Page 76 of Savage Suit

Nathaniel was the aimless spendthrift. At least Nicholas and my sisters had their own money, running to me to supplement whatever other financial relief they sought. Case in point, Nicholas’s demand I pay the speaker’s fee he’d lost out on because of that article.

He could fuck himself. He asked for, and got, almost as much as me during such appearances. While I limited my access to command a higher price, Nicholas didn’t. It shocked me he received seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. He was a keynote speaker at least five times a year. Didn’t he understand the basics of supply and demand?

“Leave, Noah,” Nathaniel ordered.

Maybe I’d never taken the time to pay attention to how my abrasiveness affected Nate. Today, I saw his disappointment and hurt. Perhaps he was even a little lost.

It didn’t take a fucking crystal ball to know the reason I viewed him through a different lens.

Ryan. That woman, that woman, that woman.

Thatwoman was going to run me fucking ragged with thoughts of her and her disapproval serving as an angel to my fucking devil.

Fuck. It didn’t matter. Ryan’s unfiltered condemnation of my behavior or even Nathaniel’s offense. Marrying Alessia was a fucking mistake.

Perhaps my irrational ‘mommy issues’, or however Nathaniel phrased it, guided me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t. My most pressing concern was preventing my little brother from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Using his only source of income, and dedicating valuable time he’d never get back on a woman with unknown motives, would ruin him.

“What in God’s name possessed you to marry on today?” I asked, breaking the tense stillness of the room.

Before he answered, Alessia took in a shaky breath, stepped away from Nathaniel, and faced me. My last few minutes had passed with little attention on her, so her red eyes and wet cheeks surprised me. It appeared she’d been crying buckets. Actual tears.

I frowned, awareness of someone else’s pain and feelings seeping into me.

She sniffled, and more tears slid down her face. I grabbed the silk handkerchief from my jacket and handed it to her.

“We discussed your mother,” she said, her voice breaking, “and how brief life is. Here today and gone tomorrow.”

Her miserable whisper settled into me. The mention of my mother sent an array of feelings through me, butsomethingwas missing. Maybe it was the bitterness I’d felt for so long. Or, possibly, another woman,twoother women, commanded my attention. As fucked up as that sounded, the day I’d found out about her death and all her misery before the plane crash I carried on my shoulders, slipped into the background.

The girl in blue was a sweet, sacred memory and the firecracker I’d recently hired was a challenge well met. If I knew nothing else about Ryan, Iknowshe would’ve handed me my ass on a fucking platter for my handling of this entire situation. And my sweet angel at the masquerade? I had the feeling she would’ve expected better from me, too.

Sighing, I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at Alessia again.

“We decided to go for it,” she said the moment she saw my attention had returned to her. “I know you’re against Nathaniel and I being together, Noah.” Another sob escaped her. “I’d never do anything to hurt your brother. I love him and he loves you. He told me all the awful things he said to you at the bar, but he worries about you. He just wants you to be happy. He’s wanted to ask you about her, since you and she were the closest, but he’s concerned about how that’ll affect you.”

I winced. Not once had I ever offered to answer questions he might’ve had about Mother. I glanced in Nate’s direction, but he clenched his jaw and hung his head.

“I don’t want our marriage to cause a rift between the two of you, so we can postpone the ceremony until the DNA test is done.”

She looked and sounded so devastated, much like my mother in times of distress.

No, not my mother.Ourmother. She’d belonged to Nicholas and Rosalie and Nathaniel and Remy.

How would our mother feel about Nathaniel’s courthouse marriage? About Alessia? Would Mother care about a bottom line or about the emotions involved?

Undoubtedly, she’d place Nathaniel’s happiness ahead of all else. A pit opened inside me. Money would never trump her children’s peace and contentment. Though a businesswoman through and through, she always prioritized our well-being. After all, that had gotten her killed.

“Postponement is unnecessary,” I gritted, “proceed.”

Nathaniel and Alessia breathed sighs of relief.

“I’m still against you two marrying so hastily.”

“Oh my God, Noah—”

Alessia placed a finger on Nathaniel’s lips and silenced him. “He’s given us the go-ahead. It’s what you wanted.”

“He hasn’t,” Nathaniel protested.