Page 26 of Attorney Privilege
We stand there staring at each other, but I don’t have time for this. I need to go find Gideon, and I hope he didn’t leave yet. I don’t think he would, but I have to find him and let him know that I love him too.
I shrug, not wasting another moment with her, and head toward the door.
“Emerson!” Mother calls after me, and I pause but don’t turn around. My back is to her, waiting to hear what she has to say. Will she apologize? Tell me I don’t have to marry Conner? Doubtful. I’m not that deluded. “Please, just wait.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard her utter the word "please," so I turn around out of curiosity more than anything. There’s something in her tone that sounds like panic.
“What?” I cross my arms over my chest, waiting.
“This is bigger than you marrying Conner. You have to or we’ll lose everything.” She wrings her hands together in front of her.
“You’ll lose everything. Didn’t you just tell me I have nothing?” I remind her.
“Listen to me.” Mother rushes toward me, but I take a step back. She halts her approach and holds her hands up like I’m an animal she’s afraid of scaring. “If you don’t do this, we’ll have nothing. We’ll all be on the streets.”
The dramatics with this one.
“You won’t be on the streets.” I have no clue what our family's financial situation is. I have always been kept in the dark about that, but from the way my mother shops, money wasn’t a worry. “Sell your things and start living a normal life.”
Mother's eyes widen like I've grown a second head, and I have to fight not to laugh. She's so appalled by the idea of leading a normal life when that’s all I’ve dreamed of.
"Don't be naïve." Her anger comes back after seeing that she's not making any headway appealing to my emotions. The real her can only stay hidden for so long when she’s having one of her meltdowns.
"You're the one being naïve, Mother." That is the last time I'll call her that. "You tried to sell me off while making me feel trapped. No matter how you want to frame this, you still need my consent.”
"You have no idea what you’re talking about. Arranged marriages happen all the time."
"I don't want to marry Conner!" As soon as the words are out, my hand goes to my throat. I don't think I’ve ever screamed at anyone before, and it was kind of nice. “Stay away from me. All of you. I never want to hear from any of you again.”
This time when she calls after me, I don’t stop. There are people I know who are attending the wedding outside the bridal room. Their eyes are wide with curiosity as I walk out. Any other day I might duck my head and not make eye contact, but not today.
“The wedding is off,” I announce loudly as I pass by. “Conner has a drug problem and can’t keep it in his pants.”
A few people laugh, but I don't give a shit about my reputation. If all these people care about is money and power, then their opinion means nothing to me. I keep walking until I make it to the hotel lobby. I can feel people staring at me, but I ignore them.
Where is Gideon? I don't have a phone, but there’s no need to panic. If I simply stand here, I know he'll find me. Everything Gideon has done has been to protect me. It started that day I walked into his office. His concern was fully on me, and since then, Gideon has always put me first. No one has ever done that for me before.
"Precious." I spin around, and Gideon is standing there.
There’s no hesitation as I throw myself at him and he wraps me in his open arms. He lifts me off the ground, and I start kissing him anywhere I can reach.
“I love you,” I tell him over and over again. “I don’t want the house. I only want you. I don’t care about anything else.” I thread my fingers together at the base of his neck, my feet dangling from the floor.
“I love you too.” The smile he gives me lights up every part of my body.
There are a few flashes out of the corner of my eye and then I remember I’m in the middle of a busy hotel lobby.
“Whoops,” I whisper. “People are watching.”
“I don’t give a shit,” he tells me, and I can see he means it. In fact, I think he wants everyone to see.
“They’re taking pictures,” I add, but clearly he knows. There’s a man and a woman who have giant cameras and not their phones. They look like professionals.
“Gideon! You bastard!” Conner shouts across the open lobby.
"Fucking hell." Gideon sighs. "Let me deal with this, and then we'll go get married."
He puts me back on my feet as Conner charges toward us. The two people with cameras keep taking pictures. This is going to make Page Six for sure. I only know this because Vivian has dissected it and the gossip on there is like it's the real news in their social world.
