Chapter 1
Genevieve ended her wedding reception before the band finished the song.
“Guests go home. Family stays.”
Nobody questioned whether she meant it.
Capos began clearing the ballroom while bodyguards opened the main doors. Caterers were told to stop service. Champagne remained untouched on tables beneath arrangements that had cost more than most people’s annual salaries.
Genevieve did not look at any of it.
Her attention stayed on Adelaide.
The private physician kept on retainer by the Bellomo family examined her in a sitting room off the ballroom. She had bruised her hip and wrist but suffered no fracture.
Adelaide tried to dismiss it.
“I’ve fallen harder gardening.”
Genevieve stared at her.
“Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
“He kicked a chair out from under you.”
Adelaide’s mouth tightened.
“That part I noticed.”
Even hurt, she could make Genevieve want to laugh.
Genevieve didn’t.
Something inside her was too cold.
When the doctor finished, Genevieve returned to the ballroom.
Derek had removed his tuxedo jacket. A red mark covered one side of his face.
Lucille stood beside him.
Neither looked ashamed.
Derek spoke first.
“You made a spectacle of us.”
Genevieve looked at the overturned chair.
“You began the spectacle.”
“She has been disrespecting me for months.”
“My mother?”
“She treats me like I’m applying for employment instead of marrying her daughter.”
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Lucille interrupted.
“It means Adelaide has never accepted that this marriage joins two families.”
Genevieve looked at her.
“A marriage joins two people.”
Lucille gave her a thin smile.
“That is a very romantic way to describe a transaction everyone else understands.”
The word caught Genevieve’s attention.
Transaction.
Derek glanced sharply at his mother.
Lucille noticed too late.
Genevieve folded her arms.
“What transaction?”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“You just called my wedding a transaction.”
Derek stepped forward.
“We can discuss business tomorrow.”
Genevieve’s expression changed.
“Business?”
He realized his mistake.
The wedding had been deliberately kept separate from every Bellomo corporate matter. Genevieve had insisted on it.
“No contracts tonight. No signatures. No meetings,” she reminded him.
“I know.”
“Then why would tomorrow involve business?”
Derek looked away.
Genevieve called her outside counsel before midnight.
Her first instruction was simple.
Freeze every pending Bellomo transaction involving Derek Callahan, Lucille Callahan, or any Callahan-controlled company.
Derek laughed when he heard.
“You can’t undo everything because you’re angry.”
Genevieve slowly turned.
May you like
“What exactly do you think has already been done?”
For the first time, Derek had no answer.
