“Victoria? What a coincidence!” Jade’s voice is syrupy sweet as she turns to the asshole who dared try and strike my woman. That’s all it takes for me to realize why Linda’s voice struck me as familiar. “Carl, how does it feel to see your abandoned, useless ex-fiancée?”
I’m about to lose it, but Anna places a hand on my shoulder and blinks at me and her daughter. “What? Abandoned? What do you mean ex-fiancée?”
Victoria
Before I can explain a single thing to my mom, Jade gasps theatrically.
“Oh my gosh, Victoria didn’t tell you?” My frenemy is all false shock. “Although, when you hear what happened, I guess it’s not exactly a surprise she kept it to herself.”
I suck in a breath in an attempt to steel myself from what’s coming next, my heart turning into a fragile glass ball that’s about to break all over again.
“Carl used to be her boyfriend, but now he’s my fiancé. And we’re tying the knot. On Christmas.”
Unfortunately, knowing the life-giving organ in my chest was going to shatter doesn’t stop it from hurting like a bitch. And seriously, they had to choose the same freaking day? Hadn’t they taken enough?
Gossip spreads so quickly in my small town, too.
This can’t be happening.
My mom turns to me, confusion creasing her forehead, and I so hate to disappoint her. “Victoria, what’s going on? Aren’t you with Simon?”
“Mom, I’ll…” While I open my mouth to insist I can explain, the painful truth lodges in my throat.
Luckily Simon saves the day again, the firm arm around my shoulders keeping me from spinning out.
“She’s with me,” he says, so simply and yet it echoes through me so profoundly.
Carl scoffs, disregarding me so easily, and I hate that it makes me feel like nothing.
But his words as he struts like a peacock for his new mother-in-law to be are even worse. “That’s right. Victoria was the ugly duckling I threw away.
He’s willing to do for Jade what he constantly refused to do for me, and damn it, it stings.
“She’s nothing but a useless server,” he says, and I flinch as though slapped.
My pulse thunders in my ears, humiliation burning beneath my skin. Every single person in this restaurant is watching-some whispering, others just staring.
I’ve worked so hard, clawed my way out of every hole Carl put us in. Yet here I am, letting him rip me apart like I’m insignificant.
“Enough!” The bold word slices through the air with the harsh edge I meant to come along with it. With Simon at my side, I feel stronger and more secure. If only it’d prevent my voice from shaking with a strange mix of sorrow and fury. “Are you here to eat or just to feel superior?”
Jade’s always been a mean girl and undoubtedly will be forever. I wish I could wipe that smirk off her face. It makes me so angry that one of my own family members could relish in my discomfort like that.
“You’re absolutely right,” she says. “People like you don’t deserve to dine at this restaurant. You should be serving me, not sitting at my table.”
“Exactly. People like them are the ones who cook and clean for people like us.” Linda, who’s only ever been an aunt to me in name, lifts her wrist and gestures to her blingy bracelet. “See this? My son-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. It’s worth thousands, and I bet you’re scrimping and saving just to afford a meal here.”
My hands ball into fists beneath the table, the injustice of it all burning deep within me.
“That’s enough,” I say, unable to contain my frustration any longer, nor should I have to.
Simon stands up slowly, placing a steadying hand on my shoulder. He glares at Linda, Jade, and Carl with unadulterated disgust, unruffled by their barrage of insults and unkind words. “You’re bragging about a simple meal and a cheap bracelet?”
I’d point out that a bracelet worth thousands wasn’t cheap, but I’ve never seen Simon look so scary before. Like he could end them without a second thought. After exuding nothing but warmth and understanding, it’s utterly unexpected.
I’m not going to lie, I’m also completely and utterly turned on by it.
They go silent as he levels his steely expression at them. Even if only for a moment, that in and of itself feels like a miracle. I’ve let their negative chatter-Linda’s, Jade’s, and especially Carl’s-fill my head for far too long.
With deliberate ease, as though he has all the time in the world, Simon reaches into the pocket of his jeans. He withdraws a set of keys, placing them on the table in front of my mom with a light clink. “Mrs. Barron, here’s the Christmas gift I got you.”
Wait. Is that a Ferrari emblem?
Now I had an entirely different question that had nothing to do with the idiots opposite us- who the hell was I engaged to?
Simon
Victoria turns to me, a gorgeous storm of anxiety and curiosity, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right.
Anything to make her forget that people like her ex, aunt, and cousin don’t deserve to be around anyone with a pure and compassionate soul like Victoria.
Snagging hold of my hand, she peers up at me as though seeing me for the first time. “Simon, what’s going on?”
I bend and lock eyes with her as I whisper, “I’ll explain later.”
Meanwhile, the hecklers who’ve disturbed our nice morning are exchanging stunned, gaping glances.
Jade bounces back the fastest, contempt roiling beneath the surface. “A Ferrari? Yeah, right. Do you know how much that car costs? Stop pretending to be something you’re not.”
Carl scoffs, his whiney, nasally voice like nails on a chalkboard. “Even
I don’t drive a car like that. Why don’t you and your fantasies get lost? Victoria’s just a lowly burger joint waitress, and that’s all she’ll ever be.”
If this guy was even half as important as he thought he was, it’d be a huge step up.
“There’s no way she could land a high-status guy. He’s clearly a fraud.”
Linda gives a condescending giggle, and I see where the asshole got it from.
“I get it now,” she says. “Your whole family’s trying to be something they’re not. Y’all country bumpkins have your quaint, small-town ways, but Jade and I move in higher circles.”
She fiddles with the zipper on her designer bag, purposely drawing attention to it. “We were raised to experience the finer things in life-it’s not something you can simply buy your way into.”
“It’s why your daughter just can’t compete with my darling Jade,” Linda says, and her daughter preens. “Some people are just destined to admire wealth from a distance.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.