Page 89 of Deceit
“And who might you be?”she purred, offering her hand to Miles as shefluttered her lashes.
Anger streaked through me at her blatant display of flirting, but before Icould introduce him, Miles beat me to it.“I’m Sofia’s husband. And no disrespect, but the only woman I touch is my wife.”
He pulled me against him before tilting my chin up and brushing his lipsagainst mine. Smugness doused the spark of anger, and it took all my effort to not let it show when Miles pulled away and I returned my gaze to Vanessa, finding her watching us with narrowed eyes, while Rafe smirked from beside her.
“Right, well,”Papa said, clearing his throat.“Nowthatintroductions aredone, let’s go inside. Dinner will be in one hour, so we have time for a drink beforehand, and we can all get to know each other a little better.”
Miles tapped my ass, smirking at me when I mouthed,‘Oh, yay,’as wefollowed behind Papa, Rafe, and Vanessa, the latter dramatically swaying her hips as we walked inside. If she was hoping Miles would be staring at her ass, she’d be sadly disappointed; his gaze was focused solely at the back of Papa’s head, and was sending daggers in his direction.
We made the short walk through the house to the drawing room, and I gazedaround the hallway. Everything was exactly as it had been before, yet it feltdifferent. Perhaps because I now lived somewherethatfelt like home when my childhood house never had.
Waiting on the bar in the drawing room were five glasses of champagneflutes. As we walked in, Andrew, one of the household staff, popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and filled the flutes before Papa handed them out.
“To families coming together,”he said, raising his glass and beaming at eachof us.
Following Miles’ lead, I lifted my glass, clinking it against Papa’s, and a boltof fury shot through me at catching Vanessa staring at Miles, her eyestraveling over the length of his body before she finally followed everyone else and raised her glass.
“Why don’t you ladies discuss wedding plans while the men talk business?”Papa said, looking between Vanessa and me.“I’m sure you have lots of tips you can share, Sofia.”
Chauvinistic asshole.
Reminding myselfthatI only had to get through a few hours in Papa’scompany, I smiled sweetly at him.“Of course.”
Not missing the eye roll from Vanessa, she followed behind me as I crossedto the open doors and looked out at the grounds where, not so long ago, my own wedding was held.
A small smile lifted my lips at seeing the gardens lit in the evening sky from thousands of twinkling lights, and still in pristine condition,justlike Mama had always wanted.
“So, where are you and Rafe planning on getting married?”I asked asVanessa came to stand by me.
She scoffed.“Not here, that’s for sure.”
“What…um…what’s wrong with here?”I replied, offended at her disgust.
She took a sip of her champagne, her long, manicured little finger stickingup.“What’s right with it?”she muttered.“It’s dull, and far too small for all the guests I want to invite.”Her nose wrinkled as she looked out into the garden, before adding under her breath,“Besides, I don’t want to get married where a slut once lived.”
“Excuse me?”I blinked at her, not sure I heard her correctly.
“Oh, not you, sweetie,”she smirked, waving her free hand, the enormousdiamond engagement ring on her finger glinting from the dazzling light of the chandelier.“I meant your whore of a mother.”
Slam!
I’d never so much as shoved anyone, let alone thrown a punch. Truthfully,I wasn’tevenawarethatI’d hit Vanessa until her champagne flute smashed on the floor, and her piercing scream penetrated the white noise rushing in my ears.
Vicious rage swirled deep inside me, and I raised my fist to hit her again,needing to hurt her for saying what she had about my mama, only to be stopped when hands grabbed me, took my glass, and pulled me away.
“You bitch!”she shrieked, her hands whipping up to cover her nose,and blood seeping through her fingers in a second.“You’ve broken my nose!”
“You deserved it!”I bellowed, trying to pull out of the grip holding me back.“I’m gonna fucking kill you!”
Hot angry tears cascaded down my face as I was lifted off the floor and carriedseveral steps away from where Vanessa had tilted her head back, blood trickling from her nose and over her mouth and chin before dripping onto her sky-blue dress.
“What the hell is the meaning of this?”Papa roared, snapping me out of thered hazethathad settled over my vision.
It took several seconds to realizethatMiles had his arms around me in aniron-clad grip, Rafe was standing protectively in front of me, and Papa was by Vanessa’s side, attempting to stem her bleeding with his handkerchief.
“She called Mama a whore,”I sobbed, my anger subsiding, replaced byheartache.
“I did not!”Vanessa said.“She attacked me for no reason!”
