The Whole Valley Called Her the Plain Fiancee, So She Let the Banquet Read the Deed novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: No Confidence
Signe's POV
The man with the shaved head had said easement to a ballroom of two hundred and sixty people, and the ballroom did not like it.
I felt it go down the room like a draft under a door.
The growers' association sat at their long row of tables in their good jackets with their wives.
For the first time that evening, not one of them was looking at his plate.
Helene rose.
She stood in her black silk with her pearls at her throat and one hand flat on the cloth.
"Gentlemen," she said to the Denver table, in a voice that was almost steady.
"We will discuss this tomorrow, as arranged."
"I don't think we will," the woman in black said.
She did not look at Helene.
She looked at me, standing by the lectern with my hands at my sides.
Then she looked down the head table.
"Mr. Wheelwright," she said.
"You have been very quiet."
"I have," Rhys said.
He stood up.
The chair legs scraped on the parquet, and I knew that sound.
It was the sound I had heard at the Growers' Dinner, when he stayed seated.
He put both hands flat on the white cloth.
I saw his knuckles, and I knew why his hands were there.
Two hundred and sixty faces turned toward him.
Every one of them had heard about the feed store.
Every one of them knew what was about to happen to his throat.
"I move," he said.
He stopped.
I saw it close on him at the second word, and I saw him stand in his father's ballroom with his mouth open and nothing coming.
I saw Helene's face.
It was pale and still, and in her eyes was what she had waited thirty years to see.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Whole Valley Called Her the Plain Fiancee, So She Let the Banquet Read the Deed are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →
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