cowboy’s son,” Daddy said, disdain in his voice. “As for Vivien and her fortune… well, I’m sure you’re aware of how this whole marriage thing works. What’s hers is mine.”
Not for long. Tess held her tongue, but I knew she was thinking it.
She was too smart to reveal too much. Daddy was already too cautious about the prenup. He didn’t need to know that Vivien was working against him.
She was our last hope. I flinched at the thought of the blonde with the vacant stare and the Minnie Mouse voice.
She was our last hope to get out from under Daddy’s thumb? How pathetic was that?
But no, that wasn’t quite right.
Something inside me shifted with a jolt as the information I’d been hearing filtered through, registering more fully. Past the shock and the sadness and the throbbing pain, my brain was starting to work.
Vivien was Tess’s last hope. Not mine.
I opened my eyes and stared at the wood beneath my feet.
I was out. I was free.
Daddy’s voice cut off my lightbulb moment “Come now, Jack, you didn’t honestly think I would let some lowly farmhand come to my town and join my cast without making sure I was the one who pulled his strings, now did you?”
Silence followed. I winced at the idea of what Jack’s face must look like now. At the horror in his eyes when he fully realized that my father had been playing him all along, just like he’d played the rest of us.
I couldn’t bear to think of Jack’s agony when he realized that his father’s future was on the line and his own independence was at stake… because of me.
This was my fault. Oh, I might not have done the dirty work this time, but I’d drawn Jack into this world. Into my world. I should have known Daddy would be two steps ahead. I should have known that if I’d had any taste of happiness, he would crush it.
Jack was under his thumb now, and that I would have to fix.
I closed my eyes, listening to my breath, to the painful silence as my father no doubt gloated over once again having the upper hand.
“So, you see, while I admire your little Scooby Doo investigation into my finances, I’m afraid you’ve gone to a lot of trouble for nothing.” He set down his glass, and I tensed.
He couldn’t find me out here eavesdropping or there would be hell to pay.
I struggled to my feet and headed back toward my room, but then thought better of it.
I didn’t want to see Jack—I had no idea what to say to him. And if he kept this from me—if he pretended that everything was all right…
The thought alone felt like betrayal.
But could I really expect him to choose me over his father?
No.
Of course not.
And Tess.
I shut my eyes as I hovered in front of my bedroom door.
Tess had known. She’d known. I didn’t have to imagine betrayal, I felt it like a stab in the gut. I should have known she’d still have her secrets. How long she’d been sitting on this, I didn’t know, but no matter how long it was, it was too long.
I heard their voices behind me and moved quickly, heading toward a side entrance and ducking behind some hedges to keep from being seen.
Pulling out my phone, I deleted the text I’d started to Jack. I couldn’t see him right now. Jack knew, and he was going to keep it from me. I just knew it. I shut my eyes tight. Not that I could blame him. His father’s livelihood was hanging in the balance. His whole life was in danger and all because he’d met me.
I stared down at my phone trying to figure out what to do next. Who I could trust.
Brandon. I texted him quickly and told him where to meet me with his car—at the bottom of the hill by Tess’s private entrance.
She and Jack were likely searching my room and the party if they wanted to find me. But I couldn’t see them. I needed answers, and right now, I wasn’t sure I could trust either one of them.
I didn’t move from my spot until I heard Brandon’s ride pull up, and then I dove into his car like I was on the run from the law.
“Hey, are you all right? What’s with the SOS?” Brandon asked as I clicked in the seatbelt.
“Could you give me a ride to my mom’s house?”
He was staring at me, and