Page 34 of One Wealthy Wedding

Blair

I’m free after my shift later. List night??

I smile despite the awfulness of the encounter with my dad. Blair loves list night.

Cat

You know it.

A message comes through from Lane as Blair responds.

Lane

You did not tell me you were marrying Theo! What the hell? And now this pops up on social media!

She sends a link to the picture the PR firm posted. I click it. Theo and I look like we just got out of bed. I have sex hair, and my hand with the ring is pressed to his arm as he kisses me. My stomach flips. I scroll to the comments and suck in a breath. I shouldn’t have looked. I knew what I’d find.

R1nggurlmissy: he’s so hot

Addictive_lady: no way this marriage lasts. she’s the worst. he’ll get bored.

Hottatertot: I’ll marry him if he needs a wife

Lovely. I shut the app, nausea rising at how I’m portrayed. I don’t need to see that people think Theo will get bored. I already know I’ve never been enough to hold his interest. I open my texts with Lane.

Cat

Come over later. I’ll explain everything.

“You married him? Really? I thought he was joking.” Lane bursts into the mansion later, her arms full of bags. “I brought supplies. I know he never has food.”

“Oh, thank god. He ate chocolate mousse for breakfast this morning.”

She shakes her head and follows me into the living room. “He lives like a college guy. Well, except for the massive mansion and the professional decorator. Other than that. Wait until he throws a party.”

“You’ve been?” I turn to her with a bottle of wine I snagged from Theo’s wine cellar. An actual cellar. There must be five hundred bottles in there. When I asked if I could drink them, he just shrugged, pressed a key into my hand, and told me they came with the house.

“Oh, I’ve been. Miles goes. Theo was back for the holidays and threw a party over Christmas. He had a hot Santa who made lewd comments when you sat on his lap. And a giant Christmas Tree piñata filled with hundred-dollar bills and little bottles of liquor.” Lane squints. “And a hot chocolate bar. It’s a bit fuzzy, honestly. I think he spiked the cocoa.”

I laugh. “That sounds like Theo.”

“So how the hell did you end up married to him? I mean, I’m glad. Miles told me you were friends. But it’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?” She accepts the wineglass I pass her, and we curl up on the couch.

I tilt my head. “It’s not real. Miles told you that, right? Theo said the only people who would know the truth were you two, Jonah, and Callie.”

Lane reddens. “I just assumed, you know, since Miles and I fake dated and ended up together, that maybe you and Theo—”

“Oh no.” I shake my head, and wine sloshes in my glass. “No. Definitely not. We’re not an item. He doesn’t even like me. I don’t like him.”

“Okay.” Lane makes a face. “Forget I said anything. So you married him because…?”

“My inheritance. Mainly, the shares of my mom’s family company that my dad is running into the ground.” I wince. “I saw him today. It did not go well.”

“Yikes.” Lane reaches over to squeeze my arm. “What happened?”

“He won’t step down.” My shoulders slump. “I didn’t really think he would, but he’s setting me up for a battle with the board. He’s the old guard, I’m new. I have no experience, he’s been CEO for thirty years. And he’s just such an ass.” I shake my head. “I keep waiting for us to have a conversation that doesn’t end in threats or insults.”

“Maybe it’s time to give up on that,” Lane says softly. “Didn’t he take the money from the Montauk house you sold to Miles?”

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