The Fake Debutante and the True Billionaire novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Tug

"No," Carlisle said.

I had just told him about Tenny and the soundboard.

He said it standing in the wheelhouse of the Magnolia, with rain drumming on the glass.

"He's seventeen."

"He's seventeen and he can wire a pearl."

"He'll be in a ballroom with Marcelline Pinckney."

"He'll be at the back, behind a console, in headphones."

"And if she looks over?"

"Then she sees a skinny kid at a soundboard."

He turned and put both hands flat on the chart table.

I had sat on that table ten days ago.

He let his head hang.

"I can't do this, Jess."

"You did it beautifully on Thursday."

"I held her hand."

He said it.

"She patted my knuckles, Jess, like I was a dog she'd decided to keep."

"That was the point."

"I know it was the point!"

He straightened, and the anger came off him in a hard wave.

"And it costs me. Two freight customers from the old families moved their cargo to Savannah this week."

"That's four million dollars."

I stared at him.

"You didn't tell me."

"I'm telling you now. Not so you'll forgive it. So you'll know what it is."

His voice dropped.

"I would pay it twice. What I can't pay is watching you hurt in front of people while I sit on my hands."

"You're not on your hands."

"I'm on a leash."

"Then I'm on the same one!" I shouted.

"Do you think I liked holding her train? I want to put my fist through that satin."

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