Tears that should have probably shown up before now streamed down my face. I wasn’t crying for Kit. No, it was because my father was yelling. I’d never been able to abide being screamed at. It was almost automatic for me to weep just from the raised voice alone, forget what they were saying to me altogether.
“You are going to pay me back for this.”
I didn’t understand. “How am I going to do that?”
“Dad.” Bridget sat down next to me, drawing me against her. “Stop it. I’m personally relieved that she didn’t marry that asshole. Kit is a piece of shit.”
He ignored her. “You have ruined me, and I am done with you. Forget your life. As of this moment, you are cut off. Live, die. I don’t care. Your security? Your checking account? It’s all over. Layla Radford, you are now the nothing you’ve always been.”
“No,” Hope yelled next to him. “You can’t do this to her.”
The trouble was that he could, and I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do.
Chapter Two
“Father.” Justin approached. Dad had always preferred him. The son he’d wanted before he got saddled with triplet girls and no wife to raise them. “Maybe we should calm down.”
My father threw his head back. “This could ruin me. Calm down. Layla, every cent of this disaster will be on your shoulders until you pay me back. I hope you like that bench. You’ll be sleeping on it.”
“No, she’s not.” Hope’s cheeks flushed red. “We won’t let you do that to her. She’ll stay with me or with Bridget. You’re not putting her out on the street because she didn’t want to marry a man she’s not in love with. Kit isn’t worth her spit. Not with her kind heart. Just no.”
He pointed at Hope and then at Bridget. “If you two interfere in this, then you’re cut off, too.”
I gasped. No, I wouldn’t allow that. Hope and Bridget were worth ten of me. They were smart, brilliant. I wouldn’t take away their opportunities. No, that couldn’t happen.
“I’m sure we can work this out.” Justin smiled, a tight lifting of his cheeks.
“The only way this works out is if she comes back to me on her knees begging. And even then, she’ll pay back every cent she owes me for this farce. You’re on your own, Layla. I’m done with you. Your credit cards are closed. I’m taking my money out of your bank account. We’ll call it paying off your tab.” With a long look he glared at my siblings. “You have five minutes to say your goodbyes. Or you’re done, too.”
He stormed into his car, leaving Michael Li to stand there staring at us. His people had guarded us for almost a decade. Although my father had declared himself done with me, it would seem Michael wasn’t quite sure what to do. Did he leave us there or go with my father? His gaze halted on the bench, and he changed his stance, broadening how he took up space in the world. I guessed he didn’t mean to leave.
I rubbed at my face. This was just like me. I made a rash decision, and now everyone was going to suffer. This was going to be exactly like the time I’d wanted to sneak out to go see that concert in Central Park and we’d all been grounded because of it. No, I could do better this time.
“You guys need to go.”
Bridget shook her head. “We’re not leaving you here on this bench to be homeless. He can go…suck a duck.”
I stared at her a long second before Hope and I both cracked up. Suck a duck? English was our first—and in my case only—language, but sometimes, I could hear our nannies in her expressions. That one was one of our first nannies. Her name had been Nadia, and she’d lived with us when we temporarily resided in Monaco. That had been the years Dad had been looking for a better tax haven. I hadn’t understood that then. I’d just thought it was stunningly beautiful, and I’d loved the views from my bedroom every morning.
Nadia used to say that. I put my head in my hands, laughter fleeing abruptly. “You’ve worked too hard to do this. I’ll go beg. That’s what he wants, that’s what he’ll get.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” Justin knelt down in front of me. “If you do that, there is no coming back from it. Trust me. But we’re not just going to leave you here, either.” Justin rubbed his nose. His eyes were red. I knew this look well from Kit. My former fiancé had taught me the signs well, and even in the midst of this personal crisis, I couldn’t help but have my heart clench as I stared at my big brother. When had it gotten this bad? Justin slipped something into my hand. “That is my debit card. Use it to take a taxi to the Hotel des Oiseaux.”
Hope scrunched up her nose. “Birds. The hotel of birds?”
He waved his hand at her. “It’s very exclusive, and she’ll see when she gets there… Yes, there are birds. Never mind that right now. It’s in the seventh arrondissement. You’ll be fine if you get there and wait for me.” He rose. “In the meantime, you two go back to the hotel where her stuff is and retrieve it before he thinks to have it thrown out. Her cell phone. Her wallet. They’re probably at the venue where she was dressing, but the passport will be at the hotel. Hurry about it.”
Bridget jumped up. “I’m going to have to ride in the car with him to go do that.”
“We all are.” Justin sighed. “If we don’t go with him, he’ll find a way to make this even harder on her.”
I couldn’t believe my brother was taking control like this. It was so not like him to do this. Justin was always pretty removed emotionally from whatever was happening with all of us. “Layla, wait for us to leave. Get a taxi and meet me there. I’ll take care of you. Okay?”
I wiped at my eyes. That was so nice of him, so unexpected. Bridget shook her head at me. She didn’t understand it either. Next to me, Hope squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll take care of everything and meet you there.”
“Thank you.” I wiped my eyes again.
Justin put out his hand. “I’ll take the ring.”
Maybe my head was just too fogged up after everything, but I had no idea what he was talking about. “The ring?”
“On your finger. You left Kit at the altar. You’re going to need to return that. I’ll do it for you.”
He was right. I did need to return the ring. Fuck. I hadn’t thought anything about that. With shaking hands from the adrenaline in my system, I pulled the ring off my finger and handed it to Justin. When he would have pulled his hand away, I held it there. “Hold on. This, too.”
The tennis bracelet Kit had given me needed to be returned to him as well. He stared at the bracelet for a long moment before he closed his hand around the diamonds I’d placed there. “I wish things were different, Layla. Please remember that.”
“You’re helping me so much. Thank you.” I’d really never be able to show Justin how much I appreciated this.
Hope shifted in her seat. “Right. Very surprising, big brother.”
“Come on.” He nodded toward the car. “Just get to the hotel.”
Kissing my cheek, Hope smiled. “We’ll fix it.”