Page 105 of Filthy Rich

I take it, and the closer it gets, the more breathtaking it is. “This was your first?”

He laughs. “Sadly, yes. The very first attempt I ever made has by far been my best, because with raku, you can know everything, and you can have perfect technique, but you can fail more than you succeed. Similarly, sometimes everything comes together perfectly when you have no idea what you’re doing. That’s what happened there, and I believe it’s what happened when you were born. You are, in every single way that matters, my perfect woman. You’re bright, caring, generous, forgiving?—”

“That’s an important one if you want to be with Jake,” Killian mutters. “Get ready to forgive a lot.”

Everyone laughs.

Jake glares, but then he smiles and tilts his head. “The kid’s right.” He kneels on the chair in front of me, and he leans closer. “Octavia Rothschild, you are the most divine, the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen in my entire life. You bring me nothing but joy and peace.”

“And anxiety, fear, and stress,” Dave says. Then he pats Seren’s arms. “All the best ones do.”

“I knew I should’ve done this without the audience,” Jake mutters.

I can’t help my smile. “No, this is perfect.”

“I only invited them because you told me that my family was the most perfect thing you could imagine—what you’d always wanted. Since my biggest fear is that you’ll one day wake up and realize what a loser I am, I figured I should go ahead and face that fear right away. I’m such a coward, I wanted to do everything I could to show you that betting on me isn’t a bad call. See the family you get if you say yes when I ask you. . .” He snatches the vase out of my hands, inverts it, and catches the ring that drops out of the interior. “Will you marry me, Octavia?”

Before I can even respond, Bea says, “Please say yes. It would be a real bummer if you said no.”

I laugh. “You people have to give me the chance.”

“So that’s a no?” Killian asks. “Because if you’ve realized what an idiot my brother is, I’ll just mention that I graduate in a few short months.”

Jake actually lunges for him.

“Yes,” I whisper. “Yes, Jake Priest Fansee, I will marry you.”

My fiancé freezes, and then he changes direction and plows through the chairs to yank me to my feet.

Everyone’s chanting, “Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her” and he finally does.

Oh, he does.

Chapter 25

Ardath

My mother was the single best human ever to walk the earth. Since my dad bailed before she even knew she was pregnant, it was always her and me against the world. Mom worked two jobs, but she only took positions that allowed her to bring her child along with her. She homeschooled me, and she never let me leave her side. I’m convinced she never would have let me leave her side if she had a choice, but sometimes your body doesn’t care what you want.

She told me that only two things mattered: family and smarts.

When she died in my arms, minutes before the ambulance arrived, I decided that I’d become a doctor one day, and I’d make sure as few little girls as possible lost their mothers. I was planning to become a surgeon, but during training, I changed paths and went into emergency medicine. It was so visceral.

I still like riding with the ambulance from time to time. There’s something therapeutic for me about being there, with my boots on the ground, using my two hands to save the people I couldn’t have saved when I was a kid.

But I didn’t get here overnight.

It was a very long road, and it started when I was barely in middle school. I had no money, I had no mother, and I was living in a group home. That meant I had to try twice as hard as everyone else, and I didn’t have a safe place to do things like science fair projects.

That’s why I set mine up in the back, near the dumpsters behind the school. Although my idea was a basic one—grow plants, and see which ones do better with various additives—I was determined to make mine stand out. After quite a bit of research, I settled on using the top fertilizers, ranked by brand and cost, and meticulously measuring my yield. I also thought I’d be able to set my project apart by doing five samples of each plant, to account for natural variation based on location or other variables outside of my control.

It took me days and days of research to set things up.

I had to skip lunch for three weeks to save up the money to buy my supplies. Then I had to lug them to school over a period of days so the group home director didn’t notice. I found a way to sneak out before school, during lunch, and after school so I could monitor and chart the growth.

It wasn’t like I was a criminal, I reasoned. I just didn’t have the permission to use the premises because the school couldn’t extend the same courtesy to everyone. I felt a little guilty, and I was scared I’d get caught, but I’d heard the winner for the whole school district got an interview for a scholarship to the best private school in Scarsdale. I was determined to win. I knew college was hard to get into, much less pay for, and I planned to get there any way I could.

The first two weeks went perfectly.

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