Chapter22
A burst of anger rose in my heart.
My chair screeched across the travertine floor. I dumped the remaining pancake into the trash compactor.
“Kitchen’s right there.” My voice sounded cold.
Antonio leaned back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head.
“Still territorial about your damn food, I see.”
“Same old Grace,” he drawled, pushing up from the table.
I was speechless.
As he passed me heading toward the spiral staircase, his hand brushed my hip. A foil packet appeared in my pocket.
It was Plan B.
“Don’t forget,” he murmured.
Watching him turn to the second floor, even though it was the height of summer, I felt a chill all over.
Actually, he knew everything.
Antonio slept in for the whole morning. As evening approached, he came downstairs.
His Tom Ford suit jacket hung with intentional carelessness, artfully tousled hair catching the chandelier light like some
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GQ spread come to life.
Linda glanced up from her Kindle Paperwhite on the sofa. “Dinner’s in thirty. Where’re you going?”
Antonio crouched to buff a microscopic scuff from his Ferragamo loafers.
“Scouting my future wife,” he drawled.
“Keep joking like that,” Linda warned, nodding toward where I stood frozen in the archway, “and Grace’ll end up marrying that nice Wharton boy from the club.”
The temperature dropped twenty degrees.
We both remembered the yellowed newspaper clipping in the library – Local Hero Parrish in Brownstone Fire Saving Business Partner – followed by the custody agreement that bound me to this gilded cage.
Back then, the Kaufman family suddenly had a fire. To save his friend, Uncle Nelson, my dad rushed into the flames all by himself.
Later, my mom also passed away due to illness.
Uncle Nelson and Auntie Linda then raised me as their own.
So they had always been looking forward to me marrying Antonio in the future.
They also wanted us to be together.
This was a fact that Antonio and I had known since we were
young.
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Chapter22
“Mom, stop making things up. You know I see Grace as family.”
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Antonio’s feigned detached tone snapped me back to reality.
When Linda left for the kitchen, I blocked his path to the
garage.
“Off to serenade your precious ‘Miss Perfect‘?”
His head snapped up.
“You went through my phone?”
His voice turned sharp all of a sudden.
Then, seemingly remembering this morning when he was still half–asleep and asked me to turn off his alarm, the coldness in his eyes eased up a bit.
“Fine, since you already know, I won’t hide it from you.
“We grew up together. You should know how much time I’ve spent chasing her, right?”
I did know.
Madison was that music major who stood out like a rose among thorns at our school.
While other girls drowned in oversized sweaters and sported boyish cuts, she flowed through hallways with Bridgerton curls and a dancer’s grace.
That’s why when Antonio’s stray basketball hit her head during practice junior year, he fell harder than that rebound.
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Chapter22
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The guy who never stuck with anything for a week suddenly became laser–focused–chasing Madison for two straight years.
But even as prom king, Antonio struck out. Madison kept rejecting him over his lousy grades and late–night gaming binges.
Tears burned my eyes as I stared up at him on the stairs.
“If you’re still hung up on her… then why’d you say yes yesterday?”
My voice cracked. “Why take me to that motel and… and…?”
Antonio scoffed.
“Hold up–I never agreed to your drunk confession. You planted one on me after babbling about feelings. What was I supposed to do? Let my ‘sister‘ get humiliated in front of everyone?”
What a considerate reason.
My fists clenched.
“Then the motel?”
He jammed his hands in his pockets, descending toward me.
“You were wasted! Bringing you home would’ve gotten me grounded for life. What happened after…”
A shrug.
“C’mon Grace, I’m a man.”
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Chapter22
No remorse. Just excuses.
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