Page 73 of The Vineyard Crush

“So.” The rumble of his deep baritone sliced through the lively chatter ebbing and flowing around us like a razor. “Do you plan to work under your brother’s oversight for much longer?”

My shoulders went rigid at the subtle jab buried in his tone—the implication that assisting Ethan in any capacity was somehow demeaning or inadequate. Gritting my teeth, I threw him a look slanted with withering disdain from beneath my lashes. “I’m not sure what my plans entail at this point.”

Wrong answer, if the tightening of his unforgiving features was any indication. Jayesh’s nostrils flared infinitesimally as he shook his head in a minute, disapproving motion. “You cannot be serious. A woman of your pedigree should have far more ambition than playing at business, surely.”

The patronizing words slammed into me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs. Arrogance and disdain radiated off Jayesh in scorching waves as he raked me with that sneering look of utter dismissal.

My hands fisted at my sides as a ringing built in my ears, the cacophony of laughter and music around us fading to a dull throb. For so long, I’d worked to accept that I was different—that my ADHD made me view the world through a unique lens. A lens without the rigid, success-obsessed blinders so many seemed to wear.

I was the dreamer, the free spirit content to embrace life’s small joys over the material trappings of wealth and power. A truth my mother still couldn’t seem to accept, no matter how many heartfelt discussions or therapy sessions it took.

And now here was this pretentious, xenophobic asshole, daring to project his antiquated expectations and ambitions onto me as though they were universal axioms? As if the very notion of a woman evaluating her worth by any other metric was patently absurd?

White-hot fury detonated in my chest, singing along every nerve ending until I was nearly vibrating with it. This pampered princeling wouldn’t know drive or passion if they waltzed up and kicked his porcelain ass into the middle of next week.

Jayesh seemed utterly oblivious to the storm gathering in my eyes, the obstinate jut of his jaw never wavering as he steamrolled ahead. “What do you envision for your future then? Surely not playing chemistry with your brother like a 10th grader?”

The words lashed against my skull like a leather crop, belittling and diminishing with their subtext of disdain for Leo’s business prowess. Of the implication that assisting family was tantamount to codependency—a pathetic crutch in the eyes of this misogynistic boor.

My nails scored crescents into my palms as I battled to keep my mounting rage in check. To simply turn on my heel and stalk away as I longed to, abandoning him to ponder that oh-so-vital inquiry, would be a gratifying release. But I knew my mother—knew the vindictive woman would view it as an act of cowardly avoidance to feed into her warped narrative.

No, this pustule needed lancing, once and for all.

So I held my ground, trembling with the force of my ire, as Jayesh charged onward with his next appallingly presumptuous decree.

“Perhaps after we’re married, you could take a more ceremonial role.” His tone remained as dry and inflectionless as a court stenographer reciting minutes, utterly devoid of empathy or basic human compassion. “Chief Operations Officer, something respectable but not overly taxing. I’ll secure the family’s financial legacy while you remain a figurehead ambassador—”

“Enough!”

The strangled shout erupted from deep within my core, vibrating with the raw fury of a woman pushed well past her limits. All around, the chatter and laughter died in stunned silence, every eye swiveling toward the confrontation suddenly unfolding in their midst.

But my world had contracted down to this singular, explosive moment, with Jayesh trapped in the vortex.

Even the pounding bassline from the bar seemed to fade to a distant murmur as I closed the remaining distance in two strides. With a trembling hand, I jabbed an accusatory finger into the placid center of Jayesh’s pristine shirtfront.

“Listen very carefully.” My voice emerged as a seething whisper, every iota of self-restraint focused on leashing the violence humming through my limbs. I leaned into his bastard space, near enough for the words to sear his skin. “I don’t give a solitary fuck what lies my mother has been spreading to find me a suitable…acquisition.”

His beady black eyes blew wide in shock as I spat out that final word like venom. Good—let the misogynistic prick get a taste of his own degrading medicine.

Throwing my arms out in a sweeping, all-encompassing gesture, I raked him from crown to toe with naked derision. “This? Is never going to happen. Not in a million fucking years. Over my dead body before I’ll submit to your antiquated notions of wifehood.” My voice dropped to an incinerating hiss, every syllable dripping venom. “Do I make myself unmistakably, crystalline clear?”

For a suspended eternity, Jayesh could only gape at me in openmouthed incomprehension, those impassive features finally fracturing beneath the onslaught of stunned outrage. His once-sneering lips worked uselessly as angry blotches of scarlet mottled his swarthy complexion.

Repulsed, I stepped back, slicing my hands through the superheated air in finality. “I didn’t think I could convey my stance any cleaner than that. So congrats, I guess—you’ve officially wasted both our nights.”

With a derisive snort, I pivoted on my heel and stalked away, the crowd parting before me like a churning sea. I paid them no heed, too laser-focused on locating my smug, insufferable mother to reacquaint her with a few home truths of her own.

After that, I had every intention of salvaging my evening with a certain smouldering cowboy who never failed to spark joy in all the right ways. Ambition and material success be damned—my definition of a life well-lived was simple, honest, wrapped in the arms of the man I loved.

And not a single cardboard cut-out prince would ever convince me otherwise.

I approached my mother with measured strides, the confrontation with Jayesh still simmering like shards of volcanic glass beneath my skin. She sat amidst his parents, lips curved in that trademark social smile as she gesticulated animatedly, clearly regaling them with tales of Leo’s latest successes.

“Mom.” My voice sliced through their insulated little bubble with all the subtlety of a hammer through stained glass. Three identically bemused expressions swiveled toward me, broken only by a minute tightening around my mother’s elegantly lined eyes. “We need to talk. Now.”

Without awaiting a response, I pivoted and strode away, making for the hushed alcove beneath the grand staircase. The way her polished heels clacked over the inlaid marble announced her precise trajectory long before she stepped into my periphery.

“Well?” Those coolly arched brows formed perfect accents over her look of patented mild disapproval as she folded her arms across her diaphragm. “I’m listening.”

---