Page 51 of Sweet Wicked Vows
The feel of his bones beneath my touch—it was too tempting not to break them.
He went to speak, but I twisted his wrist sharply. “Don’t make a sound. Just listen, or I’ll break it. You so much as look atmy wifeagain, and I will enjoy cutting your shriveled dick off and feeding it to you.”
He swallowed loudly. “I didn’t…”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear you speak.” I silenced him with another twist. “You ever come near her again, and I’ll kill you. And trust me, I’ll take great pleasure in doing so. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“Good,” I snarled, letting him go. “Get the fuck out of here before I shove that camera so far up your ass that your shits will have their own paparazzi.”
He ran away with his tail between his legs.
Silence fell over the room, everyone turning to the raised platform, where the silver and black frosted wedding cake sat, to watch Evelyn and Flynn wheel their father up.
“Time for the most important speech a father can make in his life,” Lexington’s voice echoed throughout the gallery. He sounded stronger. How much pain relief did they have to pump him with? “When Evelyn first told me…”
I stopped focusing, unable to look away from Evelyn standing at her father’s side. Tears frosted her eyes as she held his hand, her strong demeanor crumbling with each loving and doting word.
This was the moment I’d been waiting for. Lexington was about to relinquish total control to his daughter, and hand meeverything I needed to take him down.
Yet, I couldn’t think straight.
Curiosity was a killer of a thing. It worked its way under my skin and buried itself deep into my ribcage so that with each breath, all I could feel was the stabbing of another man’s name.
Laurence.
I knew she was engaged before I came into her life, but I was unaware what transpired between them. Was she still in love with him? Was she truly heartbroken when she married me? Did she not realize that the wedding ring on her hand now meant she was mine?
More importantly, why did I care so fucking much?
Chapter Sixteen
Somewhere between congratulating us on our marriage, my father did exactly what I expected and turned the speech into a retirement one.
Not exactly how I pictured my father-of-the-bride speech to go.
Then again, none of what was happening was how I pictured my life going.
Maybe I should have done more to stop Laurence from leaving. I thought we were happy, that we were on track to spend the rest of our lives together. We talked about it plenty of times. We discussed our white-picket-fence lives with four or five blonde and red-haired children that he wanted more than anything else.
He used to say how excited he was to start a family with me.
The week before he ended it, he told me he wanted to start a family immediately. Maybe it was my reaction that scared him off. I told him I wasn’t quite ready for that, but I was open to discussing it again in a few years.
I believed him when he told me that he was okay with that. I believed him when he said we had all the time in the world, and he’d wait a couple years because we had forever together.
The following week, he walked through my door and handed me a box of my things.
So much for forever.
“It comes with a heavy heart to say that as of the first ofSeptember, I will be stepping down as CEO ofReynolds Regality Jewels.It’s not been an easy decision. However, I know that my company and my entire life’s work is being left in capable hands.” He was getting weaker, his breathing more unsteady. “My daughter and son will be finally doing what they were born to do.”
Born to do?
I was as much born into being a CEO of a company as I was born into being a damn koala bear.
“Flynn, my son, will step into the role as the new CEO when he graduates from NYU next year,” he kept talking. “Whereas, my darling daughter, Evie, will act as interim CEO as of Monday. She is the shining jewel of my life, and I know my legacy, ladies and gentlemen, is safe in her hands.”