Page 126 of One Wealthy Wedding

“My grandma died a year before we got married. Fifty-one weeks before I met you at the club.”

“I remember her,” Theo grumbles. “Mean old witch. She used to pinch me when I got too close to the furniture.”

I laugh. “Yeah, that sounds like her. She was tough, but she loved me. I think she loved me more than anyone in that house did, actually.”

Theo cuts me a look, but I keep going. “But this started long before she died. When I turned twenty, she let it slip that her shares of Peterson International would go to me. But she didn’t tell my dad how many. He assumed it would be some of them, not all of them. She owned 40 percent. My dad has 15 percent.”

Theo nods. “Enough for him to control the company if he got all of them, but he got none.”

“Exactly. A single person needs more than 50 percent of the shares to make decisions single-handedly. I would always be involved, and my dad couldn’t stand that. His mission in life became to marry me off to someone he could manipulate and manage.”

“Prick,” Theo mutters. “Why not let you run the company? He’s not that young.”

“He would never. Don’t you remember him?” I look up at Theo in the afternoon light. The sun is caressing his face, gilding him like a god.

“I guess I mostly remember the things he did to me or my mom,” he says ruefully, but all I feel is relief. I don’t ever want Theo to know the truth of our childhoods. The thought of my father’s anger and hatred for him still makes my stomach turn.

“Well, he didn’t think I was suited to run the company.” My stomach twists at the memories. “I asked him so many times as a girl. I wanted so badly to go to the office with him, to play at being CEO. He didn’t want a woman at the head.”

“Fuck that,” Theo exclaims. “Companies with female CEOs are more profitable. He’s running Peterson International into the ground if the earnings are anything to go by. And you’d be damn good at it.”

His words buoy me. I could love him for saying that. Instead of sympathy, he’s armed with cold, hard facts. He doesn’t think I should get the position out of nepotism, but because I’d excel at it.

“Thank you,” I say quietly. “I plan to be. When I inherit the shares, I’m going to turn it around.”

Theo nods, sharp and angry.

“Anyway. I tried to find a husband for a year.”

He growls under his breath.

“What?”

“Go on,” he bites out. “I know I was your last choice.”

I laugh. “Are you jealous? Don’t be. I started with the men I thought I could control. You’ve never been on that list. The problem was, if I could control them, he could too. You’re perfect, Theo.”

“Yeah?” His mouth hitches up. “You think I’m perfect?”

“Not like that, you dork.” I bat his arm. “You hate my father enough to defy him, and you’re happy to divorce me when the year is up.”

“Right,” he says. His face is taut.

“Things went downhill when I wouldn’t marry Arnold Worth. He’s the son of my father’s business partner and an executive at the company. My father told me he’d cut me out of his will, kick me out of the house, and smear me publicly. Which he did, as you know. Instead of waiting for that to happen, I ran. In the middle of the night. I took two suitcases and called a cab to meet me at the end of the driveway. I took the train to Blair’s apartment, and I didn’t look back.” I wipe a sweaty palm down my dress. “I still remember how scared I was that he would find me. I threw away my phone because I was worried he could track me with it. I got so lost on the way to Blair’s.” I smile at the memory. It feels silly now, since I know the subway by heart, but those first days in New York were terrifying in their openness. A world of possibility, and I’d never been less sure of how to take advantage of it.

“And he retaliated.” Theo’s voice is low and angry.

“As you saw. It’s silly, but I kept hoping he would change, you know? I think I’m still hoping. Maybe one day, I’ll learn my lesson.”

I look over at Theo. His mouth twists unhappily. “Yeah,” he says. “I kept waiting for the same with my dad.”

My lungs force out all my air, like I’ve been punched. “I’m sorry,” I say.

“I’m sorry too,” Theo responds. His gaze cuts to mine. His eyes are stormy and filled with emotions I can’t name.

“I’m not,” I snort. “I should have left years ago. Now I can do what I want, when I want and be the person I want.”

“You won’t miss Rockwood?”

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