Page 109 of Lavish

“Mama, please,” Laurene said. “We didn’t invite them over for this.”

“Exactly,” Vincent said.

“Can I get some more bread?” Laurene called to a servant. “Quickly!”

“It’s never going to work between them,” Erik said.

“You don’t have to like him,” Serena said, her voice almost too even, “but you don’t get to talk to him like he’s beneath us. Especially not in front of me.”

Yvonne blinked, slow. “Excuse me?”

“I said what I said,” she murmured. “You heard me the first time. Miles is a part of this family, he deserves just as much respect as the rest of us. What his father did is done. For the sake of all of us, it’s better we get along.”

The table went still. Even the servers froze in the background like they’d felt a shift in air pressure.

Miss Yvonne looked shocked at Serena’s words. “You think you’re grown enough to talk back now?”

“You know what makes you nervous?” I said, calm as hell. “It’s not my father. It’s not the past. It’s the fact that I lost everything, and I’m still here. Still at your same fucking level. What if I tell your family what you really did?”

Everyone turned to him. Erik opened his mouth—maybe to speak, maybe to spit—Yvonne’s chair scraped back, loud against the marble.

“Well,” she said crisply, rising, “dinner’s over.”

No one argued. Then it was just the servers collecting dishes like they wanted to be invisible, and me. Still at the table. I didn’t move until I felt Serena’s hand in mine again.

“You knew Erik would say something. You knew exactly how he’d react.”

“I’m not like you. I don’t sweep shit under the rug. I address things.”

Her fingers twitched in mine but didn’t pull away.

“You didn’t deserve that,” she said. “You never did.”

That made my hackles lower, and I squinted at her. “Are you being…comforting?”

Serena didn’t say anything. She placed her hand on my cheek and then kissed me. Leaning back, she blinked at me before her mouth brushed mine again, slower this time—like she was tasting something familiar but long lost.

I didn’t move at first. I was too stunned.

Then I sank into it, cupping her waist like I’d been waiting for this moment since we fell apart.

And maybe I had.

CHAPTER 25

Serena

Tonight was a disaster.

I couldn’t sleep, staring out the window.

Erik. Mama. Jenese.Lush.The weight of all those judging eyes and opinions felt crushing, like a physical force bearing down on me. Dealing with their expectations, criticisms, and need to control me was draining.

I was tired of trying to be what everyone wanted.

After threatening the Lush Chronicles with Mama’s wrath and a threat to town funding, I managed to get them to pull thatDear Dahliasection from the newspaper, with a vow to keep quiet about it.

Tossing back the sheets, I jumped out of bed and padded across the room, and I counted back from five before opening the door and peering out.