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I winced. “Jacob has a life here. He’d lose all his friends and community. It took a long time for him to build his life.”
He shrugged. “Hmph. People often have to move for work. It just takes adjusting. I think mostdisabledpeople are used to adapting.”
I grimaced. “Jacob’s not disabled. He’s capable and has abilities different from you. He has a life here, a great team, and close friends.”
Percy lifted his hands. “Calm down—no need to get hysterical. We’re negotiating. I can compromise on a lot of things, but I’m not keeping a wife in two states.”
I huffed and shook my head. “You’re so confident you’ll marry me.”
His lips curved upward. “I am. Some outcomes are easy to predict. I should’ve been a banker.” He let out a dry laugh. “But I have a knack for influencing. So, politics it is for me. We all have duties to fulfill. Yours is to become a wife, and that’s what you will do.”
I frowned. “Maybe so, but I’m not moving far away from Jacob, and you’re not moving him out of state.”
He smiled broadly and wagged his finger. “There it is. I knew it was coming. Reg warned me you were stubborn, and I could see the chip on your shoulder before you even spoke.”
I clenched my jaw. “I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.”
He guffawed. “You do, and you know it. It’s because you thought you had the brass with Rocco Marini. That marriage was never going to happen.”
I crossed my arms. “Oh, so you predicted the Marinis would call off our wedding for a funeral?”
His smile was downright smug. “Something was always going to come up.”
I furrowed my brows. “What you’re implying makes no sense. No one knew Luca Marini would die—”
“And the Marinis call off your wedding, with barely over a handful of days left?” He gave me an incredulous look and tutted, his tone laced with scorn. “Come now, Adelina. Colleges still teach critical thinking, and they told me you were head of your class. You should know better.”
I averted my eyes and stiffened, not allowing myself to breathe as his words exacerbated my worries. A day hadn’t even passed before they called off our wedding.After I had a dress, we toured the grounds…but Luca. What would he have wanted? He would’ve wanted us to get married. He prepared it all especially for us.That was what I wanted to believe, but the documents left for me had me believing different.
Percy kept on speaking. “I’m not psychic, but like I said, I can predict outcomes. First of all, you’re an heiress mostly in name, daughter of a well-known drug addict and a mother who let him prostitute her. Uncle Ray has a good story about it. We all couldn’t believe it when a philanderer like Glenn Talbot decided to marry her. But according to Daddy, it set Reginald back some. It helped that Lorelei’s always been a brainless beauty—”
Slap.I was out of my seat, slapping his face before I could think.
His eyes widened in shock, and his jaw muscles clenched as he rubbed it.
“I don’t give a damn what yourdaddythinks of us. Don’t you ever talk badly about my mother again,” I hissed.
He grabbed my arms and squeezed. “Don’t ever do that again.”
I lifted my arms, breaking his hold, which he let me out of. “Then you’ll watch what you gossip about. You know nothing about my family.”
He bared his teeth. “I probably know more than you, and honestly who do you think you’re talking to? You don’t get to speak to me like you’re better. You’rebeneathme, and I certainly don’t want you.”
I rubbed my hands over my arms, as his words stung, but I felt the same way about him.
“I didn’t mean to grab you, Adelina,” he said, gentling his tone. “It was to calm you down. I never harm women.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I chided.
“Not from me,” he said. “I do apologize. But you’re the one that hit me.”
I folded my arms. “I know you’re not sorry for insulting my family. You don’t want me and think of me as beneath you, then why marry me?”
“It’s anarrangedmarriage,” he said, adjusting his tie. “My Daddy always had a soft spot for Reginald, but he didn’t think you were good enough for me. Until he saw you with Rocco. It made him believe you had value.”
“For money?” I squinted at him.
“Money?” he snort-chuckled. “No. Daddy didn’t like how Roccoenjoyedhimself at Cannes after brushing off his friend’s daughter, Marjorie. He had the crazy idea Rocco wanted you, and he loves to take what others want, just like Reg.”