Redhead On The Run (RedHeads #1) - Rebecca Royce Page 0,3

wasn’t exactly the same either.

I wore mine long, halfway down my back, always had. It was wavy and took a lot of maneuvering to keep it neat looking. Hope had cut hers a long time ago and never had it longer than her shoulders. While Bridget’s was long and straight, something I’d envied her for every day when I battled my curls to not frizz.

And just like that, I was dressed. I was ready to become the next Mrs. Allard.

The room was stone dead silent. Was this how it was when others got married? I’d seen movies and pictures where there was champagne and laughter. When was the last time I’d done anything like that? A year? Two? The night that Kit confessed his love?

A knock sounded, and everyone stirred to activity. It was like I was outside my body watching it happen. Laura let Justin enter the room. He fussed over me about how pretty I looked while his eyes remained dead looking, like he’d rehearsed the words over and over until they were meaningless and pointless coming out of his mouth. For just a second, I could actually feel pity for him. When had he died inside? Was there anything I could have done about that? We’d never been what anyone would call close. Justin was like this remote creature we’d shared a gilded cage with for many years but didn’t really know.

He handed me a box that Laura took from me immediately. A gift from Kit. It was a diamond tennis bracelet, huge and expensive. Not my style. Laura attached it to my right wrist, fussing over it.

“Layla?” Bridget caught my attention. “Is there anything that you need?”

I shook my head. “Not a thing.”

I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. This was my role in my life. I had no other purpose except to fulfill this moment. Flowers were placed in my hands, and I held on to them like they were a lifeline. Walking out into the hall, I took my father’s arm. He was steady but not strong. Forty-two years old, but he looked older. Every year, it was like he aged ten.

He didn’t tell me I looked beautiful. Didn’t remark on me at all. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who was going through the motions. Our guests waited around the corner in an outdoor seating area especially made for today. We walked in that direction, no one saying a word.

That was when I saw him.

While I should have been looking at Kit, who waited on the other end of the aisle for me to become his wife, I couldn’t take my eyes off someone else in the crowd. The whole crowd of people were standing and waiting for me, but he was the tallest person there right now. I might not have seen him right away, but my security team, ever present, had moved and caught my attention in that direction. My father’s business partner for the last twenty years, Ezekiel Scott, looked downright bored where he stood.

Amusement flooded me. He was fucking done with this situation, and I didn’t have to see anything except the fact that his arms were crossed over his chest like he was waiting in line to get a flu shot rather than attend my wedding.

I’d always been preoccupied with Zeke, the few times in life I’d been allowed to be around him. In their partnership, my father was the trader and Zeke the salesman. He made the deals that let my father do any trading that made them all money. Or at least, that was how it used to work when they’d been amassing their millions. These days, it changed. Something about the fund of funds they were doing now. I didn’t really understand much of it, but it seemed there was less for my father to do and a lot more for Zeke to pay attention to.

Dad was always yelling at Zeke, and if the noises I could hear from the phone at the dinners I was forced to attend were any indication, Zeke was always yelling back. They didn’t see each other in person and did business mostly remotely with the occasional bitter argument spoken through their cell phones. It was volatile between them. And something about what I was doing today was going to help my father in that situation with Zeke. High finance was like a foreign language to me, and I hadn’t asked any questions because it wasn’t like