Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“She is worth any price.” I hit my chest. “Me, I should be paying it. Olivia should not be paying this price for me. She is innocent.”
“Your sister will be fine. We will get her from the DuBois boy, and she will survive.”
“She is ruined.” I looked disbelievingly at my father. “She built a career of her own, and now because of my actions, if this gets out, she will be destroyed.”
“It’s just business. Your sister will understand. Sure, it will impact that stupid hobby rag of hers, but it won’t matter. Our focus should be on figuring out how to stop this from impacting the Manwarring businesses.” The casual way those words left my father’s mouth floored me.
This was his daughter. Her virtue was taken, and her business was going to be in shambles if these photos leaked. And he was treating it as any other inconvenience, just another day and any other attack on the Manwarring name.
I couldn’t fathom how he could be so cold to his own daughter, watching as he sat and stared at his phone with a casual detachment. My stomach turned when the realization hit.
Had this happened to Olivia before Amelia came into my life, I would have been just as cold.
I would have still been enraged, but not because I was worried for my sister. It would have been because Marksen had made a move against me and my family, my property.
Amelia was the reason I felt this so deeply and why I was terrified for my baby sister.
If it wasn’t for my wife, I doubted I would have seen Olivia as a person in trouble instead of an asset at risk of losing value.
My father didn’t deserve my disappointment in his reaction. He deserved my pity. Maybe if my mother was still alive, it would be different, but I doubted it.
Olivia’s safety and the protection of her reputation had to be my first priorities. Everything else had to come second for me because they weren’t even on my father’s radar.
“DuBois isn’t going to kill her or anything. She’ll be fine, and she will understand. Our reputation can be saved by admitting her to some inpatient facility and saying she is getting treatment. We will leave her there for as long as it takes for the media to forget about her. Then we will marry her off. Problem solved. In the meantime, we need to consider getting the other one married before the scandal hits and she loses some of her value as well.”
“Charlotte.” I rubbed my eyes as I intoned it. “The ‘other one’s’ name is Charlotte.”
“Yes, yes, whatever.” He waved me off dismissively.
“No, if this comes out and we are in the middle of making a deal for Charlotte, it will taint that arrangement and lower her value as a commodity.” I felt nauseous talking about my sister like this, but if I didn’t put this into terms my father would respect, then there was no saving either of them.
“Then what do you suggest.”
“First, we get Olivia back, then we deal with any fallout, burying what we can, denying what we can’t. Then we will make a lucrative match for Charlotte.”
I walked over to the end of my desk and picked my phone up off the floor. I deleted the pictures first. I couldn’t stand looking at them, but I needed to reread the messages and see if I could get anything from them. There really weren’t any clues, just him insinuating that he took Olivia’s innocence.
“Do you think the Astrids could have anything to do with this?” My father’s question made me think.
“Maybe,” I admit. “I know Amelia doesn’t. She loves Olivia. I don’t think Harrison would. This isn’t his style. It’s too brash, too vulgar for him. But I don’t know. There were those who weren’t happy about the way I stole Amelia, and the Astrids did stand to make a lot of money from joining with the DuBois’s.”
“Voiding that contract did cost both families millions, and since you took Amelia and she wed without the negotiations and a similar contract in place ...”
“We have contracts with the Astrids. Our partnering on several ventures is making them quite a lot of money,” I said.
It was true, but there was something to my father’s train of thought. Something was starting to click together in my mind.
“But the DuBois’s have always been more public in flaunting their wealth and power.”
“Did you notice at the brunch how Mrs. Astrid was trying to take over? She was talking to anyone who would listen about Olivia. We had to tell people Olivia was hungover and Mrs. Astrid was still drunk from over-imbibing at the wedding. Amelia had her removed. She was practically screaming about Olivia being taken and—”
“And how her son was going to be the one to save her.” My father finished my thought.