He Shoved Cake in My Face. I Destroyed His Empire! novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: The Reception
Allegra's POV
The boathouse on the Hudson had been built for a different century and decorated for this one.
There were four hundred white roses, a string quartet and a dance floor of black glass at the center of the room.
I walked in at nine, in a black silk gown with long sleeves, on my mother's arm.
Colette stood at the foot of the aisle in an ivory dress, under a smile that had been held in place since noon.
"You're here," she said. "You wore black."
"I couldn't find the beads."
She flinched, and her eyes darted to the corners.
There were no cameras.
Dominic had banned them after the salon.
"Maid of honor," Colette said, in a small, hard voice. "You promised."
"I promised to come."
My mother, beside me, inclined her head to the bride, about a quarter of an inch.
Then she walked past her, to a table at the front where three elderly men in dinner jackets were already rising to greet her.
I watched one of them kiss her hand.
I did not see Stefano.
I saw a cable run along the baseboard, behind a curtain, to a booth at the back where a man in a catering jacket was eating a canapé very slowly.
The vows went by.
Dominic said his to Colette with his eyes on the guests.
Tobias stood beside him as best man in the good suit, and when his eyes met mine across the aisle, neither of us smiled.
At a quarter to ten, the music stopped.
Dominic took the microphone.
"Friends," he said. "Investors. Family. Thank you for sharing the best day of my life, and the best day of a business I started with my oldest friend."
He put an arm around Tobias's shoulders.
"In a moment, you'll see us do something very special. DePeyster Harbor enters its next chapter. Toby?"
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