The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,248

a fiancée to be a man of confidence, and why not? He had the world by the tail, right? Yet he was so worried about his cousin coming to the wedding and stealing me away from him that he convinced his friend, a junior partner in my firm, to lie to me and tell me that my job at the firm was dependent on my wedding. If my wedding went perfectly, I’d make partner. But if I didn’t go through with the wedding, I would be fired.” She scanned the crowd until her gaze landed on the guilty man. “And Ben Stuart was so convincing I fell for it.” She began a slow clap, the stems of the bouquet muffling the sound. “Bravo, Ben. You deserve a Tony nomination for that performance.”

“Blair,” Neil pleaded. “I didn’t know that Ben—”

“Don’t you even.” She hit him in the chest with the bouquet again, a shower of roses flying every direction. “Yeah, I figured it out, even if I admit to missing it last night when you mentioned my ultimatum from work without me having told you about it.”

“Blair.”

“Then you mentioned it again this morning when you realized that I truly intended to break up with you. So when you failed to talk me out of dumping you, you sent your slutty girlfriend to Garrett’s hotel room, then insisted that we go back to talk to Garrett together. But here’s your mistake with that one, Neil: What are the odds of me finding my fully clothed boyfriend with a lingerie-clad woman twice? Because, call me a fool—and I’ve rightly earned the title—but I can’t imagine Garrett would ask me to marry him and then invite a skanky woman to his room twenty minutes later.”

Neil’s face had turned as red as the bridesmaids’ dresses. “Maybe if you knew how to satisfy a man, I wouldn’t have to go elsewhere for sex.”

A horrified gasp spread throughout the crowd.

She put her hands on her hips and eyed him with distaste. “Neil, you wouldn’t know how to satisfy a woman if she supplied her own vibrator.”

Debra and her daughter gasped, but the sounds were practically drowned out by the crowd’s collective laughter. Neil’s fury increased, and he took a step toward her.

Garrett had heard enough. “You need to back away from her Neil. Now.” The command in his voice was unmistakable. He started down the aisle, the papers in his hand. “Have you listed your grievances, Blair? Because I have a few of my own.”

At the sound of his voice, she twisted to face him, her mouth dropping open in surprise. “Garrett.”

He approached the altar, trying to keep his rage at bay. “Neil, you self-righteous prick.”

Neil pointed to the back door. “Get the hell out of here, Garrett! None of this concerns you!”

“When you send your girlfriend to strip in my room, it concerns me. When you hurt and try to humiliate Blair, it concerns me.”

Neil leaned closer and lowered his voice, motioning to the papers in his hand. “I thought you were bringing me an offer, cousin. Do you really want to do this?”

Garrett sneered, “You mean the deal where I was going to pay you to call off the wedding?” He looked over at Blair and smiled. “Looks like I don’t need that deal anymore.”

“What about the other?” Neil asked, his tone hateful.

“The other?” Garrett asked, feigning innocence. “I think Nana Ruby has something to say about that.”

Neil’s face paled. “Nana Ruby?”

“I’ve had enough of your bratty behavior,” Nana said, standing up from her seat toward the front of the church and shuffling past several people to get to the aisle. “I should box your ears, Neilson Allen Fredrick.”

He clenched his hands at his sides. “Stay out of this, Nana.”

Aunt Debra rose up and rushed over to her mother. “What’s going on here?”

“What’s going on, Debbie Sue, is that your son is a liar, a cheater, and apparently an extortionist. You should have raised him better.”

“They’re lying!” Debra shouted. “My little Neil wouldn’t do any of this!”

Nana Ruby waved to him. “The proof is in the pudding.” She looked up at him. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m innocent.”

“Then I guess you won’t mind signing this paper Garrett’s made, ensuring you stay innocent.”

Neil glanced around the church at all the curious guests. The back of the church was now full of over a hundred people, who from the state of their attire, were social media onlookers. “This doesn’t seem like the right time.”