Page 12 of Not His Bride

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“No. I’m hoping eventually I can give you a reason to believe me.”

She looks at me for a few seconds, and I can practically watch whatever hope she had for us this morning fighting with everything she heard tonight.

The door to the ballroom bursts open, and her parents and sister storm toward us. The timing couldn’t be worse.

“Lilith Jovi, have you lost your goddamn mind?” Phillip Jovi says, raising his voice. His cheeks are a deeper red than I’ve ever seen them.

“Me?” Lilith asks. Her gaze darts between Debbie and me. “I was blindsided and humiliated out there, and somehow this is my fault?”

“No, no, Lilith, nothing is your fault.” My words come so fast they practically slur.

“The hell it isn’t. Do you have any idea what you did in there?” Phillip demands. “There are our best investors and reporters in that room. Half the people involved in this merger watched you announce an annulment before dinner was even served.”

Lilith blinks at him. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

“I’m worried about the mess you just created.”

“She didn’t create it,” I say, more forcefully this time.

Phillip stares at me.

I step between him and Lilith before I give myself time to think better of it. “Debbie played the video. I said everything on it. If you want somebody to blame, start with us.”

Debbie scoffs behind him. “Oh, please. I did her a favor.” She turns to her sister. “You were about to spend God knows how long married to a man who asked Dad for me first.”

Debbie can give her excuses all day long, but it’s painfully obvious to me what she was trying to do. She wasn’t trying to warn her sister; she wanted everyone in that room to know that I hadn’t picked Lilith first. It’s all about Debbie’s vanity and not wanting anyone to think she hadn’t come out on top.

That explains the smile. She wasn’t happy Lilith knew the truth. She was happy everyone else knew the truth.

Lilith gets it. “You could have sent me the video.”

Debbie’s expression barely changes. “Would you have believed me?”

“You could have shown me upstairs. Yesterday. Last week. This morning. Literally any time before you put it on a thirty-foot screen in front of all our guests.”

Debbie folds her arms. “At least now nobody can pretend Gallagher chose you.”

I feel something hot crawl up the back of my neck.

Lilith goes completely motionless beside me, and Debbie notices. Still, she doesn’t take the words back.

“Debbie,” Tammy says quietly.

“What?” Debbie asks. “It’s true.”

“Not anymore,” I snap. “Not even close.”

Saying it out loud makes me realize how fucking stupid I was. I looked at Debbie’s face, her name in the press, the attention she got when she walked into a room, and decided to start a marriage around that. I didn’t know her any better than I knew Lilith. I only thought I did.

Lilith exhales beside me. “Can everybody just stop?”

I turn toward her.

“I am not doing this.” She points between Debbie and me. “I’m not standing here while the two of you argue over which one of us you want more.”

“That isn’t what I—”