Page 74 of 4 Weddings and a Feud

“Accidents don’t happen in my hotel. Today has been humiliating to Ray Richardson. He’ll never forgive me.”

“Accidents are a part of life. It’s how you deal with them that’s important. And a beautiful wedding is happening right through there.” She waved at the ballroom door, where Evie stood, staring at them instead of watching the ceremony. A few curious people in the back rows of chairs leaned back, watching them too. She turned her back to them and tried to shield their conversation from the nosy guests. “You’ve had a trying day with your mother and all. When’s the last time you ate? We can probably find something in the kitchen. I’ve got a granola bar in my bag.”

“You can’t solve a problem like this with food!” he shouted. “Everything that happened today was one hundred percent preventable. If you’re in control of your work. And your personal life.”

“What are you saying, Alex?” She kept her voice low and even. “Everyone did their best. That’s all we can ask of anyone, including ourselves.”

“That sounds like some nursery-school bullshit. I live in the real world, where results are what’s important. And a dark casino on a Saturday night and a disaster of a wedding aren’t results I can be proud of. I’ll never get the Paradise now.” His face twisted with pain. She’d never seen him lose control like that before, not even when they were kids.

“Wait.That’swhy you’re upset? Because you won’t get to buy that stupid casino? Not because Rochelle and Rohaan might’ve missed their chance at happiness, or because someone might’ve been injured in the dark?”

“Stupid casino?” He finally lowered his voice. “I explained to you what it means to me.”

She put her hand on his arm. “You don’t need the Paradise to prove you’re a better man than your father. Anyone who knows you already believes it.”

“Not Ray Richardson. Not the gaming board. Not anyone who matters.”

The flame in her chest flickered and died. The balloon shriveled up, leaving her heart enshrouded in ice. “No one who matters?”

“Without the support of the gaming board, I might as well call it quits. They’ll take pieces of my business away from me until I’ve got nothing left.”

“Nothing?” She squeezed his arm. “You’d have friends. People who love you.”

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “People only care about what I can do for them. I learned that when we lost everything. Even you dropped me.” Finally, he met her gaze. “This is a business relationship. Don’t worry, you’ll get your fee despite how shitty everything turned out.”

She gasped and snatched her hand away. A business relationship? Sure, she’d done everything in her power to make this wedding a success. But she’d taken it on for personal reasons, despite knowing it was too much with the rest of her responsibilities. She’d lost sleep. She’d endangered the shop. She’d even taken her eye off her brothers. And when one thing after another had gone wrong, she’d called in favors from Evie and her brothers. All to help Alex.

Was he grateful? No! He said it himself: she didn’t matter. Cold realization swept through her like the dawn breeze in the desert, scouring out all her pride, all her happiness, all her hope. She’d let herself become one of his disposable women. He’d pampered her and flattered her as part of theirbusiness relationship.How long was he going to lead her on after? Weeks? Days?

She was worth more than that.

He’d crushed her heart half her life ago, and she’d forgiven him. All these years later, she’d made the mistake of entrusting the sad, patched-up thing to him again, and he’d dropped it on the hard marble-tiled floor, smashing it into a million pieces.

Alex didn’t care about her. He’d only been using her to get what he wanted.

No, he wasn’t. Not anymore.

“I quit. You can keep your damned fee.” When she hitched her heavy tote bag onto her shoulder, her weak finger twinged, but she ignored it. “And we’re through. You can lose my number. Again. Goodbye, Alex.”

Mary turned on her heel and marched out of La Villa, her flashlight guiding her into the starry night.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Alex stared at Mary’s back as she marched out.

He’d hurt her. He had to, even though as he’d watched the light go out in her eyes, his gut felt worse than when Michael and Rafe pummeled it all those years ago.

If he hadn’t pushed her away, she’d have stubbornly kept shoving her quarters into the slot until her bucket was empty. He’d never pay out. Especially not now that the Paradise was lost.

When had it all gone wrong? When had he lost control? It happened long before he’d agreed to hire Dante and his gang of human liability risks. It was the moment he’d allowed his personal life to seep into his business.

When he’d hired Mary for all the wrong reasons.

He hadn’t hired her because she was the best. Vegas was thick with wedding planners, all with more experience, and he could’ve brought in any one of them. He’d insisted on Mary Forza because of the hope buried deep inside him. Hope that she could forgive him. That he could be worthy of her love. That if he let her in, they could be stronger together.

It was utter bullshit.

If he’d been thinking with his head instead of with his pathetic heart, he’d have seen that Mary had too many other priorities to give this wedding the attention it required. He’d witnessed her exhaustion when she’d almost fallen asleep in that meeting with the bride and groom. He should’ve replaced her then. If he’d done that, maybe he could’ve separated his professional life from his personal one and pulled off a successful wedding.

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