Chapter 5
Griffin glanced at my reddening eyes with a sneer. “Doria almost lost her innocence. You got slapped once–what are you crying about?“]
“Oh God… please…“]
Doria came stumbling in, sobbing dramatically. Her dress was torn in strategic places, immediately suggesting something terrible had happened.
Jasper quickly removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then he turned to me with pure disgust:[]
“You never change, do you? Always scheming. I will never marry a woman like you.“[]
Finn, usually the quiet one, stepped in front of Doria protectively:[]
“Your mom couldn’t produce a son to inherit the business, so she brought us in as pawns. We’d made peace with that, but apparently that wasn’t enough for you.“]
“So I guess we’re done pretending everything’s fine.“[]
He headed for the exit without a second thought for the Montclair reputation.
Before leaving, Jasper tossed one last shot: “I’ll marry you if I have to, but you’ll just be for show. If you want me to protect the Montclair assets, you’d better learn to stay in your lane.”
I had to laugh. Had they forgotten?]
Without me, the Montclairs would never have adopted them in the first place.]]
As the three of them moved to leave, some guests finally tried to intervene.[]
I cut them off with an icy command: “Let them go!“[]”
Doria shot me a triumphant sideways glance, like she’d just won the lottery.
I stood my ground in silence until my assistant rushed over in a panic:[]
“What now? They’ve all left–who will you
choose?”
The other guests exchanged concerned looks.
1
“A woman needs to marry eventually. If she’s rejected by all three men raised to be her husband, who else would take her?“[]
I wiped away a stray tear and raised my wine glass with a smile:[]
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, today isn’t just my birthday celebration, but my engagement announcement.“[]
A striking face appeared on the massive display screen.]]
The entire room gasped.[]
“Isn’t that Hextor Harrington from Washington?!“]
