Page 48 of Unfinished

“Absolutely, if I don’t know it I know I’ll be meeting people at school and I can maybe direct you towards someone.” Hannah smiled brightly at Rachel who smiled back.

“Jennifer?” My mother's voice was a little more high pitched with irritation over Hannah winning over one of the women with her kindness.

“I’m going to school for communications. I want to be a motivational speaker who helps people start their own businesses,” Jennifer announced with a big smile.

“That sounds lovely, you’ll be helping people start businesses.” My mom nodded towards me and I raised an eyebrow at her completely unimpressed.

“I agree, what type of business did you start? I’m sure Rachel would love to hear some advice.” Hannah nodded towards Rachel who looked on excitedly.

“I… I haven’t,” Jennifer stammered a little. Rachel pinched her eyebrows together then focused on the plate in front of her.

“Wouldn’t you need to have knowledge in starting a business to teach others how to do it?” Hannah asked with a slight head tilt. Jennifer was quiet for a moment, then shook her head.

“I reject the imposter syndrome that you are projecting on me.”

“I would be more concerned about the Dunning-Kruger effect you clearly suffer from,” Hannah muttered, and my dad and I both barked a laugh.

“What’s that?” Jennifer asked.

“Liam has a 4.0 at Trident King University and he’s going to be starting his MBA next year!” My mom shouted over our laughter.

Hannah simply took a sip of her water and continued eating as though nothing happened and I swore I loved her a little more. My dad caught my eye and raised his glass to me with a nod of approval and a big grin. Hannah won over my dad, that was for sure.

Chapter 21

Hannah

After dessert, Liam’s dad asked Liam to follow him outside to speak privately. I walked with the other women back to the seating area we were in before. Mrs. Teresi pulled me aside and guided me into a kitchen, waving off the staff that was in there.

“Girls like you don’t actually love men like my son, you see him as nothing more than a ticket out of poverty,” Mrs. Teresi said to me.

My eyes went wide and my mouth dropped open at the audacity of this woman. It was only a few seconds of shock before I straightened, put one hand on my hip and the other on the kitchen island and went into full bitch mode.

“I’m going to go ahead and call you Elaine since we are no longer being polite to each other,” I started and Elaine’s eyes went wide. “Where do you have the audacity to call me a gold digger when one of the girls you invited tonight is only going to college to learn how to spend more money? And another is a lawsuit waiting to happen for being a fraud. I’m pretty sure that won’t look good for Liam. I was the only one of the women you invited who planned to utilize her degree and earn money with it. I intend on working regardless of my relationship status. I am not the type of woman who will ever want to cake walk through life. I busted my ass for my scholarship at the top school for my chosen field and when I graduate I will likely have job offers from some of the biggest companies. I make my own way, I do not ride on anyone’s coat tails.”

Elaine clutched her pretend pearls but I kept my back ramrod straight and my face serious as I watched her.

“How much to convince you to leave Liam?” Elaine finally spoke.

“Are you offering to pay me to break up with your son?” The disgust practically dripped from my tone and expression.

“Yes, everyone has a number. What’s yours?”

“You’ll never accept me, will you?”

“No, I never will.”

“Because I don’t have the correct … lineage?” I asked.

“You’re trash, you’ll always be trash,” Elaine practically spit the words out at me.

Wow, there was no way to win over this woman. She had no problem calling me trash and being blatant in trying to make me dump her son. Liam had to put up with this his entire life. What a horror. No wonder he was so against this dinner. Hell, she might even be worse than my mom. I couldn’t imagine living every single day of my life with someone this controlling.

“You can’t pay me to break up with your son. Unlike you, I have values. I’m not for sale.”

“Fine, then I’ll use every single last one of my connections to ruin your entire life. Your scholarship, career prospects, everything.”

“What?”

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