Chapter 3

My parents had raised me to protect the family and stand up for myself. Right then, those two things pulled me in opposite directions.

The rooster had arrived with a cord already tied to its leg. The woman who brought it had known exactly what to do. And Scott had walked in with a ring in his pocket. None of it had happened by accident.

If my parents heard how the Delgados had used a wedding arranged between our families, Scott’s father would have to answer for it right alongside his son.

Hester held her hand out to admire the diamond. Then she crossed the few feet between us and slapped me.

The sound carried all the way to the back of the chapel. My cheek stung. Hester flexed her fingers once before she spoke.

“Know your place, Elise. Get out. This is my wedding now.”

I looked at the hand she’d hit me with. I could have hit her back before Scott got between us. I wanted to.

Before I left home, my parents had made me promise to keep our name out of any dispute with the Delgados. If I invoked it in front of those guests, whatever I did next would be taken as my family’s answer.

“Fine,” I said. “Then we’re done.”

Scott’s smile faded. He’d just put a ring on another woman’s finger, and he still looked offended to hear me say it was over.

I pulled off my veil. Two pins hit the marble. I grabbed my clutch from beside the bouquet and headed for the aisle.

“Stop,” Scott said. “Did I say you could go?”

I turned back. “What else could you possibly want, Mr. Delgado?”

He walked up to me until I had to tilt my head to look him in the eye.

“An apology. To Hester.”

“For what?”

“For humiliating her in public. She cried for days over what you did.” He took Hester’s hand and turned it palm up. “And she hurt herself slapping you. I expect you to apologize for that, too.”

I looked down at her palm. It was a little pink. My own cheek was still throbbing.

“She’s my woman now,” he said. “You’ll show her some respect.”

A laugh escaped me before I could help it.

“You want me to apologize because she hit me?” I shook my head. “When did I ever humiliate her?”

“Three months ago,” Hester said. “At your engagement party. I spilled a little wine on you by accident, and you had me thrown out in front of everyone. Then you made me pay for the dress.”

Her voice cracked on the last word. She tucked herself against Scott’s chest and dabbed at one eye with the knuckle just above her new ring. He put an arm around her.

I remembered exactly how much wine there’d been.

The party had given my family cover for a handoff. Two crews had reached a private agreement over who could move freight through which terminals. The signed copy named the men behind the companies they used as fronts.

A courier had slipped a memory card with a scan of the agreement into the lining of my clutch. I was supposed to pass it along before dinner.

Hester had come straight at me with a full glass of red wine. I’d stepped back, and she’d followed, close enough to tip the glass down the front of my dress. The clutch stayed dry. What caught my bodyguard’s attention was the way Hester reached for it afterward, offering to hold it while I cleaned up.

My bodyguard had come as a distant cousin. She took Hester into an empty coatroom, asked who’d sent her over, and escorted her out when she couldn’t get a straight answer.

Nobody sent Hester a bill. That part she’d made up.

“You had her dragged out like she was nothing,” Scott said. “Today you get to find out what that feels like. A hundred times over.”

I looked from him to Hester. She’d been sent home from a party, so he’d left me standing at the altar while she made a spectacle of me. He’d come back just in time to put a ring on her finger.

I took a breath. “Neither of you is getting an apology from me.”

The color went out of Scott’s face.

“You’ll apologize,” he said. “Then you’ll pay her ten million dollars for what you put her through.”

Hester went still against his shoulder. I wondered if he’d told her about the number beforehand.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you won’t leave Riverton in one piece.”

Several of his father’s men got up from the back pews. Two moved into the aisle behind Scott. One let his eyes drift down to where the wine had soaked through the front of my gown. He smiled when he caught me looking.

Scott watched my face. He expected me to hear ten million and start bargaining. His men were there to make sure I understood what would happen if I said I couldn’t pay.

I could have moved ten million before the guests sat down to dinner. I almost smiled at how pleased he looked with himself.

“Fine,” I said. “Ten million. I’ll pay.”

Scott blinked. Hester lifted her head off his shoulder.

I touched my cheek, then looked down at the broken porcelain and jade still scattered beside the altar.

“Now let’s talk about what you owe me. She slapped me in front of your guests and destroyed the gifts my parents sent.” I met Scott’s eyes. “I want an apology and compensation. Which of you would like to go first?”