Page 65 of Bitter Secrets

“Yes.”

“No, you don’t.”

He stopped a passing server and tossed her notebook onto a tray laden with dirty dishes.

“Get rid of that.”

Jasmine’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sir?” the server said tentatively.

“Now.”

Dad didn’t raise his voice, but then again, he didn’t need to. His soft command was infused with the promise of dismissal. The server immediately turned on her heel and left the room.

She pressed her trembling lips together.

“I went too easy on you,” he said quietly. “You’re lazy, complacent, ungrateful.”

She shook her head. “I’m not—"

“You don’t tell me what you are.Itellyouwhat you are,” he hissed. “You need to grow up and stop romanticizing life and see it for what it is. It’s war. If I wasn’t your father, who would you be?”

He didn’t say it, but she heard what he wanted to say. If she wasn’t a Hennessy, she would be nothing.

“I thought your path was set when Ford offered for you, but after a night like this, you think Parker still has a favorable view of you? Late, dirty, and flinging my orders in my face?” He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Did you memorize the guest list or not?”

“N-not the most recent list.”

If she wasn’t his daughter, she would have been fired on the spot.

“Did you know who he was when you went up to him?”

She shook her head.

“And after?”

She thought about lying, but knew he could read her like a book. “I overheard you and Colette talking…”

A muscle ticked in his cheek. “Why did you do it?”

She opened her mouth, closed it, and then took a step back, shaking her head.

“You felt sorry for him?” He cocked his head. “You think I should welcome him in when it’s taken us generations to be where we are today? You think we got here by beingnice? Through playing patty cake with the guy next to us who wants the same things we do? You think it’s cruel to make him work for his spot? No one appreciates what comes easy. You’re proof of that.”

His words were an invisible lash that scored so deeply, she wasn’t sure it would heal.

“Your grandfather lay a foundation of grueling work and sacrifice so you and your sisters could thrive. It’s easy to be generous when you aren’t the one who spent years sowing seeds of trust with that contact. If he’s meant to be a part of our world, he’ll come in where he belongs—at the bottom. If he really wants to be here, he’ll take whatever we throw at him. You need perseverance and tenacity to survive in this world. Got it?”

She nodded.

“You’ll never get it,” he said harshly. “You’ve done enough damage for one night. You’re dismissed.”

She turned and saw there were quite a few people congregated in front of the elevators, studiously ignoring them. Even as shame sank its teeth in, she raised her chin and started forward.

“Jasmine.”

She halted and reluctantly turned. “Yes?”

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