His Son’s Wife (Obsessive Age Gap #4)
Chapter 1
Sayla
Two Years Ago
It worried me that Gabriel’s only close relative didn’t come to our engagement party.
Gabriel didn’t seem worried—but then he got on brilliantly with my family, both sides, and had never once had to work for their approval. The absence of his father was a different kind of problem. One that sat at the edge of the evening like a chair left empty at a table.
Both of our families were traditional. That kind of absence was noticed. Filed away. Discussed in low voices near the canapés.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Maya materialised at my elbow with the unerring instinct she had for finding me when I was trying to look like I wasn’t thinking about something.
“He really didn’t come,” I said, taking a sip of my champagne.
“Old people can get stuck in their ways. You might wear him down.” She paused. “You’re so nice it makes me want to puke at times.”
Her chuckle took the bite from the words. Mostly.
As the eldest she had always been the entitled asshole. It was practically a family tradition.
“Mum always says marriage is about families merging,” I murmured, toying with the diamond on my finger. New enough that I still noticed it. Still reached for it.
“It took her long enough to wear down Granny Lawder.”
Our Lebanese heritage hadn’t gone down well with the Lawder matriarch.
Everyone else had been fine—more than fine.
Our dad had set his mother straight the moment Maya was born, quietly and without discussion, the way he handled most things.
God forbid my mother hadn’t been the right type of Christian.
We stood there for a moment, watching the room do what engagement party rooms did—toasts, photographs, aunties crying at things that hadn’t happened yet.
Maya put an arm around my shoulder and sighed.
“At least you didn’t end up with a penniless one like me.”
We both glanced over at Callum, who was dancing with the focused erratic energy of a man who genuinely believed he was doing well.
If I tilted my head to the right, he resembled a penguin.
I wasn’t marrying Gabriel for his wealth.
I was marrying him for love.
Famous last words.