Chapter 29
Pride.
Heaping mounds of pride erupt in my chest, causing the ache that I’ve been feeling for days to break apart and crumble into the reality of what is. Reality being that I love Belle Ryan. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anything in this world.
Belle steps back and shakes Dr. Miller’s hand as she takes the microphone and thanks Belle for the kind words.
Belle stands up there, a golden goddess of radiant light, beaming with pride and joy for what she does and all that she is.
She’s breathtaking and inspiring and everything I never knew existed in a partner. And I love her.
A man sits down in her vacant chair beside me, interrupting my life-changing realisation. I instinctively shuffle away when a heady scent of scotch wafts off of him.
After a minute or two of listening to Dr. Miller speak about Nevaeh Parker, the man’s voice husks into my ear, “So you’re the infamous Tanner Harris.”
I turn to look at him. He’s an older bloke, likely in his sixties.
Pissed to be sure. But just looking at him, I can tell he comes from money based on his expensive suit and watch.
Plus, there’s something about the way he holds himself—nose slightly upturned, eyes narrowed in judgement—that makes him seem superior.
My response is short and curt. “Yes, I’m Tanner.” I look back up at the stage, trying to be polite and listen to Dr. Miller’s words.
He huffs out a laugh beside me and adds, “You don’t know who I am, do you?”
I eye him curiously, shaking my head.
“I’m Lord Ryan, of course. Belle Ryan’s father.” His response stuns me into silence. When my brows lift, he smiles knowingly and confirms, “Now you’re getting it.”
We both train our eyes on the stage again, confusion and tension passing back and forth between us like a heat wave. I didn’t know he was going to be here tonight. Surely Belle would have mentioned it.
He leans into me. “I shouldn’t be surprised you don’t know who I am. We don’t exactly run in similar social circles.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him glance around our table at everyone. No one seems to be curious about who the strange man is who’s plonked himself in amongst us, but I sure as hell am.
After another minute or two of silence, he asks, “Did you hear the news then?”
I find my voice and whisper, “What news?”
His brows lift. “That hotshot lawyer of yours didn’t tell you? Santino?” He lengthens all the vowels in a patronising tone. I shake my head. “I lost the vote for the Supreme Court today.”
A heaviness settles in the air, weighing down the ambience of the room. His slanted eyes are locked on me as he gauges my reaction.
“I wasn’t aware.”
“Surely you knew I was in line for the Supreme Court?” I shrug and tension radiates off his high shoulders. “Well, I was. And that was the whole point of this sham. To help secure my seat. So your little performance with my daughter didn’t work.”
I clear my throat, shifting nervously in my seat. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
He huffs out a laugh. “How about you just listen? You may have won a match today, but you lost the cup. So you can pack it in and go back to your pedestrian life where you fuck anything that walks and spread your future illegitimate seed to someone else.”
The bone in my jaw ticks with barely contained fury. I lean into him so that no one else can overhear. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but maybe you should keep your voice down.”
“Why?” he barks, sitting back in his chair like he’s the King of England and everyone around him are peasants.
The people at our table turn to look at him, catching on to the unfolding scene.
“What’s the point of keeping quiet? The reason you were dating my daughter at all was for me to rise to the Court.
And that’s all gone now, so none of this matters. ”
Shaking my head, I reply through clenched teeth, “That wasn’t the only reason I dated Belle. There were many factors.”
He jeers, “Maybe for you, but not for my Belle.”
Possessiveness heats my blood as he attempts to claim her. The Ryans have never seen Belle the way I see her. She’s confirmed it on more than one occasion. His tone, his demeanour, his lack of respect for the doctor speaking on stage right now is all proof of that.
I practically growl my reply. “You know nothing about Belle.”
He drops his elbows on the table so we’re nose to nose and his drunken gaze locks with mine.
“I know that when the chips are down, she’ll do what she must to help our family.
No matter what. That is the only reason she’d ever give you the time of day, other than for a one off shag.
Something to sow that wild streak of hers that she can’t ever fucking control. ”
I blink away the rage clouding my vision.
The man deserves to have his face smashed in.
A lethal smack right to that pompous nose.
How does he think it’s okay to speak of his own daughter this way?
Why does he have it in his head that she cares about her family?
She has nothing to do with them. She never sees them. Not that I know of at least.
“You’re wrong. Belle and I aren’t a sham. Not anymore.” I state, running nervous hands down my thighs and trying to quiet the paranoia creeping in around me.
He barks out a haughty laugh, and Booker and Camden’s eyes narrow with caution. “Well, she didn’t want me to talk to you this evening. You think someone in a relationship would want to hide you from her family? Please,” he scoffs. “This is all a lie.”
“It’s not.”
“Maybe not for you, but Belle knows exactly what she’s doing.
Look at her up there.” I turn my gaze and see her watching us with the look of an ice princess.
Hard and emotionless, but powerful, nonetheless.
“Like father, like daughter. She’s climbing her way to the top, manipulating people the same way I do.
She’s using you to get her contract with the clinic extended, nothing more.
She doesn’t care about you.” He picks up a silk flower from the middle of the table. “The whole scenario is pathetic.”
Just when I think I might lunge at him, applause from the audience erupts all around me. In the same beat, Booker launches out of his seat and grabs Lord Ryan by the shoulder. “Let’s get some fresh air, shall we?”
Camden stands up and grabs the other arm. “That sounds divine, Booker. What a great idea.”
Lord Ryan argues, swerving his head back and forth as my brothers effortlessly escort him away from me and my clenched fist. The rest of the ballroom gets noisy as people begin milling about now that the speeches are over. I turn just as Belle comes marching toward me.
“What are they doing?” she asks with wide, questioning eyes and pointing to Camden and Booker, who are nearly out the door. “They need to get their hands off of him…He’ll sue.”
“Don’t worry about your fucking father,” I growl, shoving my hands through my hair.
She frowns. “What’s happened? What did he say?”
The guilty look in her eyes makes me even more paranoid.
I know Belle, but I don’t know much about her home life.
Not firsthand anyway. How could she not tell me he was coming here tonight?
How could she intend to keep him away from me?
And why? I’ve submerged her completely in the Harris family, yet she thinks she can shield me from hers?
“Is this still an act to you?” I ask, squeezing my hands into hard fists at my sides.
She frowns and looks around nervously. “What are you going on about?”
“You. Me. Are you just fucking with me?” I seethe. “Using me to climb your way to the top?”
“What on earth has happened out here?” she cries, her eyes wide with disbelief that I’m speaking so openly.
“Your father, that’s what. He’s unloaded a lifetime’s worth of shit that sounds scarily close to the truth. So tell me the truth, Ryan. Are you just like him?”
This hits a nerve. A big one. Her dark eyes alight with fire and she grabs my arm, shuffling me off to the side of the ballroom.
She pushes on a random side exit door, and when she discovers it’s locked, I think she might scream.
Her gaze lands on the empty photo booth.
Yanking the curtain back, she shoves me inside and tucks in behind me and closes the drape.
She pulls me down onto the long bench opposite the camera.
The colour changing LED lights in the booth shift, turning us both from blue to purple to red in rapid succession.
“Did you just compare me to my fucking father?” She spits the words out with a deep, throaty voice like Satan.
The camera flashes.
Not the least bit intimidated by her rage, I retort, “Well, he just told me a load of bollocks about how you’re still faking it with me. That you’re trying to get your fellowship extended into a full-time contract.”
“I am!” she exclaims. “You know this!”
“So you are faking it?”
“No! Christ, you can’t be this thick!” She clenches her hands in front of her chest like she wants to punch something. Probably me.
“Well, fuck!” I bark, the music cranking up out on the dancefloor, thankfully drowning out our voices.
“What am I supposed to think? You seem rather in your element tonight, Belle, rubbing shoulders with these doctors. And you never once mentioned your father would be here. How am I to know if you’re actually in this with me or just playing me as a stupid footballer? ”
“You’re not a stupid footballer, Tanner. Not even bloody close!”
FLASH.
“Then why are you hiding me from your family?”
She exhales a heavy breath and hunches over, resting her elbows on her knees, the position completely at odds with her formal dress. “Because I’m great with patients but crap with real life.”
This gives me pause. “What’s that supposed to mean?”