Page 131 of Hate Me Like You Mean It

“I’m quite literally wearing the least flattering clothing I own.”

“Still hot.”

“Wejusthad sex.”

I shifted, readjusting my bulge, trying to find a more comfortable seating position. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Yourfocus. We start with the weakest link.” The tip of the ruler slid to where her mother’s name had been circled with a black marker. “Julie Cloutier. Likes interpretive dance, Montreal bagels, and spoiling her children rotten. Great sense of fashion. Horrible taste in music.”

I grinned into my mug. “Remember when she tricked us into going to that freestyle jazz festival?”

Alice snorted. “Joke was on her.”

We’d managed to sneak off on our own once the adults had opened that second bottle of wine. As it turned out, it was criminally easy for a couple of sixteen-year-olds to get their hands on drugs at a jazz festival. The joint had basically pushed its way into our hands.

Which was the argument we’d made once we’d inevitably been caught.

“Anyways. I’ll handle my mom. She’s about as hard to crack as cotton candy. Thankfully, she’s also a package deal.” The ruler stretched to point at her dad. “Anthony has two weaknesses: his wife and his kids. If she’s on board, so is he. He worships the air she breathes. It’s very gross.”

“I remember.”

“You haven’t seen them together yet, but Adrien and Ria are just as bad, if not worse. I’m still scarred from the first time he brought her to Victoria to visit my parents. We could hear them through the walls, and at one point, he dressed himself up as a blue alien wearing a loincloth. For sex reasons. It was vulgar, to say the least.”

I hummed. “Speaking of vulgar, do me a favor and lift your sweater up for me super quick?”

She flipped me off without missing a beat, her ruler sliding to the center of her master plan. Her brother’s name was written in all caps and circled ten times in bright red. “Here’s where it gets tricky. Mom, Dad, Gampy, Ria… we can try to win them over, but I have a strong feeling that their final decisions will ultimately depend on Adrien. If he doesn’t forgive you, then…” She trailed off, her grip visibly tightening.

She didn’t need to say it.

There was a reason why we’d put this off for as long as we had.

Fear and dread licked up my spine. If it came down to it, she wouldn’t choose me over her family, and I wouldn’t expect her to. But I couldn’t lose her again. I wouldn’t survive it.

She could plan this out and strategize all she wanted, but at the end of the day, I would do what I needed to keep her. If Adrien wanted me to sign away my fortune and beg on my knees for his forgiveness, so be it.

Alice hesitated as her confidence started to wane. “Adrien’s likes include his wife, his wife’s best friend’s cat, environmental conservation efforts, and plants. The easiest way to get to him would probably be to go through Ria. He has a really hard time saying no to her.” She paused again. “Unfortunately, he’s also extremely protective of her.”

“Right.” I put my mug down.

I may not have targeted her directly, but the negative press I’d instigated against her now-husband a few years back had exploded, lingering long enough to impact her. And while Adrien’s PR team had managed to kill most of the articles before they gained any significant traction, a few had managed to slip through the cracks.

The internet hadn’t taken too kindly to her (albeit minor) criminal record. Or the rumors that Adrien had used his connections to buy her acceptance into law school, despite her“lack of qualifications,” effectively stealing a more deserving student’s spot.

Most of it was bullshit, but the truth wasn’t all that important where gossip was concerned.

“I’ll talk to Ria,” Alice decided, tossing the ruler and crossing her arms as she studied her plan. “If I can warm her up and get everyone else caught up first, we’ll optimize our chances.”

“Your phone’s buzzing again.”

“It’s Rachel,” she muttered absentmindedly. “Ignore it.”

I didn’t point out how much easier it would be to block her number. She knew. She’d do it—or not—when she was ready.

“Here’s what I’m thinking.” She whipped back around. “Gampy’s flying back to Victoria tonight, and since he’s already somewhat on our side—well done on that, by the way.” My palm shot up at the same time hers did. I let her smack it before looping an arm around her waist and pulling her onto my lap.

“Hi,” she murmured, smiling.

My chest cramped. The girl had my heart resting in the palm of her hands, beating to the beat of her laughter, and she had no fucking idea.