Page 10 of Lavish
“You have twenty-four hours to make this right,” I said. “Or Iwillmake an example out of you.”
I turned, shifting my Chanel purse on my shoulder, and then looked back at him.
“You will give me ahefty,heftydiscount that will be on my office desk in an hour as well for my pain and suffering for all that I witnessed today.”
“Miss King?—”
“Get to fucking work,” I demanded. Most of the workers who’d been nosy listening to our conversation scattered as I walked by.
Text messages continued to flood my phone, each notification a jarring reminder of everything else going wrong with my life.
Did he do this? Did he secretly pay Leonard to sabotage this place?I hadn’t thought about it till now, but I believed it.
This had Miles over all it. This property had been nothing but trouble since we got it. Or rather, since I snatched it out from under Miles. God, I hated him. He’d saidnothingwhen he left. Just like I said nothing that night.
He’d turned from my lover to my worst rival.
I chose this over him. I can’t regret it now.
I made it to my Range Rover and pulled out my phone to see the family group chat going crazy with nonsense memes from Gigi, Laurene’s constant pictures of baby stuff she’d bought, and Erik’s thumbs-ups.
Didn’t I mute this text thread?
It wasn’t like I ever responded, and none of siblings cared to ask why.
Suddenly, the shrill ring of the phone made me jump. I checked the caller ID. Mama. I breathed deeply as I settled into the driver’s seat.
“Serena, we gotta talk about Laurene’s baby shower tomorrow,” Mama said when I answered.
Great.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, trying to sound cheerful.
After the showdown between Mama and Laurene when she was in the hospital after her car crash last year, I thought maybe something had shifted in our mother.
Mama, the woman who ruled this family like a kingdom, hadsoftened. Not with everyone. Just with Laurene. Now that Lu was pregnant, Mama acted like she was the second coming.
That softness? That grace?
She never showed that to me.
“You’re responsible for getting us the perfect present,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m stressed enough dealing with Reese’s mother and sister’s tacky décor.”
Buzz.Another text from the project site. I didn’t look at it.
I rubbed my temples, my eyes fluttering shut as the pressure built up. A little throb in my head told me a migraine was brewing.
“Make sure it’s something really special. We don’t want to look like we’re just showing up with any old thing,” Mama continued.
“Right,” I murmured.
“Also, I need you to coordinate with Erik. He’s already had a brilliant lunch with that investor from Charleston—the real estate one with the vineyard son? He’s lining something up with the Heritage Commission too. He’s doing so well lately.” She said it like it was news. Like it hadn’t been the headline of every conversation since January.
I opened my eyes.
“I thoughtIwas coordinating with the commission. Since when does he deal with anything related to my company?”
“You were,” she said vaguely. “Either way, he’s handling it now. That lets you handle the baby shower.”
