He shrugged. “It was worth it in the end. Now, what the fuck are you doing standing around talking to me? Go get your man.” He turned me toward the exit and gave me a sportsy slap on the butt that somehow managed to be encouraging and not creepy.
I rushed down the stairs and jumped the last three like a maniac. My knee bounced with nervous energy the whole Uber ride there.
The driver dropped me off around the corner, unwilling to brave the crowd of people spilling onto the street. Of course I’d arrived just in time for the opening. I could hear Oren’s voice saying something about everyone’s hard work, but I couldn’t see him over the crowd.
“Excuse me, sorry, coming through,” I mumbled under my breath as I shuffled forward. The people present were a mixture of trust-fund types, business types, and regular Joes who’d noticed something going on and stopped to rubberneck.
I was just close enough to see between the gaps in the crowd as Caroline lifted a giant pair of scissors and cut a wide red silk ribbon hanging over the front doors. The onlookers clapped, and then chatter and movement spread throughout. The official part of the opening was done. Now the invited guests would be heading inside for champagne and canapés. I knew this because Oren had asked me for advice on which champagne to serve.
I had to get to him before he disappeared inside.
Squeezing between a guy wearing way too much aftershave and an overweight tourist with a fanny pack, I finally made it to the stretch of sidewalk right outside the front doors . . . just in time to see Oren disappear into the store. A perfectly tailored tan linen suit covered his broad shoulders, and his wavy hair was styled back, but that was all I could see before other nicely dressed people blocked my view.
By the time I reached the door, a security guy in sunglasses was pulling it closed.
“Excuse me.” I flashed the muscle a quick smile and tied to rush past him, holding my shoulders back and doing my best to look like I totally belonged there.
“Whoa.” His beefy hand went to my abdomen and stopped me in my tracks. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Inside,” I said, as if it were obvious.
“Are you on the list? What’s your name?” He held up a clipboard with his free hand. Dammit! Oren had probably made sure I was not on that list.
“I don’t know,” I lied. “I know the Winthrops, OK? I just need to speak with Oren.”
He looked me up and down and raised an eyebrow. Everyone inside was in clothing that cost my yearly wage, and I stood on the other side of the glass in hot-pink pants and an obnoxious T-shirt. He had a point, but it was still rude.
“I’m gonna have to ask you to step back, ma’am.” He put a bit of pressure on my abdomen, where his hand was still holding me at bay.
“Look, dude, I’m trying to do some epic shit here, OK? I just need to talk to the guy. So can you just do me a solid and—”
“What’s going on here?” A feminine voice drew both our attention. Vanessa stood halfway out the door, one hand on the ornate handle. Her dark hair was pulled back in a sleek style, her tall frame draped in a deep green wrap dress. She looked stunning, even as her eyes took me in from head to toe and she smirked.
“This lady is trying to come inside, but her name’s not on the list,” Sunglasses tattled on me.
Vanessa’s cruel smile widened, and she snickered. “Lady . . .” she muttered under her breath, as if the mere suggestion was hilarious.
I wanted to punch her in her perfectly straight nose, watch the blood stain that green silk. But I swallowed my pride. I had bigger fish to fry. “Vanessa, please.”
Before I could get the rest of my groveling out, Caroline appeared at Vanessa’s side. She pulled the door open the rest of the way and placed a hand on the security guy’s shoulder.
“Now, you don’t know who this is, young man,” she said sweetly, her perfectly made-up face tilting just slightly, “so I won’t have you fired today, but you’d best take your hand off this woman and let her come in.”
The beefy hand disappeared immediately, and the security guy stepped out of my way. “My apologies, ma’am.”
“That’s quite all right.” She patted him on the shoulder before nudging Vanessa out of the way to pull me in for a hug. The bitch gave me a disgusted sneer behind Caroline’s back and walked off without another word.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” she whispered before pulling away.
I nodded. “I’m going to try. I have to.”
She did a little fist pump, her eyes shining with excitement. “You picked a hell of a time.” She laughed.
“Yeah. I don’t do anything by halves.”
“I know. It’s why I love you.” She stepped to the side so we were shoulder to shoulder and pointed to the middle of the room. Oren stood surrounded by a handful of people, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass of champagne. His posture was relaxed, but his wide smile didn’t reach his eyes.
My stomach did a summersault. I wanted to run to him, shove bitches out of my way until I was in his arms. I also wanted to get the hell out of there, pack my shit, and pick another city where I could be no one and answer to no one again.
Oren looked up, and his gaze slammed into mine. Whatever he’d been saying died in his throat midsentence, and the people around him glanced in my direction, confused. Despite the shocked, disapproving look in his eyes, my feet only moved faster until I stood before him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. The tension in the air was drawing attention, people pausing their conversations to stare.
I resisted the urge to wring my hands and kept them in fists by my sides. I’d come all this way, fought to get to him, but I had no idea where to start.
Vanessa appeared at Oren’s elbow and leaned in, her small tits pressing against his arm. “Want me to have her removed?”
“I let her in.” Caroline appeared at my side, head held high, her voice confident. Vanessa slunk backward like a chastised toddler.
“Caroline.” There was a hint of a growl in Oren senior’s disapproving voice. “What is this? I do apologize for the interruption, everyone.” He smiled at the crowd around us, waving his champagne glass as if this were a silly mistake about the kind of canapés that had been served.
“Well, I don’t.” Caroline clasped her hands in front of herself and lifted her nose higher into the air. “I think it’s about time some things were interrupted.”
“What on earth . . .”
“Mother . . .”
“Oren, I can have security here in . . .”
“Excuse me, is there a problem . . .”
Everyone, including the security guys, started to speak over one another, causing a much bigger scene than my mere presence had. Every single person in the room now watched with rapt attention as voices and tempers flared.
I looked around in panic. Caroline and Oren senior were arguing. Oren wasn’t even looking at me anymore, his attention split between his parents and an annoyingly persistent Vanessa, who kept gesturing to me.
“Alex nearly died, and I love you!” I shouted over everyone.
The room went silent, all eyes on me now.
“What?” Oren frowned and took a step toward me. “Is Alexandria OK? What do you mean you love me?”
“Shit. I guess we’re doing this with an audience.” I took a deep breath. “Alex is going to be fine, but she was attacked last night, and she nearly died. It put some things in perspective for me. I know what we did was pretty messed up, and I’m sorry.” I looked around before focusing back on Oren. “I’m sorry to everyone who we deceived and hurt. But no one was supposed to even know. No one was supposed to get close enough to realize or care. And then I started to get to know you, and honestly, I didn’t even think my cold black heart was capable of it, but I fell in love with you, Oren Winthrop. Head over heels, hook line and sinker, every cheesy rom-com declaration you can think of in love with you. And since I’ve brought up rom-coms, I may as
well go full cheese here—I know I don’t fucking deserve it, deserve you, but I want the happily ever after.”
He stared at me with wide eyes for an uncomfortably long time, the expression on his face indecipherable. People started to shuffle and whisper. My heart started to shrivel up in my chest.
“Wait,” he finally said, holding a hand out and shaking his head in confusion. “You love me?”
“Come on, man. I did a whole speech, and you only listened to the first part.”
“It’s the only part that matters.”
Oren handed his champagne glass to Vanessa without even glancing at her. Then he stepped forward, cupped my cheeks, and kissed me.
My heart swelled. My ribcage wasn’t strong enough to contain it. Surely it was going to burst right out of my chest.
People clapped and cheered, but my full focus was on the man I loved.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and breathed in his expensive aftershave, reveled in the feeling of his soft lips against mine. He banded an arm around my back and kissed me like no one was watching, his tongue in my mouth, his hard body flush with mine.
After a severe throat clearing from Oren senior, we pulled apart, breaking into goofy grins, but held each other close.
“I thought you didn’t care,” he whispered against my lips, pain palpable in his words. “I thought it was just a bit of fun, an easy payday, that I was just a joke to you. I thought I’d fallen in love with you and you were laughing about it the whole time.”
I kissed his pain away before answering. “I didn’t set out to fall in love with you, but I didn’t set out to hurt you either. Then I went and did both. I’ve been a fucking mess this whole time. I’ve missed you so much.”
We rocked from side to side, completely wrapped up in each other, as conversation resumed around us, glasses clinked, music played.
“So it’s Antoinette, right?” He chuckled.
“Yes.” I grinned. “You can call me Toni.”
Thirty
Alex
One year later.
The song Ren was playing on his guitar slowed, coming to an end as people chatted in their seats.
I turned to face my sister. “Ready?”
“Fuck yeah.” She grinned.
“You’re not nervous at all?” I did one last check of her veil, making sure the ivory tulle fell down the back of the midnight-blue dress in a perfect cascade. The Adelia emerald and matching earrings complemented the dress perfectly.
“Nah.” She shrugged. “I think, deep down, I knew I wanted this from the moment I met him. Hey, sorry I stole your wedding and your groom.”
We both laughed. “He was never mine.”
Someone asked the guests to stand, and Ren began to play an original he’d written just for this occasion.
I started to turn, but Toni clasped my hand. “I love you, Alex.”
Not for the first and certainly not for the last time that day, I got teary-eyed. “I love you too, Toni.”
We shared a look full of emotion, and then she squeezed my hand and let go. “Go. You’re gonna make me late to my own wedding.”
I chuckled and started walking down the aisle, my hands clasped around the simple bouquet of white peonies from Mom’s garden. My dress was a knee-length white cocktail number with large midnight-blue roses all over it. Toni’s was floor-length dark raw silk, almost iridescent in the afternoon sun.
The late-spring weather was perfect for the occasion, the vineyard verdant and vibrant, the rolling hills of our family legacy a perfect backdrop.
I smiled at familiar faces as I passed the standing guests.
Various Zamorano family members and distant cousins were in attendance, but no one from Preston’s branch of the family dared show their faces. After trying to kill me, the bastard had managed to survive. His lengthy recovery had been followed by a lengthy trial. He was convicted of my father’s murder, Toni’s kidnapping, and my attempted murder and was now serving a very long sentence.
On the other side of the aisle were some of the loyal Zamorano Wines staff. With the money Caroline had given Toni, we were able to pay off all the business’s debts, hire a good wealth manager, and future-proof the winery with better, smarter investments.
Toni’s friends from college looked excited and a little wide-eyed—we hadn’t spared any expense for this wedding. Toni was in her first year at USF and planned to major in animal science, then start up an animal rescue nonprofit after she graduated. I already had a patch of property on the winery picked out. It was going to be my birthday present to her next month.
She’d moved to California when classes started, and since the Winthrops had jewelry stores all over the world, it wasn’t too much of an effort for Oren to move his base of operations to San Francisco. They were both close enough to drive to the winery for lunch or dinner at least once per week.
Near the front, Loretta and Dennis were clasping hands and crying. Dennis had proven to be a hardworking and very capable young man, and Andre had made him manager of the Cottonmouth Inn—after Loretta turned it down, saying she was “too old for that shit” and declaring she was retiring.
Andre was in the process of preparing the Cottonmouth Inn for sale. We planned to open a restaurant on the winery, and Andre was going to run it.
In the front rows sat Oren’s parents and some of Oren’s family, as well as George and Andre. My gruff, tall, dark, and handsome man looked good enough to eat in a gray suit and red shirt that popped against his dark skin. He flashed me a brilliant smile, then flicked his eyes down my body and gave a lascivious wink.
My smile widened; I was glad I’d picked a shorter, strapless dress—easy access from the top and bottom. I’d been so busy making sure Toni and Oren’s day was perfect I’d hardly had time to see my men for the past week. As soon as the formal parts of the evening were done, I planned on sneaking away with them for a bit of three-way action in the cellar.
Ren was seated to the side of the archway, which was decorated in vines and flowers. He wore black pants and a black vest over a simple white shirt. But nothing about Renshaw Pratt was ever simple. An inappropriate number of buttons were left undone at the top, ink and leather necklaces peeking out, and his rolled-up sleeves revealed his lithe forearms as he made love to the acoustic guitar in his lap.
The first time Oren heard Ren’s band perform, he got on the phone to some college buddy who had connections in the music world. It came as no surprise to any of us when they got themselves an agent and a recording deal. The Thousand Lies’ first world tour would be kicking off in a few months. Andre and I were planning to join him for certain legs of it—sometimes just one of us, sometimes both. All three of us were making compromises to make sure we could be together, but we all supported each other’s dreams and goals, so we were making it work. Plus, the sex was phenomenal!
Toni had started her walk down the aisle, everyone oohing and aahing at her ethereal appearance, but Ren had eyes only for me. He’d written the song for the ceremony, but I felt like I was the only one he was playing to.
I had to tear my gaze away from his as I passed Mom. She was standing two-thirds of the way down the aisle, waiting to take Toni the rest of the way.
My sister had wanted to walk herself down the aisle—she was independent in so many ways, and this was no exception—but one week out from the big day, she’d asked Mom to walk with her for the last section. “I was taken from you a long time ago, but maybe on my wedding day you can stand with me as I give myself to the man I love?” Toni had asked. Mom promptly burst into tears and agreed. I had no idea Toni could be that sentimental and cracked a joke about a head injury. I guess we were both rubbing off on each other.
Toni still never referred to Mom as “Mom,” and I didn’t think she ever would. But their relationship was growing every day. Mom now had two children to obsessively call on a daily basis. One would’ve thought this would mean the calls would be shorter, but they weren’t.
I shared a smile with my mother and finished my slow walk, coming to a stop near the archway.
Oren gave me a quick smile before he looked back at the aisle. Toni looked stunning, but I always loved to watch the groom at weddings as the bride walked up.
He stood with his feet planted, his hands clasped in front of himself, his shoulders relaxed. He was in a cream suit, a single tight peony pinned to his lapel. His handsome face looked calm, but his eyes gave him away. They were full of emotion, full of love for her.
Toni reached my mom, and they took the last few steps together before Mom took her seat and Toni handed her bouquet to me. Dad’s favorite pair of cufflinks pinged against Toni’s parents’ wedding rings where they all hung off the bottom of the flowers—her way of acknowledging those who couldn’t be here.
When she took Oren’s hands, everyone sat down, and Ren stopped playing.
The ceremony was short and relaxed, nontraditional and full of laughter. Oren even made a joke, pretending to accidentally say my name instead of Toni’s.
At the reception, we danced under an open marquee draped in fairy lights and drank some of our best wine. It felt intimate, despite over three hundred people being in attendance.
As the music changed to a mellow song, I snagged Toni’s hand before Oren could pull her into another sickeningly sweet slow dance. I placed my hands on her waist and she put hers on my shoulders, and we swayed like a couple of teens at a prom.
“When you first saw me in that disgusting alleyway, could you ever have imagined this is where we’d end up?” I asked.
She grinned. “Not in a million years. But I’m sure as hell glad it played out like it did. Other than the whole attempted murder shit, of course.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Of course. And the whole devastating heartbreak bit when the truth came out.”
“Eh.” She shrugged. “Pain is a part of life.”
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