ella

ng for them to speak. But the suffocating silence was

her posture rigid with aristocratic pretense, and my stepsister, Clara, looking p

an, her voice dripping with a saccharine sweetness that made my stomach turn. "Your marriage to Damien Franco is a delicate matter. To

st fund and the deeds to her properties need to be transferred to your father's na

sharply. "This isn't an alliance! It's a shakedown! We are legitimate businessmen, not their *Associates*!" He whirled on me, h

st stared at him, cat

matriarch. "This is a sacrifice Isabella must make.

rning to our father. "Tell them, Father. T

de with manufactured distress. "Liam, don't be so harsh. You're hurting her." She looked at me, her expression a perfe

tences, Clara had isolated me, painting my

The papers are already drawn up. You will sign them today, Isabella. And you

hter, but as a bad investment

irade, but Connor suddenly moved. He grabbed Liam by the shoulder, h

ered, his tone dark and fin

parlor caught his profile. For a fraction of a second, a smile

caught in

of my mother's wealth? The anomaly of his behavior regarding Harrison Davies and his actions now collided in my mind, forming

ped forward. He looked down at me, his pragmatic eyes searching for any sign of r

n my lap. I looked at my father, then at Catherine, bur

er decide," I said, my vo

he room evaporated, replaced by the smug relief o

t realize they had just severed the last frayed t