Page 58 of Wicked Heiress

“Of course,” Drake replied, even though we both knew it was a lie.

I nodded in response.

Bastian raised his glass.

Fitzy’s head snapped to Grace, and then he extended his hand. “It’s time. Come with me.”

Worry furrowed her brows as she looked to me for advice. I couldn’t help with her grandfather, even though I wanted to take her away from this place.

“What’s going on?” Grace asked him.

With a wicked glint in his eyes, Fitzy yanked on her arm. “You know better than to speak out of turn.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

GRACE

My grandfather tightened his grip around my wrist, dragging me toward the stage at the front of the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I already warned you once, Grace.” He fired an angry look at me. “Don’t make me tell you again, or there will be consequences.”

“I’m not being difficult,” I said in my defense. “I want to know how to act. I can’t play my part if you don’t coach me.”

He never let me near anyone as a child, not without going over the proper way to sit, speak, and act. Grandfather even brought a woman to the house once a week to teach me how to be a lady. Of course, I tossed all those lessons out the window the second I moved in with the Colonel.

“Act grateful,” Fitzy said as we walked toward the front of the room. “Like this is a dream come true, and you’re thrilled to be here.” He yanked on my arm the rest of the way. “And when you’re asked a question, the answer is yes. Nothing else.” He stopped at the stairs, his eyes burning a hole through me. “Do you understand me?”

“The answer is yes,” I repeated. “I got it.”

I followed him onto the stage. The Marshalls stood in the front row beside the Salvatores and the rest of the town’s founding families. Cole joined his parents and the twins, who wore bored looks and suits.

“Thank you all for coming,” my grandfather said into the microphone. “Tonight, I brought you here to introduce my granddaughter, Grace, and share some exciting news for The Founders.”

He raised his hand to beckon someone, but I couldn’t see who until Rhys, his younger brother, and his parents joined us on the stage, smiles tipping up the corners of their mouths.

Grandfather patted my shoulder, smiling as if he didn’t hate me. I slapped on the fakest smile in history and looked at the crowd. My stomach twisted into knots whenever I was around my grandfather, and I could hardly breathe.

Rhys moved beside me. We were so close I could feel his body heat radiating off him.

I wanted to run.

Scream.

I couldn’t even look at Cole, knowing I would find a sad expression on his face. My grandfather gave a speech about The Founders and our duty to this country.

Midway through the speech, Rhys whispered, “You can relax, princess. I won’t bite.” His hand moved to my ass. “Not now, anyway.”

I pressed my lips tighter.

To make a sound would only piss off my grandfather. Besides, I didn’t want anyone in the audience to see me squirm.

On the outside, Rhys was a pretty boy and looked the part. But a monster lurked beneath his designer suit. He could give me that shit-eating smirk all he wanted because I saw right through his perfect exterior.

“Rhys has something he would like to ask Grace,” my grandfather said at the end of his spiel.

Rhys lowered to one knee, holding out a black box with a massive diamond ring inside. It looked like the kind of jewelry passed down for centuries—not something you could pick up at the mall on your way home from work.

---