me. “Are you ready?”
“No. I want to stay. I have more names to add to your list.”
24
Tyler
The rest of the nightwasn’t as bad as the beginning, but it wasn’t good, either.
For starters, we were seated at the head table with our parents and the rest of the company’s higher-ups. Oh, and Blake. He’d turned up right before dinner and was acting borderline hostile toward his sister. I’d attempted to catch his eye to silently tell him to stop being such an insufferable shit, but he’d avoided my gaze throughout the entire four-course meal.
Stella and I were both in terrible moods, her for obvious reasons, me because I was still thinking about Maddie being a manipulative little bitch, was also deeply confused about my feelings for Stella,andbecause I was fighting pre-event jitters because my next party loomed, and the pressure to get everything right was astronomical.
Oh, and I’d been around Richard for far too fucking long.
I wanted to snarl whenever he opened his mouth. Force him to drop this charming act and reveal his true self—just like how Stella had forced Maddie.
The longer dinner dragged on, the more my thoughts spiraled. Feelings I’d kept shoved down were rising to the surface, refusing to be ignored. I couldn’t stop thinking about my mother, a young, naïve country girl who’d come to the city with big dreams, only for Richard to crush them.
My father laughed at something Phil said, and I tightened my grip on my dinner knife. He should have done the right thing and taken care of us. I didn’t mean mansions and yachts, but basic goddamn necessities, like constant access to power and running water. Instead, we were left with intermittent utilities dependent on Mom paying the bills on time. The absolute bare minimum in child support would have been life-changing for us. But no. He hadn’t even done that.
I drained my drink, signaling to our server for another.
My eyes tracked the young woman as she headed for the bar. Was this how my parents had met? Mom said she’d been waiting tables when a handsome man fifteen years her senior swept her off her feet and promised her a dream. Instead, it turned into a nightmare.
Mom hadn’t been shy about telling me what she’d gone through. She’d repeatedly told me I should stay away from anyone with wealth because they couldn’t be trusted. That money was the ultimate corrupting force in this world, turning even good people bad. That was the point where our opinions diverged. Money wasn’t the problem; these people were.
The server returned with my drink, but I barely sipped it, too distracted by my dark thoughts until Stella rose from her seat, and I snapped back to myself. Dinner was over.
We stayed and mingled afterward, just long enough to make the rounds, and for Stella to introduce me to more people she thought might fit my criteria. At one point, I made some excuse and wandered away. There wereotherpeople I needed to introduce myself to before the party was over.
After my errand, I found Stella, and we exchanged a silent look and decided it was time to go.
Outside, we stood shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk, waiting for my car. Thunder rumbled in the distance, another storm blowing in off the water.
“Are you okay to drive?” Stella asked.
“I only had one drink and a few sips of the second.”
She was quiet, eyeing me.
“I’m six-five and weigh two hundred and fifty pounds. Plus, I ate a lot. I’m fine.”
She didn’t seem convinced, and I started to get annoyed.
“I’m not some rich idiot who doesn’t know their own limits.”
She flinched, and belatedly I remembered that while she might not have been driving the car that hit Runa, she had her own DUI under her belt from a few years prior to that.
“I don’t know whatyouhave to be so pissy about,” she sniped. “You aren’t the one who had to face down the person who ruined your life.”
Anger swelled in my stomach. Yes, I fucking had. But it wasn’t like I could tell her that, so I locked my jaw and fixed my gaze on the street, silently urging the valet to hurry the fuck up.
We were only in the car a few minutes before the skies opened up and rain started pelting the windshield.
“Can you slow down?” Stella asked.
