Page 16 of Lush

“If you turn this marriage down. I won’t just cut you off from the family business. I’ll ruin you. Your name will meanshit, you hear me? I’ll make sure you’re blacklisted across this entire industry,” Dad snarled.

My stomach twisted. My new liquor line was too close to being released to get nixed now. “You already did that, old man, when I was born into this fucked-up family.”

That smile wasn’t fatherly; it was predatory.

“Oh, I haven’t even started yet. If you walk away from this marriage, I’ll make sure you lose everything. Every connection, every deal, every partner you’ve ever worked with will turn their backs on you. Your new liquor lines? Gone. I’ll make sure they’re thrown off every distributor’s shelf, pulled from every bar, and you’ll be left begging for scraps.”

He paused, letting the words hang in the air, savoring my discomfort.

“And I’ll leverage every ounce of support I have in the company to make sure you’re fired. You’ll be a pariah in this industry, Reese.”

He threw a gold-embossed envelope onto the table and headed for the door.

“Wear a damn tux.”

I stared at the envelope, grabbed it, and ripped it open. Inside was an invitation to my own wedding.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 3

Laurene

The soft humof the party below seeped through the bedroom walls.

The room felt suffocating. High ceilings, ornate walls painted in golds and creams, trapping me in memories I couldn’t escape. The clutter from my teenage years still lingered—silk sheets, stuffed animals, curling band posters, an old life that seemed so far removed.

I opened the vanity drawer, my hand shaking. It creaked open, revealing old notes and keepsakes. Stuff I thought Mama would have gone through and thrown out.

But it was there…

Reese and me.

I was pressed against him in the photo, but it was the way he looked at me—intense and tender—that hit me.

What was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking. I’d been in love with the town’s bad boy. Defying my family by sleeping with the enemy had been thrilling then. But now Mama had me backed into a corner.

She always won. I checked. She’d been right.

I had no money. No apartment in Paris anymore. None of my old contacts were calling me back.

Fuck.

I was stuck.

I stormed down the hall, the heavy sound of Mama’s shrill voice cutting through the walls. “Laurene!”

My heart pounded like a drumbeat, a cacophony of dread and anger as my heels clicked against the hardwood floors. Making us go to a charity event when Conrad was still in the hospital? The fake smiles, the condolences, the press.

I slammed my bedroom door shut behind me, rushing to my vanity.

Oh God. What if Conrad died?

I gripped the edge of the vanity, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were red, mascara smeared. Reese.

We exchanged words earlier. Ugly words. Ones I couldn’t take back. But he looked at me now like I was horseshit on the bottom of his shoe… And I deserved it. Maybe Mama was right. Reese was right. I was just like everyone else. Cold. A fucking heartless machine.

“Lu! Where the hell are you going?” Gigi stumbled in after. Tears welled up in her big brown eyes, and her lip trembled like she was about to cry again.

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