Blame it on the Champagne (Blame it on the Alcohol #1) - Fiona Cole Page 0,103
he turned to Vera, and I opened my mouth to stop it, but nothing came out. Part of me wanted to toss her over my shoulder and run, but I knew I was only fighting the inevitable. My grandpa’s words came back.
A marriage built on lies is no marriage at all.
“You married Nicholas Knightly Rush. Grandson to the owner of Knightly Shipping—or what used to be.” I grit my teeth at his dig. “Until his grandfather made a poor business choice—”
“He did not,” I growled.
“—and I stepped in to help. And when he couldn’t repay, I sold off what was owed to me.”
“You took advantage of a suffering man, you arrogant prick,” I said through a clenched jaw.
“It was just business,” he threw back.
The words unveiled every ounce of anger that brought me to this moment, and I snapped. I forgot every plan I’d made over the past week to tell Vera the truth over a candlelit dinner at home—preferably naked and tied to the chair so she couldn’t run. I forgot everything beyond Lorenzo’s shitty barb. “Yeah, well, me buying up Mariano Shipping was just business, and I hope you enjoy watching me take it all away from you.”
“You fucking shit.” Lorenzo lost his own patience and stepped closer. He tried to get in my face but was too short to come close to being as threatening as he wanted to appear. “What? You couldn’t find enough shares for your pitiful revenge, so you took my daughter? That’s not business—it’s cowardly.”
“You practically shoved her in my face with the way you pushed her away. Don’t blame me for losing your daughter.”
He opened his mouth, but her soft voice cut through all the macho anger spilling around us.
“Revenge?”
I snapped my gaze to her, her brown eyes wide and filled with surprise and hurt. The look punched me in the gut, stealing all the air from my lungs—from my need to win against Lorenzo.
“Vera—”
“He’d been buying shares to Mariano Shipping for years, using shell companies to hide his identity. And you, my spoiled, ungrateful daughter, gave him the final few he needed,” Lorenzo supplied.
“That’s not—”
“Did you know who I was?” Vera asked, cutting me off. “Is that why you hired me? Because you knew my last name the whole time? Did you know it was me under the mask while you fucked me?” Her questions got louder. “Did you plan this all along?”
“No, Vera. I never planned—” I tried to explain again only to be cut off by Lorenzo raging against Vera.
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent an extra week spreading your legs for the enemy, we might have fought this,” Lorenzo interjected. “We had one chance, and instead of answering your damn phone, you extend your vacation by another week, giving him just enough time to seal the deal.”
She blinked, her brows pulling tight as she put the pieces together. “France?”
“Oh, is that where you went? Was that before or after you gave him the inside details to our company? He knew just where to hit us, Verana. He knew exactly how to get around the clauses your grandma put into that stupid contract. Did you spill the secrets willingly, or did he steal that too?”
She stumbled back like her father’s words physically hit her.
“Verana.” I reached for her, but she held a hand up, warring me off.
“Was any of it true?”
She clutched her stomach and shook, on the verge of shattering right there, and I wanted to pull her in my arms and hold her together.
“I was going to tell you everything. Explain it all. I was going to give—”
“Would you do it while you seduced more information out of me? Would you use the way I care about you to get what you want?” she snarled.
Sucking in air through her nose, she pinched her eyes shut like she couldn’t bear to look at me.
“Verana, I never meant to hurt you.”
“Shut up,” she snapped, her eyes opening like a blazing fire. The hurt still lingered, but it was quickly being swallowed up by anger. “God, I trusted you.”
“You ca—”
“No. I cared for you. I thought you actually saw me—respected me—but it was all a lie. You’re just like everyone else. Only seeing what you can use me for. A liar. A user. I actually believed you when you praised my work.”
Lorenzo scoffed, and I wanted to punch him but fought the urge and kept my eyes on Vera.