Page 92 of His Wild Seduction

Leaning forward, Richard grabbed my wrist with his clammy hand.

“Excuse me?” I said, shocked and more than a little uncomfortable.

I tugged my arm back, but he tightened his hold. Not wanting to make a scene, I froze and steeled my spine.

“You know, your father never got over your betrayal and your running away. I thought when you returned, maybe we could perhaps make a merger ourselves. What a waste, Meredith,” he seethed.

“Let go of me,” I hissed, but he ignored my request and leaned closer.

“To think you’re now in bed with the man who destroyed him, who killed him, I suppose you could say, is the best portrayal of your corrupt character as any.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, shocked and sick to my stomach.

“I’m talking about you and your loose morals. You think I wouldn’t find out how you had an affair with your bodyguard when you were just a teenager? Just like your mother. Franklin told me all about her. I guess the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree.”

My heart thudded inside my chest and my palms grew sweaty.

Where was Josef? I needed him.

Panic threatened to send me to my knees. But I held on. Barely.

Wait? Did he say my mother? Franklin spoke about my mother to this cretin?

“Your poor father tried to save you, and you were so ungrateful. Now you’ve gone and delivered his company right into the hands of the man who defiled you, and he is nothing more than a gangster!”

I glanced around, noticing we’d gathered a bit of an audience. Emotions slapped at me, but I tried to keep still, not wanting to embarrass Josef or his friends.

Anger. Shame. Humiliation.

As if he knew exactly how I felt, Richard laughed. It was a vile sound, and finally, he released his hold on my wrist.

I rubbed at my skin, wanting to erase his touch. I tried to swallow down my embarrassment, my rage, and disgust, but they swirled around deep in my gut.

Each emotion threatened to topple the other, and none were good. But if I had to feel anything, anger was probably the best bet.

If Richard Hamilton expected me to run off tearful and sobbing, he was grossly mistaken.

“That’s right, just sit there speechless, like the little whore you are. It was worth the five thousand dollars I paid my neighbor to give me his invitation just to be able to say this to your face,” he spat.

I flinched at the insult. Then I narrowed my eyes.

“Listen to me because I will say this once and one time only. Franklin Gray was my stepfather. Not my father. I left his house when I was eighteen and made a life for myself away from his ill-gotten wealth. I had absolutely nothing to do with his financial affairs or his poor business decisions,” I said anger heating my words.

“As for my husband, your libelous insults and filthy insinuations of his character couldn’t be more wrong. My husband is a hundred times the man you are. He would never corner a woman in the middle of a party and try to embarrass her by spewing misinformation and lies. I don’t know who this neighbor of yours is, but he’s going to have a lot to answer for since this is a private event. Now, I suggest you leave on your own two feet before I have you tossed out on your pompous ass.”

“Too late for that, Little Red.”

My gaze flashed above Richard’s frowning moue, and I had one second to appreciate the menacing beauty of my husband’s suppressed rage before he grabbed Richard Hamilton by the back of the neck and hauled him to his feet.

“Take him outside,” he said, handing the sputtering man to Mario, who looked almost as furious as he did.

“Apologies everyone,” Marat said, smoothing things over with a joke or two, but I couldn’t hear what he said.

Josef was crouched in front of me, one hand cupping my cheek, the other holding the wrist Richard had grabbed. Whiskey fire eyes stared into mine.

“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

“No. He didn’t hurt me. He was trying to get a rise out of me. Maybe out of displaced loyalty to Franklin,” I whispered, exhaling the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

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