He could be brisk and unyielding all he wants in his business dealings, but he shouldn’t have used that attitude on Summer. She’s family, for crying out loud.
Anthony frowned. Wordlessly, he steered the car to stop at the side of the road before turning to look at me.
“Letty,” he sighed, “I wasn’t thinking much then beyond trying to protect your feelings.”
I frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand. You know that I always place the children as my priority. If you were trying to protect my feelings, then you should be nicer to Summer all the more. What you said to her was way too harsh.”
He fell silent, and I could tell that there was a hint of guilt that flashed across his eyes. “You’re right,” he said at last. “I overreacted and should have handled that better. I’ll find a way to make it up to her.”
It’s tough being a parent, but at least he’s trying. I relaxed slightly and let the matter drop. “What should we do if Summer really decides to leave with Jared?”
“She won’t,” Anthony confidently said as he started the car once more and resumed driving us back home.
“And why is that?” I asked dubiously. After that whole tense exchange he had with Summer earlier, I was less certain in his ability to make her want to stay with us.
My husband spared a glance at me from the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry,” he said with a trace of a smile in his voice. “Just leave everything to me. I’ll handle this.”
I raised a skeptical brow. Strangely, that did not assure me in the least. If anything, it only made me worry more. I offered a silent prayer to the heavens, hoping against hope that this man would not make things worse.
Ever since then, Summer had stopped coming back to the Featherstone residence, though to my knowledge, she was still doing a perfectly good job running the club in what I had guessed as an attempt to use work as a distraction.
Since I did tell my daughter that she could take time to think things through, I could not very well pester her to come home without breaking my promise. Fortunately, I had Joseph as my source of information. He told me Summer was doing relatively well, and my worries eased slightly after that.
New Year’s Eve rolled around, and the city was awash in festive colors and lights. High-spirited, Audrey and Gregory had decorated the house with banners and balloons, and I could not help but think how much nicer it would be if Summer were here to celebrate the new year with us.
Audrey noticed the distinct lack of her sister when it was dinner time. Though it was not unusual for Summer to come home late, it seemed to have occurred to Audrey that she had not seen her sister at all for the past few days. “Mommy, Daddy, where’s Summer? Is she coming back soon?”
I did not have the heart to tell her that there was a chance she might not see Summer ever again, so I tried to change the subject. “Hey, Audrey, do you see those puddings over there on the table?” I pointed at the tray of mini puddings I had baked earlier. “Mommy made them. I hid a single coin in one of them. Whoever found it while eating the pudding will have good luck for the whole of next year!”
“Really?” Audrey’s eyes sparkled in excitement, and she made a beeline to the puddings at once. “I’m going to look for the coin now!”
“What are you going to do? Eat all of them by yourself?” I laughed, teasing.
She pouted. “Greg and Shaun will help me,” she said stubbornly, looking at the latter for affirmation. “You’ll help, right, Shaun?”
The subject of her pleading quietly took several puddings to his plate and started cutting them open one by one.
Happy with Shaun’s compliance, Audrey targeted her twin brother next. “Greg, I need your help too,” she wheedled. “I really want the good luck coin!”
Her brother shrugged, seemingly heedless of her plea, though I caught him taking several puddings as well and poking them with his fork.
I bit back a laugh. She has them wrapped around her little finger.
As the coin seeking continued, an unexpected and unwanted guest arrived.
“Happy New Year, my friends!” Lucas announced as he walked into the dining room.
He gave a low, impressed whistle at the table of food. “Wow, that’s a feast if there ever was one. Hey, is that chocolate pudding? I love chocolate puddings!”
Without preamble, he reached to take one of my mini puddings and popped it into his mouth. A second later, however, he frowned as he bit into something with an audible click.
He removed the item from his mouth, the frown morphing into a smirk when he saw what it was. “Oh wow, it’s a coin. Am I lucky, or what?”
I shot him a glare. “Maybe it’s a bad penny. Just like a certain someone here.”
Affected by neither the look I gave him nor the loaded meaning behind my words, Lucas shrugged and pocketed the coin.
It was then that Audrey broke into tears. “I didn’t get the coin!” she wailed. “I won’t have good luck next year!”
Lucas raised a brow. “Seriously? It’s just a coin,” he said dismissively before reaching into his pocket and handing the coin to her. “You can have it. Happy now?”
“No!” Audrey refused to take it and managed to pull an impressive glower for a child her age. “You’re a bad man!”
“Hey, I’m a guest, all right?” Lucas said indignantly. “Didn’t your parents teach you to be on your best manners in front of guests? Don’t act all rude.”
Upset, Audrey cried even harder at his words.
You’re the one acting all rude! As much as I wanted to snap at Lucas, my priority was my daughter. I immediately went over to comfort her. “Shh… It’s all right,” I said gently, pulling the sobbing girl into my arms. “Mommy and Daddy will give you all of our good luck, okay? Everything will be fine.”
Meanwhile, Lucas had already taken a seat at the table, appearing completely at ease in someone else’s house. The nerve of that man was astounding.
Anthony’s expression was one of frosty anger and contempt. “It’s a family dinner, not a party,” he bit out. “Outsiders are not invited. Get out.”
Before Lucas could reply, another voice came from the doorway. “Come on, Featherstone. Don’t be such a wet blanket. It’s the holiday season! The more, the merrier.”
It was none other than Quince, who had a woman hanging on his arm. She was in heavy makeup and dressed in a little red gown that showed off all of her curves.
The pair came closer, and bile rose in my throat when I finally got a good view of the woman’s face. Rylee Lorraine.
There was no mistaking it. She seemed to have gone through another round of plastic surgery since we last met, but I could recognize that pair of eyes anywhere. No matter how much her facial features had changed, those eyes still burned with the same hatred toward me.
Many people had come and left in my life, but this woman? She simply stuck around like a persistent piece of gum on the bottom of my shoe. I scoffed internally. A bad penny always turns up.
“Long time no see,” Rylee said with a cordial smile, all harmless and ladylike. It was enough to fool an oblivious person into believing we were on good terms.
Not nearly long enough. I stopped myself from retorting and rolling my eyes at the pretense she was putting up.
Just as I was about to ask all of them to leave, however, one of the maids hurried over with an uncertain expression. “Mr. Featherstone, Madam, we have more guests coming.”
This was immediately followed by the sound of footsteps and the appearance of Nathaniel and Nora.
Anthony and I shared a look of aggravation. Both of us were probably thinking of the same thing: Way to ruin our family dinner.
“Festive occasions are meant for family and friends, am I right?” Nathaniel said, smiling brazenly before turning to the maid. “Could you get us a drink, please?”
The maid looked at me and my husband for a cue. When we offered no objection, she mumbled a quick assent and headed toward the kitchen.
Nathaniel and Nora took their seats opposite me, heedless of the strong “get out” vibes coming from Anthony.
My husband’s expression grew progressively darker with each passing second.
After several moments of terse, awkward silence, Quince, who seemed to have noticed the tension between Anthony and Nathaniel, was the first to speak up. “Hey there,” he introduced himself to the latter, “I’m Quince, a friend of Featherstone. Nice to meet you, man.”
I knew what he was thinking—the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If those two were to form an alliance against Anthony and me, they could stir up some real trouble.
Unfortunately, there was nothing much we could do since we did not exactly have anything on Nathaniel to flush him out of our lives, nor were we able to take down the Skull gang at the moment.
To my surprise, however, Nathaniel completely ignored Quince. The former continued to sip from the champagne flute that the maid brought over, seemingly in a world of his own.
Anthony glanced at his younger brother. I knew he, too, was wondering just what game Nathaniel was trying to play.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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