The Wrong Fiancée: Dean's Story (Marriage by Contract, #3)

by Maya Alden

sacrificed her future to help her sister. I admired that. I'd do the same in a heartbeat for my brothers. And, yet, I'd seen her as a

loser college dropout. "Noe isn't nice to Eli...

"Wait a minute," I said as something Theo mentioned clicked. "She was studying art history?"

Had she told me that before? I couldn’t remember—probably because I hadn’t bothered paying attention. Too busy being a douchebag,

making snap judgments about her supposed lack of ambition or drive. "Yeah," Theo laughed. "She used to ...

"Yeah," Theo laughed. "She used to get into these...

with Sam and Felicity back when they still talked. A lot of the time, she knew more than they did. Sam was so pro...

hate her more. Elika was always fascinated by island-based art. She once told me she wanted to curate exhibiti...

art and island ...

All the while, I'd thought she wasn't my intellectu...

I was finding out that she was working in the same field as me or had wanted to until her dreams had disappear...

When I got to their table, for a moment, no one noticed me. I mean, who noticed their server—not these rich haoles. I

couldn't wait for the fun to begin. Ginny would throw her influence around. Felicity would pout. Uncle Sam would be uncomfortable

because his spine was soft. Rebecca and Michael would ignore me, while their daughter Cristin wou...

smile, trying to make nice, and Dean…well, who the hell ...

When people threw barbs at me, pain seared through me mostly because it was

confirmation of what I already knew—I was simply not good enough and would never be. I'd always be a failure and never reach my dreams. I'd keep

working to take care of a sister who'd never appreciate me. I'd keep working in hotels at the bottom of the food ch...

art and working in th...

I took the drinks orders

and sent Makai, our Sommelier, to the table. He obviously knew the Thatchers and groaned. No one liked Ginny or Felicity.

Didn't it get exhausting to keep so much anger and bitterness inside

her? I wondered. There was a rot inside Ginny, I knew, this insidious need to constantly feel better by making others feel bad. Noe had some

of that. Felic...

"Leave and don't come back. We have nothing

to talk about. I don't want your money. I never wanted Uncle Sam's money. I've never asked anyone for anything. And if Ginny or Uncle Sam say

otherwise, remind them that when my father asked for help while Mama was dying of breast cancer, Uncle Sam s...

wouldn’t because it would make Ginny mad. Oh, and do let him know how great it was to have Ginny come to t...

dying to tell her she was a whore who slept with her husband. These are the people you’re marrying into. Congra...

the way—you’ll fit right in with the shallow ass...

According to Dante—who,

I was never

going to marry Felicity. Elika, he said, was simply the catalyst that forced me to realize it sooner rather than later. "My parents like Fee," I protested.

"Didn't your parents also like Bianca?" Dante...

I shrugged. "Felicity is like us." "Define us," Dante challenged. "In the art world. She has a PhD from an Ivy League. Is⁠—"

"Isn't Duncan's wife a baker? Is she too dumb for Duncan?" Dante interrupted me. "Don't talk about Elsa like that; she's fantastic," I immediately

"Don't talk about Elsa like that; she...

"But she doesn't have a PhD."

"Why don't you just say what you want to say?" "You're a snob. When it comes to who you

should have as a life partner, you lead with complete and total in...

Everyone at Hale Moana was getting a little tired of the complaints from Ginny and Felicity about everything. Leilani took great pleasure

in telling Ginny that I was not cleaning their bungalows, so it looked like the new person cleaning was having the same problems as me—which

which was her way of saying, "Stop bitching and m...

"I have a lot of…ah…money." She laughed without humor. "Yeah, I found

out when I researched you after you left that thousand dollars for me, like I was a hooker. I wanted to find a way to send it back to you. But

I couldn't even do that. Daddy's accident happened shortly after, and I needed that money. So…maybe you were rig...

dollars and a few dinners for two week...

"Elika," I choked her name out. "It wasn't like that." "Please, D...

it. You left money with a note saying you enjoyed my company. You cannot be so dense as to not see...

"I can pay for her rehab, Elika." "Of course, you can. You're rich, but you may not because she's my sister, and I can take care of her." I stopped