Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

West continued to speak, but I couldn’t hear anything past the rush of my own blood.

Vaguely, in the fuzzy perimeter, I saw Lottie’s cream heels approach, followed by her mother’s very similar ones, and my grandfather’s black soles.

Everyone was here, but all I could do was lift my eyes to Story’s, look for the lie I hoped to find in the truth.

“Your wife?” I finally said, interrupting whatever bullshit conversation had started.

“What?” Lottie’s soft voice. “What is going on?”

“Um…” Story trailed off.

My grandfather started to laugh.

This had to be some kind of fucking joke. Snitch was getting back at me.

“Is this a joke?” Mrs. du Lac asked, smile wavering. “You can’t be serious.”

“Calm down,” Mr. du Lac said, sounding bored.

“Calm down?”

“No joke,” West said. “It’s love.”

Story held out her left hand, where a sparkling diamond sat.

“Meet your new sister-in-law,” West said.

Nineteen

STORY

* * *

I wondered if Grayson could see the misery on my face as I leaned into Westley.

Everyone started talking over one another, but Grayson stared at my finger. A possessiveness in his stony blue eyes that radiated down the throbbing muscles in his neck.

“You.” Mrs. du Lac turned her ire to me. “First you ruin my daughter; now you turn your sights on my son? Have you no shame?”

She took a step to me, muscles tense. I lifted my shoulders, bracing my face for a slap.

“Mom!” Charlotte exclaimed, grabbing her mother’s shoulder at the same second Grayson stepped between us. Grayson acted as a wall, a barrier. Behind him, Lottie tried to calm her.

As the world collapsed around us, Grayson stared down at me from his ridged nose. The questions in his eyes throbbed like the anger in his jaw.

“You married him?” he said, so quietly it couldn’t be heard above the commotion.

“You married her first.”

Grayson was grabbed by Lottie and shoved in the direction of Mrs. du Lac. “Do something.”

Beryl Crowne was unlike the rest. He watched me quietly, with a look that sent shivers down my spine. Instinct had me wanting to look away. This was Beryl Crowne. You don’t look someone like him in the eyes if you’re someone like me.

His eye was darkening, like someone had just punched him, and all I could wonder was…who the hell had the balls to punch Beryl Crowne, a man known for disappearing anyone who slightly bothered him?

Though my heart pounded, I met his eyes. Instinctively I covered my stomach, and Beryl’s eyes went to that.

Grayson stepped in front of me again.