The Other Side of Greed (The Seven Sins #5) - Lily Zante Page 0,63

arms around him doesn’t seem to be appropriate either. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” he returns the compliment, his brown eyes twinkling. He must be on a high from all the adoration everyone in this room has for him.

I’m so proud of him. We, all the people in the city, are so proud of him and to have him be here, talking to me, when he has a room full of people who are so much more interesting and accomplished than me gets me giddy with excitement. I glance around for my Redhill people, for Fredrich and Simona to come over, but in my excitement, I don’t find them.

“We all watched the fight live. We were all rooting for you.”

“It was a tough fight, but it ended well.” His customary humbleness endears him to me more than ever. “Congrats on staging your event,” he says. “That was an amazing thing you guys put together.”

“You saw it?” I ask, wondering how I didn’t think to send him any photos from the event.

“It was all over social media,” Harper informs me.

I look around the room quickly and wishing that Simona and Fredrich would hurry up and get here so that they could take some of the credit. “It was one heck of a night. You winning made everyone’s day.”

“Expect to see another donation from me in the coming days.”

“Aww, thanks, Eli. We greatly appreciate anything and everything.”

His face turns serious quickly. “Glad to help. The work you guys do is important. Harper and I were saying that only someone like you could have put on an event like that with a huge movie screen.”

I laugh. “It was Fredrich’s idea, actually.” I turn to Harper. “How were you on the night?” I know she hates watching Eli fight.

“A complete wreck.” She puts her hands in front of her face as if she’s reliving the moment again. Her engagement ring sparkles under the lights and is hard to miss.

“Wow.” I take her hand and examine the rock.

“He proposed,” she says, all girlie and blushing. The two of them tell me about the proposal and we talk as if we are old friends.

The woman from the art gallery stands by silently. She remains tight-lipped, and it feels awkward having her here. She’s like an appendage my body doesn’t need. I feel duty bound to introduce her, which isn’t so great because I’ve already forgotten her name and what she does. “This is ... J...J….” My mind blanks out completely.

“Jessica Montrose.” She gives Eli a smile that has as much wattage as the necklace she’s wearing. Ignoring Harper completely, she offers Elias her hand, something she never offered me, and then she takes over the conversation, talking about the donations she has made to Eli’s various charities.

Harper and I exchange knowing looks. “You must be used to this,” I whisper so that only she can hear me.

She gives Jessica a sideways glance and rolls her eyes. “You have no idea. I should rescue him,” she mumbles. “He looks as if he’s in pain.”

“Let me make my getaway first,” I whisper back. And then I rush away.

Chapter Thirty

BRANDON

The weekend seems to last a lifetime. I’ve been dying to know, from the Redhill people, how the city hall event went. So far, I’ve only heard Jessica’s version of events and she’s talked mostly about herself. She also tells me she sought Kyra out and tried to have a conversation with her, but she doesn’t elaborate on it except to say that she seemed to be a good friend of Eli’s.

“You missed a cool night,” Fredrich says when I go to work on Monday. It has killed me going days without seeing Kyra.

“I’m sure I did. My loss.”

“We did miss you, Brad. What did you have that was so important?” Simona asks as she goes through the mail. Kyra is quiet as she gets on with her work. I want to see her reaction, but the way I’m sitting will make it too obvious to the others if I keep trying to catch her attention. I need to find a moment to get her alone.

“I had things to do.”

“Kyra says you’re still upset about your friend, and understandably so,” Fredrich adds, “how is she now?”

I tell them what I know. I know from one of Emma’s friends at work that her condition is stable, but she’s got a long way to recovery. Emma’s sisters and parents are still by her bedside.

“That’s good, but you should have come, dude. It would have taken

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