“Those articles…they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
She spins around to look at me. “What articles?”
“The ones pulled up on your computer.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you snooping on me?”
I reel back a little, my body physically reacting to the accusation. “Of course not. I came in to check if you needed anything, and I saw the headline on your screen. They got it wrong, Tate.”
“You don’t think I’m riding the Bradley coattails all the way to the bank?” she asks.
“Are you?”
She looks insulted I’d ask, and part of me feels relieved by that.
“Not intentionally, but none of these articles are giving me any credit at all for the work I’ve done. I don’t know if they ever will, and that kind of hurts.”
“It’s not personal,” I say, trying to make her feel better.
“Isn’t it? They did the same damn thing with Archer back in Vegas.” She shakes her head. “I’ll never be recognized for my attributes as a woman. Only for my connections to the men in my life.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not the thing I wish you were sorry for,” she mutters.
My brows dip as cluelessness claws its way in. “Excuse me?”
She presses her lips together and sets both hands on her hips, and then she lets me have it. “The mansion,” she says flatly. “You sold it and didn’t tell me.”
I stare dumbly at her. “That’s why you’re mad?”
“Of course that’s why I’m mad. You kept it from me. The fact that I wanted to figure out a way to buy it aside, your siblings didn’t want you to sell it, either.”
“We allwantthings. Little girls want unicorns. Lotto players want the jackpot,” I point out. “Just because you want something doesn’t mean you get to have it.”
“Don’t minimize what this is. That’s not what it’s about.”
“Then what’s it about?” I ask, truly dumbfounded, which only seems to make her angrier.
“It belongs to the Bradley family. It’s your history. We can preserve it so you can all come home again.”
“You just said you wanted me to figure out how to helpyoubuy it,” I point out.
“Exactly. And I thought marriage meant we’d make these decisions together. As a team.” She purses her lips as she draws in a breath. “You made a promise to me that you wouldn’t sell it without exploring all the options first. But you didn’t. We could’ve gone in together with the money we got back from Winston and financed the rest.”
“You know financing ten million dollars would cost you, what…sixty, seventy grand a month? How long are you making those payments before cash runs dry? This destination wedding brand is a great concept. But it’s not a guaranteed cash cow, and you’re already stretching yourself too thin.”
She huffs out a frustrated breath that’s paired with anarghsort of garbled sound. “It’s not about the goddamn house. It’s about the fact that you didn’t tell me you took an offer. You kept it from me. It’s trust, pure and simple. Why didn’t you just treat me like a partner?”
“This! This right here,” I say. “So we wouldn’t fight about it. Everything always comes back to my family, and every time it comes back to them, it turns into a fight.”
“Don’t project your insecurities on me,” she warns.
“I’m not. If I was, I’d be standing here asking you if you’re really over my brother or if attaching yourself to me is some elaborate ploy to win him back.”
“Is that what you think?” Her voice is eerily quiet as she practically hisses at me.
She stares across the space separating us as I wish I could take those words back.
