Page 16 of The Price of a Promise

He’d prodded deeper than I’d expected.

“Listen,” I began, expelling a defeated burst of air.But nothing followed it.I had nothing left to offer him that wouldn’t ruin what miniscule chance I still had left.He’d beaten me down, and I’d held back the insults.

Allan checked his watch.“Your time’s up, boy.It was real nice talking to you.”In an exaggerated southern accent, he added, “Y’all come back now, hear?”

“Fuck you,” I said.The glare this prompted served as the final push over the edge of my restraint.“You want to talk about lack of respect.Every last fucking thing you’ve said to me in here was the definition of disrespectful.”

“Look around, you naïve child.You’re in my building.Enjoying my view.Breathingmyair.”He wasn’t wrong, since buying air rights in the city was common practice.He hefted with a scoff.“I don’t owe you shit.Now take a good look around, because this is the last time you’ll ever see the inside of my world.”

Anger slashed at my chest.I had to leave.Now.Allan thought he’d won, but this battle wasn’t fucking over.I tore myself out of his office, hurt and bewilderment crowding the edges of my vision.I could barely see where I was going, yet somehow I made it into the elevator.I paced the small box as it plummeted downward, tugging at my hair as I struggled to take deep, calming breaths.

Nothing would have given me more pleasure than to smash his face in, but I’d have to settle for imagined acts of vandalism.

In my head, I was pissing all over his office and swinging a bat against the glass flames sculpture in the lobby as I stormed out of the elevator.I was so angry I almost forgot my jacket, so I had to stomp back across the gleaming floor to snag it.All eyes fell on me—maybe I was seething too hard—but I couldn’t give a fuck.

The only thing keeping me from actually pissing in the lobby was the fact that I still planned on marrying Cora.Trace’s voice of reason echoed in my head as I tugged my coat on and headed for the revolving glass doors of the north entrance.“If you piss in his lobby, you know he’ll pay off all the town clerks in the tri-state area to make sure your marriage license doesn’t go through.”Imaginary Trace was probably right.

I didn’t need to give him more ammunition against me, because Cora and I were getting married.

No matter what Asshole Margulis thought.

CHAPTER SIX

CORA

“Cora, can you come to the table now?”My mother’s voice at my ear dragged me out of my thoughts.I’d been glued to my phone all evening.Something was up with Axel, but he wasn’t saying what.It had been twelve hours since I’d seen him, but my skin already itched from wanting more of him.It was always like this when we could finally see each other.The longing overruled everything else.He awakened something so primal and so intense within me that I could barely function after our meetups.

“I’m waiting on my lemons,” I said weakly, gesturing toward the bartender at the other end of the bar.We were at Hallow, an upscale restaurant located in a converted cathedral.Everything glinted gold and heavenly, the remnants of the saintly influence, no doubt.

“Have them bring it to you at the table.”My mother was using her stage voice, which was soft and hid the annoyance lurking underfoot.Only I could hear how agitated she truly was with me.

“I know, but—” I swallowed hard.I did not want to see any of the people who had gathered at our table.“He’s cutting it fresh.Besides, you know they always forget to bring enough lemon.”

She lowered her head and sent me a direct glare.“I’ll see you at the table.”

My mother wound through the crowd, leaving me feeling like a little girl in trouble.My parents had a specific way of making everyone yield to their desires.Their manipulations were often subtle and prolonged, and after enough time, became the same as a python squeeze.In the end, you’d agree to what you’d never considered possible.

I’d walked into this expecting the squeeze.I knew what awaited me at that table.And being aware was half the battle.I needed it to be.

When the bartender returned with my small plate of perfect lemon wedges, I grinned.Small pleasures kept me going.I snapped a picture and sent it to Axel:My basic bitch lemons are ready.

I tucked my phone into my Hermes leather handbag and slid the bartender a ten-dollar bill before winding through the packed restaurant with my prize.I’d walked into this knowing it was a business meeting, which was why I’d worn a simple black high-necked dress and matching heels.My pink goat skin handbag was the only acceptable flair for a meeting like this.But even though this was overtly a business reunion, I knew there was so muchmoreon the line than just business—which was why I was prepared to lollygag, divert, and annoy.

“Cora!There you are!”My mother’s bright voice frayed at the edges as she called out to me over the din.I’d “gotten lost” on my way to the table, and her waving hand shot into the air to guide me.

“Oh, boy.”I offered a big but fake smile as I approached the round table, set for six.The Margulis/Rossberg party.“Almost wandered right out onto the street.”Which was what I wished had happened.

“Cora!It’s so good to see you again.”Eli’s parents stood to greet me, his mother coming toward me with a warm smile and outstretched arms.From day one she’d treated me as a surrogate daughter.We’d only met a handful of times, and to be fair, I did like the woman.She’d always been sweet with me.But my mother could be sweet with me, too, and that didn’t mean the python squeeze wasn’t waiting at the end.

“You look bright eyed and bushy tailed, as usual,” Eli’s father told me as he shook my hand briefly.Eli himself waited behind his parents, a small smile on his lips.His moss-green gaze settled on me, blond tresses arranged in a perfect finger wave.He was twenty-three like me, but his arrogance added a few extra years, made him look older.

“Eli, good to see you,” I said curtly, offering my cheek for the requisite peck.He pressed his hand against my back—which he normally didnotdo—and brought me in closer to him.

“I’m so happy you agreed to this meeting,” he murmured into my ear.“You’re hard to catch, you know that?”

“Excuse me?”I pulled back.

He watched me as if he knew a secret.Like maybe my father had promised him something.“Let’s just say it’s good to know that money is what makes you purr.”

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