Chapter 7
T his was a mistake, but even knowing that didn’t seem to be enough to stop her from doing the one thing she knew that she would regret, but for Blackwood Manor, she would do anything.
Absolutely anything.
Including forcing herself to go through with this. She just…
God, she needed a minute, Dylan thought, closing her eyes as she slowly exhaled, and when that wasn’t enough, she took a bite of the coffee roll she’d helped herself to, sighed, took another bite, and then, she opened her eyes and-
“Back already?” Brooke asked, shooting her a smug look as she slowly blew on what appeared to be a large cappuccino with extra foam.
“Didn’t really have a choice, now did I?” Dylan asked, making sure to glare accusingly at her sister as she took a bite of the delicious coffee roll.
“Not with those violations on Blackwood Manor,” Brooke pointed out in a mocking tone with a smug smile playing on her lips as she took a sip of her cappuccino.
“Thanks to you,” Dylan said, taking another bite of the delicious coffee roll that she was going to need to get her through this.
“You could always ask Dad for help. I’m sure that he’d be happy to know that you went behind his back and bought the house that should have been condemned years ago,” Brooke said, knowing that wasn’t really an option. “Or you could sell Blackwood Manor to me and cut your losses.”
“I could do that, but since there’s no way in hell that I’ll ever let you get your hands on Blackwood Manor, I guess I’ll have to settle for annoying the hell out of you instead,” Dylan said with a heartfelt sigh as she finished the coffee roll and-
She really should have helped herself to that second double chocolate donut when she had the chance, and she’d planned to, but she’d reluctantly decided against it since Quinn seemed to need it more than her at that moment.
That, and she felt that it was probably in her best interest to let him have it with all the glaring and everything.
God, that man loved to glare…
She wasn’t sure what she expected on her wedding day, but she could honestly say that she’d never expected to be glared at.
Then again, that could have something to do with the aforementioned double chocolate donut that she’d tried helping herself to while they’d waited for their names to be called.
That, and, ummm, she may have enjoyed tormenting him a bit there when she was asked to repeat her vows.
In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have said, “If I must,” with a sniffle when a simple, “I do,” would have sufficed, mostly because of all that glaring. He didn’t stop, not when he bit out, “I do,” or when he reluctantly leaned down and kissed her forehead when it was time to kiss the bride.
It probably would have made things less awkward when they’d decided to start trying for the baby tonight if she hadn’t followed that up with another sniffle and a mumbled, “If I must,” but in her defense, she wasn’t sure that she was mentally prepared to go through with this.
Now wasn’t the time to think about what she needed to do or the fact that she needed to do those things with Quinn. It was just part of the deal that would end with her bringing Blackwood Manor back to life, having a beautiful baby, keeping B.T. Construction safe, and, of course, getting revenge.
That was all that mattered.
And she was going to keep telling herself that until she believed it, Dylan decided as she took her time selecting another coffee roll. She made a deal and now, she-
“Or I could always be the one to tell Dad that you bought Blackwood Manor after he told you to stay away from it…” Brooke said, letting her words trail off with a helpless shrug.
“And I could always tell Dad that you blackmailed me and stole the credit for my designs,” Dylan said, matching her shrug.
“You could,” Brooke murmured in agreement before adding, “But unfortunately, it won’t matter since your services are no longer needed.”
“You can’t fire me,” Dylan reminded her with a pitying look. “Dad promised that I’d always have a job here if I needed one, and since I need to fix all the violations that you got Blackwood Manor hit with, I’m going to keep doing my job.”
“Not yet anyway,” Brooke said with that same smug look that she had on her face when she made sure that Dylan found out that Santa wasn’t real.
It took everything that she had at that moment to keep her mouth shut.
They had a plan and letting her sister know that she got married less than an hour ago wasn’t part of it, no matter how badly she wanted to wipe that smug smile off her sister’s face.
“Well, until then, I’m going to keep doing what it is that I do best,” Dylan said, holding up her coffee roll in mock salute before she took a bite and moved to find a spot to work, only to end up biting back another sigh when her sister stopped her.
“I’m afraid that’s going to be a problem since your position no longer exists,” Brooke said with a pitying look.
“The last time I checked, you can’t build homes without designs,” Dylan pointed out, wondering how far Brooke was willing to go with this.
“True,” Brooke murmured, looking thoughtful as she took a sip of her cappuccino. “But since B.T. Construction will no longer be making homes next year, there’s no reason for you to stay.”
“B.T. Construction isn’t yours yet,” Dylan bit out.
“Well, since we both know that Quinn will never get married and you’re not interested in taking B.T. Construction over, that leaves me,” Brooke said with a soft sigh as she took another sip.
“Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself?” Dylan said with a pointed look at Brooke’s bare ring finger.
“Probably,” Brooke murmured with a smirk that really said it all.
She already had a plan.
“You’ll need someone to design the condos,” Dylan pointed out, knowing that she needed to play along.
For now.
“And I already found someone,” Brooke said as that smirk turned into a smug smile. “But I don’t want you to worry, so I came up with a new position just for you.”
“And that would be…” Dylan said, having a really bad feeling about this.
“My bitch.”