Chapter 24 #2
“Ah, here they are. Mayor Steel, have you met my children?” The Mayor of Banebridge is with his wife and daughter Nikki. Nikki looks lovely in a sapphire blue mini with her hair tied up in a high ponytail. She gives us a playful wink as Mario does the introductions.
“Good to see you all again. You look stunning,” she tells me and Vienna.
“Yes, your sons are very lucky men, Mario,” her dad chimes in. “I hear congratulations are in order, Victoria.” He looks at my hand tucked into the crook of Xavier’s arm and the ring on my finger. “I’m sure your dad would be very proud.”
I can hear the censure in his voice, but he keeps a fake smile plastered on his face, and Mario doesn’t even notice.
“Yes, I’m sure my father would love his new son-in-law as much as I do,” I reply brightly and feel Xavier stiffen next to me.
“You didn’t want a big wedding like this?” his wife asks, gesturing around the room.
I shake my head. “Xavier and I didn’t need a big display to prove our love to one another,” I reply and watch with pleasure as Stacey’s smug smile turns to a scowl.
“That’s a gorgeous ring set,” Nikki gushes before turning to Stacey and looking at her bare fingers. “Oh, where’s your engagement ring?”
Stacey replies with her teeth clenched. “I needed to have it sized before the wedding.”
That’s a big fat lie. Tristan absolutely refused to go ring shopping with her, and she has stalled because she thought she could get him to change his mind.
Mario gave her his mother’s ring, and she hates it, but she can’t very well tell him that.
It’s very old fashioned and nothing like the current style of engagement rings.
Before anyone else can say anything, we are called to take our seats because dinner is ready to be served.
We bid the Steels goodbye and take our seats on either side of the table.
Mario and Gregor flank Tristan and Stacey with a very pale and drawn looking Penny sitting on Mario’s other side.
I slide in next to Penny, with Xavier beside me and Vienna and Colton opposite us, with the rest of the guests spreading out down the table.
Dinner is served, and polite conversation carries on around us.
Mario makes a toast, and we watch Stacey hiss at Tristan with annoyance when he refuses the glass of champagne she offers him.
When he refuses, her father waves at her to pass it to him.
Panic crosses her face before she hands it to him, carelessly spilling it on the table. He shouts in surprise and stands up.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so clumsy. Sorry, Daddy.” Stacey flutters her eyelashes at him.
“I bet that was spiked,” Xavier murmurs in my ear.
“No bet,” I reply, turning my attention to Penny who is listless and going through the motions.
“You don’t look so good, Penelope,” I murmur in her ear, noticing bruises on her wrists as she reaches for her champagne flute. “Maybe you should skip the wedding on Wednesday.”
She turns to me. Her eyes are dull, and her mouth is lined. “I wish I could. If I could go back in time, I never would have gotten involved with Mario. Lorenzo forced me to,” she tells me flatly, her voice barely over a whisper so he doesn’t overhear.
“I’ll take care of it,” I promise, not doubting her words in the least. We’ve never been friends, and I don’t think we ever will be, but I don’t doubt her when she says Lorenzo manipulated her.
I’ll make sure to have a car ready to take her from the wedding reception and get her on the jet to a faraway destination, making sure she signs divorce papers before she leaves. I do not want her getting her hooks back into my father once she discovers he’s still alive.
Once dinner is finished, I give my excuses and take my leave, feigning a migraine.
Mario isn’t happy, but I made the others stay behind to keep him appeased while I sneak into the hidden room and grab some tracking chips.
I’ll make sure the boys all have one as well just in case Mario doesn’t let me anywhere near my father or Carla.
I use my burner phone to make a few last minute arrangements for my former stepmother.
I want her on the other side of the country from my family, and I’m going to have to pull a couple of strings to make it happen.
Her family is associated with the Bianchis, so I put in a call to Rocco after his promise to help at Sage’s funeral.
I’m smiling when I finally hang up, one last loose end tied up.
Once done, I toss the burner back into the cabinet, sneak out of the hidden room, and down to mine, praying nobody is watching the security feeds too closely, distracted by all the guests.
When I reach my room, I remove the formal dress, throwing on a discarded shirt that Xavier left in my room.
I bring the collar up to my nose and inhale deeply before sliding into bed on my own.
Xavier won’t come to bed until he makes sure Tristan is safely tucked into his.
We’re doing everything we can to keep our boy out of Stacey’s clutches, cockblocking her every chance we get.