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I should leave before they caught me eavesdropping, but I couldn’t breathe.
NO SHE SHOULD GO IN THE OFFICE
He said getting rid of her so easily, like he was discussing a piece of furniture instead of his daughter.
And the reality was, when I stopped in the doorway of our room and saw her open suitcase on our bed, I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the gut and dragged over hot coals, all in the space of two minutes.
“Were you going to leave without telling me?”
MY HEART
My chest crushed like ice beneath a speeding truck.
me right now Dante
I’ve never hated you.
I chose vengeance over Vivian, and these were the consequences.
“This is just business.”
NOOOO ITS NOT ANYMORE
She stopped in front of me, twisted her engagement ring off her finger, and placed it in my hand. “Just business.”
JUST TWIST MY HEART AND PULL IT OUT
“Do I need to sharpen my knives and prepare contingency plans for a homicide charge?”
Pain lashed at my chest, a stinging burn.
“No. Because you actually like Vivian,” he said pointedly. “You might even love her.”
“But that doesn’t answer my question. Do you want to be with her?”
The way I’d stayed in bed longer every morning just to catch her first smile of the day. The way our takeout lunch dates became my favorite part of the work week. The way I’d opened up to her about my family, my life, myself… And the way watching her walk away on Monday had cost me an irretrievable piece of my soul.
Somehow, somewhere along the way, I’d fallen in love with Vivian Lau. Not like or lust. Love, in all its terrifying, unpredictable, unwanted glory.
read an article about the seven sins in my dentist’s waiting room.”
“Because you’ve protected me my whole life,” he said quietly. “And it’s time I returned the favor.”
Awwww
“Don’t let your pursuit of wrath ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Yeah, figuring things out with Vivian will be hard, but you’ve always been a fighter. So fucking fight.”
“The father I knew would’ve never done this.”
“Protecting our family doesn’t mean destroying someone else’s. We don’t stoop that low, Father. It’s not who we are.”
I’m sure you could make him see reason if you tried hard enough.”
SEE REASON? You blackmailed him… almost for his brother killed… now you want him to turn back around and help you
“To be so disrespectful and disobedient?”
Disobedient????????????
“I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me! I went to the ‘right’ college, broke up with Heath, and played the role of perfect society daughter. I even agreed to marry a man I barely knew because it would make you happy. But I’m done living my life for you.” Emotion thickened my voice. “It’s my life, Father. Not yours. And the same way you can’t make decisions for me any longer…I can’t make excuses for you. Not anymore.”
“But I want you to know this, Vivian. If you walk out of this office today without making amends for your insolence, you are no longer my daughter. Or a Lau.”
FUCK HIM
He’d expected me to back down.
but she won’t
The only thing I had left was myself. And for now, that would have to be enough.
“I bought the gown myself,” I said in response to Buffy’s observation. I smiled at her flicker of surprise. “I’m a Lau.” Even if my father disowned me. “I can afford my own clothes.”
His gaze turned speculative.
“This might be too soon, but since you’re no longer with Dante…” Kai’s hand slid down my back and rested above the curve of my ass. Low enough to be suggestive but high enough to skirt the line of inappropriate. I stiffened. “Perhaps we can go out sometime.”
Before I turn the page, Dante is most definitely behind them AHHHHH
He wasn’t listening. He was too busy looking over my head with a wicked smile.
DANTE IS THERE
“Take your hands off my fiancée.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you did or didn’t realize.”
Hehehehehe
“Touch Vivian again, and I’ll kill you.”
THATS THE WAY I LIKE IT
“Because you’re my fiancée, and this is your big night. You’ve worked months on the Legacy Ball, Vivian. Did you think I was going to miss it?”
Disbelief roused from its slumber, joining its cousins shock and frustration.
This is such a funny sentence
“I fucked up, Vivian. I said a lot of things I shouldn’t have, and I’m trying to make it right.”
Yes, I was forced into the engagement, but everything that happened afterward? Our dates, our talks, our trip to Paris…no one forced me to do those things. They were real. And I was stupid enough to think I could get over them or you when…”
“You’ve been gone less than a week and I already feel like I’ve spent an eternity in hell.”
!!! AHHH
“You’re wrong,” Dante said. “Something has changed. I thought I could live without you. That my vengeance meant more than my feelings for you. It took only a few days—hell, a few hours—to realize I can’t, and it doesn’t. I didn’t want to distract you while you were preparing for the ball, which is why I haven’t reached out earlier. But…” His throat worked with another swallow. “I love you, Vivian. More than I could ever hate your father. And more than I ever thought I was capable of.”
love you, too. Even after what you did. Even if I shouldn’t. I love you more than I could ever hate you.
SAY IT
“You and me,” Dante said. His eyes held mine. “For real this time. We can make it work. That is…if you want to.”
I loved the way his smiles peeked through his scowls. I loved how he kissed my shoulder every morning when I woke up. I loved his humor and intelligence, his strength and vulnerability, his thoughtfulness and ambition.
“Go on a date with me,” he said when I didn’t answer. “We’ll do anything you want. Even eat popcorn.”
“We’ve been on dates before.” “That was before. This is now.” His face softened. “Just one date. Please.”
“That’s six reasons,” Dante said. “I can work with six. I can even work with a thousand.”
“You don’t think we’re a good idea, but I’ll prove we are.” Determination lined his jaw, but his voice and lips were soft as they brushed my forehead. “Give me time, mia cara. That’s all I need, besides you.”
Mode de Vie had deemed it “one of the most exquisite balls in the institution’s history” in their Sunday style roundup, which meant I woke up that morning with even more messages crowding my inbox.
“I’m Dante, by the way.”
HEHEHEHEHE
“If not a date, then your number. I promise I won’t prank call you or send you inappropriate photos.” A wicked slant of his lips. “Unless you want them, of course.”
“Are you always this persistent with women you meet in a coffee shop?” “Only those I can’t stop thinking about,”
