He Deceived Me, So I Destroyed His Family's Legacy novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Luncheon

The woman in green silk called me the morning after the board meeting.

Her name no longer mattered to me, but her voice had changed completely.

"The Foundation's spring luncheon is Thursday," she said. "Two hundred women. We've voted Marissa out as director."

"We would like you to sit at the head table."

"Will she be there?" I asked.

"She hasn't answered her phone in four days," the woman said. "I don't think she knows she was voted out yet."

I went, and Jonas drove.

The ballroom was the same one where these women had laughed at my dress three Aprils in a row.

I walked in wearing the plain navy suit I had bought myself, and the room went quiet.

Then a woman at table five stood up and came toward me with both hands out.

"Annabel," she said. "I told people your sister was a charity case. I told them at this very lunch."

"I know," I said. "I was at the next table."

She went red, and she did not look away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm ashamed of myself."

"Thank you," I said, and I meant it more than I had expected to.

Another woman followed her, then a third.

The woman in green silk took my elbow and walked me up to the head table, and I sat.

At twelve-thirty she tapped her glass.

"Before lunch, a brief item," she said into the microphone. "By unanimous vote of the trustees, Marissa Keane is removed as director of this Foundation."

"All pledges made in her name have been transferred to a fund for dialysis patients."

"The fund is named for no one."

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

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