The bane of my existence came striding into the room. We shifted to the side automatically. To let her by or just make sure she didn't accidentally touch us, take your pick. Probably both.
"What is she doing here?" I asked slowly and with absolute venom.
Dante's arm wrapped around me, and he gripped my shoulder firmly.
Preemptively holding me back, of course.
Because he knew me.
"Hear me out," Bastian said, ever reasonable.
I glanced at him. He'd earned at least some of my trust, so even with her in the room, I was willing to let him explain. I nodded my assent.
Tiffany seemed particularly pleased with herself. Preening. Yes, that was the word. She was preening as she walked across the room to stand beside Bastian.
Her smile grew when she laid her eyes on Dante. "Nice to see you, Dante," she began.
I hated the way she looked at him, still with such warm interest. Still with frank infatuation. Even knowing everything had been fake between them, I still wanted to spit at her, to shout in her face, break her nose again.
I felt Dante stiffen at my back. "Fuck you, Tiffany," he growled back.
Well, hell. This was all going to go downhill pretty damn fast if I was supposed to be the calm one here.
Leo started giggling.
"Shut up, Leo!"
"Shut up, Leo." Dante and Bastian both said, which almost made me smile.
Leo shut up. For good measure, Bastian took away his drink and made him a cup of black coffee, ordering him to finish it.
"But I like it with milk," Leo complained, sounding like a whiny child.
"Shut up and drink." Even Bastian was losing patience with him.
"Tiffany has kindly agreed to switch sides," Bastian explained when he was finished tending to his father, making it sound like it was the most reasonable topic in the world. "And as she has been very firmly entrenched in Adelaide's camp for many years, and holds many, many of her secrets, this is very good news for us."
I glared at her. I just didn't believe it. Not for one second.
"Why?" Dante asked, sounding as suspicious as I felt. "Why would she turn on Adelaide?" He looked at Tiffany. "Why now? After all this time? After all of the vile things you've done for her?" Disgust was dripping from every word he addressed at her directly.
The look she gave him was filled with vulnerable reproach and even that made me want to do her violence. I was not okay with her looking at him with any personal thing written on her face. She wasn't entitled to any of that.
I owned him and she didn't. She fucking didn't.
"Since I was young I thought I would marry you," she told him, sounding sad and sweet, and like she'd fucking rehearsed it.
Dante's arm tightened around me.
Because he knew me.
"I was told I would, and I let myself want that, let myself fall for you, always thinking you were my future. You were promised to me."
Dante had both arms around me at this point, in a firm hold disguised as an affectionate bear hug. Or maybe it was both.
"You're delusional," he told her disdainfully.
"Promised to me," she repeated, tears in her eyes. "I was planning our wedding when I was fifteen. I even had the dress picked out. The jewelry. The shoes. Since I can remember, Adelaide promised me I'd be a Durant. You were never supposed to fall in love with her." She pointed an accusing finger at me. "And you certainly weren't supposed to stay in love with her. You were promised to me."
I was about done with that. I looked at Bastian, whose steady eyes were on me. "Is there a point to this?"
"Unfortunately, yes." He sounded resigned. Tired beyond his years. "It is our solution. Continue, Tiffany."
She sent him a teary smile. "You can call me Fanny."
Barf.
He didn't even roll his eyes. "Continue, Fanny."
"She promised me this, and I wanted it more than anything. She held it over my head, year after year, scheme after scheme. You wouldn't believe the things I did for her, all for this promise."
I was pretty sure we would, but I kept my mouth shut. I just wanted her to finish.
"And then it happened. I was engaged to him. But it only lasted six months, and it wasn't even real." Tears were pouring down her face, and silly or not, they were real. "But she told me to be patient, that she'd fix that too. But he wouldn't even kiss me."
"I told you then," Dante said with chilling animosity, "and I'll tell you now. I was never attracted to you. Far from it. Kissing you would be like kissing my mother."
She flinched but kept talking. "It's only recently that I realized that Adelaide is just keeping me on a string. She can't deliver the things she's promised me. If I want to be a Durant, I need to do it myself."
I was staring at her, my face stiff, expression filled with hate. I opened my mouth, to say what, I hadn't a clue, something bad, when Bastian spoke.
"Tiffany," he began.
"Fanny," she interrupted.
He merely nodded. "Fanny here knows things about Adelaide that would make your skin crawl. She's been a close confidante for quite some time.