“Don’t remind me. Here—for you and Jackson.” She hands me two gift bags.
I peek inside the small one, but I can’t see anything, and it’s hard to open with the baby in my arms. “What is it?”
“We thought you could both use a nice spa retreat after a stressful few months and no honeymoon. It’s only an hour away. Dec and I went there after the babies were born.”
“Thanks.” I swallow, starting to choke up. “You didn’t have to.”
“But we wanted to. The second bag is just two perfumes I made for both of you. They’re different, but complement each other perfectly.” She gives me a meaningful look, and I push the rising emotion down further.
“Hanora,” I cry. “Thank you.” I hug her tightly, squishing the babies until they whine.
We walk into the living area where all our guests are enjoying a pre-dinner drink. I turn to Sadie. “I thought you were coming to get me.”
Her eyes widen. “Shoot, sorry. Pregnancy brain is kicking in already.” She stops a waitress and grabs a glass of champagne for me. “Cheers, Annabelle. The house is beautiful, and I know it’s a reflection of the life you and Jackson are building. God, I still can’t believe you’re my sister-in-law. It’s what I always hoped for.”
“Yes, cheers,” a smiling Lola announces, followed by Evelyn and Marco.
“Oh.” I jump. “You scared me,” I squeal as Jack wraps his arms around me and places his head on top of mine.
“Dinner’s almost ready,” he announces. “Everyone take your seats, please.”
“Can I speak to the two of you?” John asks as we step into the hall. “Sadie and Wills. You, as well.”
“No problem.” We follow him into Jack’s office and anxiously await what he has to say.
“It hasn’t hit the news yet, but I suspect it will come shortly, so I wanted you four to be the first to know.” He hands us his laptop, and my eyes almost bug out of my head. It shows Victoria and Trey arrested and led into a police station.
“What the hell is this?” Wills asks.
“Who cares? Whatever those two evil people did, they deserve it,” Sadie spits out.
It’s not every day my Sadie has any type of venom laced in her words, but these are people she hates more than maybe even her mom.
Jack interlocks our fingers when we read the rest of the article that’s yet to be released.
“Insider Trading” is labeled in large letters across the top.
“Holy shit,” Jack blurts out.
“What the hell happened?” Wills asks John.
“These two have been dating, and Trey found out from a lawyer who works at the company that a huge lawsuit was looming. They miraculously both sold their stocks before it happened.”
“Fucking idiots.” Wills laughs. “They deserve this and more. Hopefully they get convicted and go away for a long time.”
“I second that,” I say.
Fuck Trey and all the terrible shit he did to me.
And fuck Victoria for messing with Sadie and Wills’s life.
I don’t even care so much about her stealing my clients. If they want to leave, let them. They’ll come crawling back, and I’ll double my fee.
We all thank John for having our backs and then join our guests for dinner.
Despite the size and difficulty of fitting everyone in the one area of the house I wanted to use, Sadie did a beautiful job.
She asked me what theme I wanted, and I requested a Tuscany one.
