I Dumped My Groom and Married My Childhood Crush in 30 Minutes novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Toast

Eleanor stood at the head of the hall with a champagne flute and waited for silence.

The room went quiet at once.

"Friends," she said. "Thank you for coming to my sixtieth."

Polite laughter.

"I have run this town's oldest firm for nine years, and I have never once made a speech about myself."

More laughter.

"Tonight I will, because something has been said about my family this week that I cannot let stand."

Conway and I stood near the fireplace, under the portrait.

Everyone in the room could see both faces at once.

Eleanor never looked up at the painting.

"My son made a grave mistake," she said. "A cruel one. He has apologized, and he will go on apologizing, and I am ashamed."

Across the hall Tobias flinched.

"But I am also a mother and a woman who watches her town," Eleanor said. "And I am not the only one who has noticed how quickly a wounded girl was rescued by a man with an empty pocket."

My stomach dropped.

"Eleanor," I said, loud enough to carry.

"Let me finish, dear."

She turned and held out her hand, and a young man in a black vest crossed the room and gave her a sheet of paper.

"Nine years ago," Eleanor said, "I helped a young man leave this town."

The hall had gone completely still.

"He was twenty-two. I paid him a hundred and forty thousand dollars to go, and I have his signature here. I paid it because I did not want him near a girl I loved like my own daughter."

She held the paper up to the room.

"He took it. He left her without a word. And last Saturday, when she was at her most broken, he came back through the front doors with a smile and took her."

A sound went through the guests, low and ugly.

"I believe Mr. Redfern came home because the Harcourt name is worth more than it was," she said. "I believe he sold her once, and I believe he is selling her now."

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