They Threw Us in the Snow. I Owned Everything. novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Gala and the Snow Globe

The petition sat folded in my clutch, and it had named Tobias.

He had read it at the kitchen table the night before, and all he said was, "She needs somebody to blame. I'm used to it."

"I'm not," I said. "Come with me tomorrow."

Margaret throws the Thayer Foundation's New Year's Eve gala at the Ferris Road house every year.

A hundred and fifty guests had been invited, and I was still on the list.

Margaret hadn't taken me off it, because taking me off meant explaining why.

I walked up the front steps at nine o'clock in a red dress that I had bought for exactly this.

Tobias walked beside me in a black suit.

He had not worn a tie in eight years. He wore one tonight, and he tugged at it twice on the way up the drive.

"Leave it," I said.

"It's strangling me."

"It's the only thing about you that's civilized."

"Thanks," he said.

A man in a dark jacket held the door.

I stepped across the sill I had been pushed over a week before, and nobody stopped me.

The house smelled of pine and champagne.

Candles lined the staircase, and a string quartet played in the front hall.

The big tree stood where it had stood on Christmas Eve, in the corner of the dining room, with the presents still arranged beneath it.

I walked straight to it.

Behind me the quartet kept playing, but the guests nearest the door had gone quiet.

I knelt in my red dress and found the snow globe and the little brass telescope under the tree.

Joy's name was on both tags.

I picked them up and stood.

"Laurel," Margaret said.

She stood at the foot of the staircase in a black gown with diamonds at her throat.

Colin stood beside her, pale, with a drink he wasn't drinking.

"These belong to my daughter," I said.

"They were bought on Colin's card."

"Then your son can send me the receipt." I put the telescope in the crook of my arm. "Joy's seven. She doesn't owe you anything. Her grandmother made her give her Christmas back with a room full of people watching."

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend