Page 115 of One Wealthy Wedding

The thought lodges in my chest, makes the words die on my tongue.

Perhaps it’s time to lay down our weapons.

“I have an idea,” I say carefully, pulling my phone from my pocket. “Why don’t I sign the bar over to you?”

She sucks in a breath. “I don’t need charity, Theo. You’ve done enough for me.”

She’s right. I have. But this? I didn’t know how badly it would hurt her, and I want to make it right.

“It’s not charity. It’s an apology.”

I can’t read her. She’s tense, and her face is blank. “I want Blair to have half,” she says. “I’ll take the bar, but Blair needs to be the co-owner.”

“Isn’t she a Broadway performer?”

She shakes her head. “Her job isn’t stable. That’s my condition. I’ll do everything you want if you give her half.”

“Okay,” I say. I tap out an email to my lawyer. “I’m sorry.” I look up at her, her eyes unreadable. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You shouldn’t have,” she agrees. “You’re way too used to getting what you want.”

She narrows her eyes, but I can tell this is her usual brand of annoyance, not actual anger.

“I am,” I agree.

“Don’t agree with me. I want to be mad at you.”

I laugh, because I can’t help it. “I’m sure I’ll find a way to annoy you on this trip.”

“If I agree to go,” she says.

I sigh. “The fact of the matter is, I really need you to go.”

“What happened?”

“Arnold.” I scrub a hand over my face. “He said something to Lorenzo.”

“Fucker,” she mutters.

“Yeah. He’s claiming the marriage is fake.”

She curses under her breath before she looks at me with steel in her eyes. “I’ll go. It’s my fault you’re caught up in this. Arnold wants us to divorce because he loses everything if I take over the company. The little prick. I never thought he’d follow through with this stuff. As if being disowned weren’t enough.”

She says the words casually, like she’s ordering brunch or discussing the weather, but I can’t fathom what disowning means. Surely, her parents would still give her a place to live or money? But what if they wouldn’t?

“What exactly does disowning involve? Is it permanent?” I ask. “I thought the inheritance matter was settled by our marriage.”

“It’s not a technical term,” she says. “If you’re asking whether I’m going to go running back to Daddy, no.” She shakes her head. “He cut me out of his will. He told every one of my friends to stop speaking to me. He called everyone he knows to tell them not to give me an internship.” She snorts a disbelieving sound, like this is amusing instead of infuriating.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “Your father is a dick. And you can intern at Kings Lane.”

“It’s fine,” she says dismissively. “He is a dick. It’s for the best.” She pauses. “But I will take you up on that internship, if that’s okay. I really do need it.”

“Of course,” I say.

Maybe it’s for the best that Cat and her parents cut ties, but it’s starting to look like Cat has nothing, and the only one willing to help her is me.

The thought makes me uncomfortable. I won’t always be there to protect Cat. It’s already late April. By the time we go to Monaco, we’ll have been married for two months. That’s ten more months before Cat is out on her own.

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