Page 29 of The Sounds of Her

My brow clears and I grit my teeth. Money.

The Campbells are rich, three times more than my parents. Roman’s dad is not only a partner in the law firm, he owns multiple companies, CEO of at least three of them and although Roman heads up one, I’m under no illusion his dad is the one really running the show.

They want to clean up his act, but for Roman to go along with it, something else is dangling over him. From the little I looked into him, |I know he is turning thirty this year. That’s a standard age for coming into an inheritance. I laugh and he frowns at me.

“He’s going to disinherit you if you don’t do this.”

The clenching of his jaw and his eyes darting away from mine says I hit the nail on the head.

“How much?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Given you’re forcing me to marry you to get it, I think it is.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll reap the rewards too.”

“You arrogant shit. I don’t want any of your money. I want nothing to do with you.”

“I’m willing to give you some if it means you do this. I can make sure you have a good life, anything you ever want.”

“Hate to break it to you, asshole, but I already have a good life. One I’ve built for myself without a man hanging around or trying to take credit. And I’m not about to start now.”

His fists clench and bang on the table. “My dad is offering to fix Gerard’s mistake. His money will be enough to cover what he lost and prevent them from losing everything else. Everything Brooke. He will go bankrupt.”

Is he saying this to make me agree with him? This makes it worse. My parents are leveraging my life, my happiness over their reputation and money, and this prick wants me to agree to it because he’s offering a small share of his millions. Throwing my glass of champagne over him is sounding more like a good idea.

Roman glances down and takes his cell out of his pocket. After looking at the screen, he shows it to me. My mom. She can’t get hold of me, so she’s trying him. I bet she’s frantic. Not because I know what she’s done, because she’s terrified I’m going to derail her carefully constructed plan.

While my brain is firing in all different directions, trying to figure this out, a deep, immense sadness hits me. I’ve always known I don’t matter much to my mother, but this. I can’t even fathom this.

I don’t want to help. Whether that is wrong or right, I don’t care. If Roman loses his millions, it’s not my problem. As much as it pains me, because deep down, I do still have some feelings and concern for my parents. They’ve brought this on themselves.

I finish the champagne and set the glass down then get up. I am no one’s cover, I am no one’s pawn. I will be no one’s wife until I’m good and fucking ready to step into that role, and it will only ever be for me and the person I love.

The driver is waiting, and I ask him to head to my apartment. While we drive, I pull up the airline website Adam booked our flights through. I’m not supposed to leave until Monday, but it can’t wait. I have to get away from New York now.

It doesn’t take long to get my flight changed to tomorrow afternoon. It costs an extra three hundred dollars, but I don’t care. I delete all of mom’s texts and voicemails. When I see one from dad, I pause.

He’s always been weak willed, the perfect puppet for mom. He’s the one who fucked up, and he’s going along with this plan because he’s been guilted into it.

The thing with Gerard Hannon is he doesn’t have a mind of his own. He’s intelligent, he knows his way around a courtroom, but he is no match for her. He was never as cruel as mom when I was growing up, more disinterested. I could never differentiate which is worse.

I dial voicemail to listen to his message.

“Brooke, this is your father. You need to come home. We are doing this for a good reason and if you let us explain, you will understand that too. You will help us because you’re our daughter and family means more than anything else. We’ll expect you at ten. Don’t let us down, Brooke.”

I delete the message and swipe at a treacherous tear that slips out.

Fuck them. Fuck them both.

Chapter Eight

The plane touches down on the small private runway and I sit up, rubbing my eyes. We left the BreakNeck jet at the airport and took the seaplane across to the island. Ad and Jenna flew out last night, he said it was to get things finalised. Jordan said it was so he could fuck her on the beach before all his family and friends arrived. He got a slap to the back of the head for it from Jenna.

Grabbing my bag, I yawn so big my jaw cracks. Elsa and Nick get off first. Jordan is still half asleep as he stumbles past me. Sandy is full of pep and wide smiles, as per usual. Adam’s parents, Keira, and her son Jake, round up the last of us on the flight.

The other guests arrive tomorrow. The wedding is in three days, so we’ve time to settle in, or do activities on offer at the resort. Or chill the fuck out, something I intend to do.

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