“Well, it all just kind of happened.” I sipped my tea and looked around. This was the kind of place I usually felt totally out of touch with. Hipsters with their tight pants and thick glasses, business men and women sitting down for a cup of coffee after work. Hell, I imagined even upscale people came in. It wasn’t for me.
“Oh, Joanna, I thought that was you, I saw you from the window and just had to come in.” Claire’s voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
I turned in my seat to see her waving at me a small bag in her hand.
“Oh, don’t peak in the bag, it’s part of your bridal shower gift. I thought I would shop myself instead of sending someone.” She grinned. “A low key surprise wedding! You could’ve told me at the dinner, I hated making a fool of myself.”
“I’m sorry?” I asked.
“The bridal shower invitations came this morning, special delivery. Wedding invitations to follow. I assume you’ve hired Mary Fitzgerald to do all the work? She runs the prettiest little florist shop down in Fells, but her real talent lies with wedding planning. It makes perfect sense.”
“I-” I stammered.
“What Joanna means to say is, ‘Hi, this is my best friend in all the world, Willa.’ She’s just a bit of a forgetful bridezilla these days,” Willa extended a hand.
“Ooh, I like you.”
“Now, what about this bridal shower?” she asked.
“I guess they didn’t invite any of my family or friends yet,” I said. The truth was I knew nothing about this, I had no idea what was happening.
“Oh, here, take my invite, I already have it written in my calendar,” she handed the note over to us.
It was gorgeous. Pretty and antique, with a lace accent just like my gown.
“Wow, these must’ve been a fortune, and to get them printed up so quickly?”
“Express delivered. Very mysterious and classy if you ask me,” Claire chimed in.
I could feel my world starting to close in around me. This was all real. Oh god. It was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“You’ll have to give Mary a call, let her know your contacts,” Claire said. “I’ll text you later a good day for lunch, hon. Congratulations. Again.” I nodded as she stepped out of the shop and back on to the street. Mary had called three times today already, but I let it go to voicemail. I was too conflicted to answer it.
“Do you even know who you were talking to?” Willa asked.
“Claire. Some woman I met at a party a few days ago, why?” I asked.
“Clare Morgan is one of the most influential women in the entire city. She’s a designer and a damn good one. We do business with her company.” Willa ran ads in the Baltimore-DC metro area. She was actually exceptionally good at it.
Chapter Fourteen
Joanna
Willa’s words pounded in my head. You are staying with him for a reason, Jo. It’s not like you to do anything you don’t want to. So what is it?
I told myself it was because my uncle was threatening me, my father. But he would never hurt us, would he? I didn’t believe that.
Could it be that I was staying with him for his soft smile, or the pain behind his eyes, or the anger in his voice when anyone threatened me? He was strong, and protective, and he looked at me with a fire like no one else had ever done. Those eyes saw into my soul and they melted me, the deep greys and greens of them swirling and mixing and oh so deep.
He was sexy, and he was powerful and it turned me on.
But was it more than that? I buried my head in my hands. It was practically spinning.
My phone buzzed. It was probably Mary finalizing details. I’d called her on my way home from the teashop, but she said she would chat with me later about it.
“Hello?” I said into the phone. I didn’t even look at the number.
“Ah, niece. Glad to hear your voice.”
My blood ran cold, it was Dennis.
“Are you somewhere you can talk?” he asked.
“I’m at the penthouse. Alone.” It was lonely when he wasn’t here, so I couldn’t be closer to the truth.
“Good.” I could hear the smile in his voice and it made me shiver. My uncle wasn’t an archetypical evil person, at least not in my opinion, but I was starting to get a more and more negative view of him. “What information do you have for me?”
“Information?”
“About the family. What can you tell me about their weaknesses? The way they operate.”
I sighed. I knew he wanted this from me, but I just wasn’t ready to start giving him information. To begin with, I didn’t really have anything of value, but it also just felt wrong.
“I don’t-“
“The only way this little arrangement is going to work is if you give me the information I need, Jo.”
“I don’t even want this arrangement,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. The emotion of the forced wedding, of my feelings for Greyson. It was all too much. I couldn’t control the tears that were falling from my face any more than I could control my fate. “I don’t know anything.”
“No matter how small, it could prove helpful.”
“I dunno. His parents fight, his sisters are quiet. One of them never even came home for dinner. Then there is his half-brother.”