Chapter 3 - The Toast Nobody Expected
Roman read the message once.
Then a second time.
He did not curse.
He did not raise his voice.
He simply became very still.
Sadi had already learned that was worse.
“Do not turn this into a war,” she whispered.
They stood in an unused hallway behind the ballroom while music played beyond the closed doors.
Roman held the photograph by its edges.
“They photographed you at my house.”
“I noticed.”
“That means someone has been watching the estate.”
“Also noticed.”
“Sadi.”
“What?”
“This is not funny.”
“No. But if I don’t make jokes, I’m going to panic.”
Roman’s expression changed.
Not enough to become gentle.
Enough that she noticed.
“You’re safe.”
She shook her head.
“You cannot promise that.”
He paused.
Then surprised her.
“You’re right.”
Roman Rossi admitting he could not control something felt more significant than reassurance.
He handed her the photograph.
“Your sister said Ethan owes Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“Did she say why?”
“An investment.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the answer she has.”
Roman looked through the ballroom doors.
Ethan had returned.
He was smiling again.
Poorly.
“Stay with Chloe.”
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“This concerns my family.”
“It now concerns mine.”
“Roman.”
“Sadi.”
She folded her arms.
“You volunteered to be my boyfriend tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Boyfriends don’t issue operational commands.”
“What do they do?”
“Hold purses. Compliment dresses. Pretend to like people’s mothers.”
“I can hold a purse.”
She almost smiled.
Then music stopped.
Linda tapped a spoon against her glass.
“Toasts.”
Sadi groaned.
Her mother loved microphones.
Linda stood at the front of the room and spoke about Chloe’s childhood, accomplishments, beauty, and perfect timing.
Then, for reasons known only to cruel gods and mothers with champagne, she mentioned Sadi.
“And of course, Sadi surprised us all tonight by bringing someone.”
Laughter.
Sadi’s stomach tightened.
Linda continued.
“We’re just happy she finally found a reason not to hide in the kitchen.”
Silence.
Not total.
Worse.
Polite.
Sadi looked down.
The old shame came quickly.
Efficiently.
Like it had kept itself sharpened.
Roman began to stand.
She touched his hand.
“No.”
He looked at her.
Sadi stood instead.
She took the microphone from her mother.
Linda blinked.
Sadi faced the room.
Her pulse hammered.
For twenty-eight years she had believed dignity meant surviving humiliation quietly.
Maybe dignity could also make noise.
“My mother is right about one thing.”
People waited.
“I spent a lot of time in kitchens.”
A few uncertain laughs.
“I worked through college. I worked after college. I worked when my degree didn’t magically become a career. I worked when my boyfriend decided my body embarrassed him.”
Derek went white.
Amanda stared at him.
Sadi continued.
“And apparently I still work enough that my family thinks putting me near a service door is comforting.”
Linda whispered, “Sadi.”
She kept going.
“But kitchens taught me something.”
Her eyes found Chloe.
“The people near the kitchen hear everything.”
Chloe’s expression changed.
“And they usually know when somebody is lying before the people sitting at the expensive tables do.”
Ethan’s smile vanished.
Roman noticed.
Sadi lifted her champagne glass.
“So here’s to Chloe.”
Her voice softened.
“To never shrinking yourself to make somebody else comfortable.”
Chloe’s eyes filled.
Sadi looked toward Derek.
“To recognizing that anybody who asks you to become smaller so they can feel bigger has already told you everything you need to know.”
Amanda slowly lowered her glass.
Derek stared at the table.
“And to family.”
Sadi looked at her mother.
“May we eventually learn how to love one another without turning love into a ranking.”
Nobody laughed now.
Sadi lifted her glass.
“To Chloe.”
The room answered.
“To Chloe.”
She returned the microphone.
Roman was staring at her.
“What?”
He leaned close.
“I may be reconsidering who in this relationship is frightening.”
“Good.”
Dinner resumed awkwardly.
Derek disappeared toward the bar.
Amanda stayed.
Ten minutes later she came to Sadi.
“Can we talk?”
Sadi glanced at Roman.
He stayed seated.
Amanda led her to a quiet corner.
“I didn’t know.”
“About what?”
“What Derek said to you when you broke up.”
Sadi looked away.
“He told me you ended things because you wanted different lives.”
“That is technically true.”
Amanda’s expression tightened.
“He comments on what I eat.”
Sadi looked back.
“He what?”
“At first it was small.”
Amanda hugged her arms.
“Bread has too many carbs. Dessert is unnecessary. That dress looked better last year.”
Sadi felt no triumph.
Only anger.
Familiar anger.
“You don’t deserve that.”
Amanda’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Sadi touched her arm.
“No, I mean really know it.”
Across the room, Roman watched.
Not possessively.
Proudly.
That scared Sadi more than attraction should have.
Then Chloe screamed.
Every head turned.
Ethan stood beside her.
His face was gray.
A man in a black suit had placed a folder on their table.
Roman recognized him immediately.
Moretti’s man.
Inside the folder was a loan agreement.
Two million dollars.
Ethan’s signature sat at the bottom.
So did another.
Linda Miller.
Sadi’s mother.
Chloe looked at her mother.
“What did you do?”
Linda started crying.
“The house was supposed to be collateral for thirty days.”
Sadi stared.
“Our house?”
Linda looked at her.
“Your father’s house.”
Sadi stopped breathing.
Their father had left the Oak Park house equally to both daughters.
Linda had been allowed to live there for life.
She did not own it.
Which meant she could not legally pledge it.
Roman picked up the contract.
His eyes narrowed.
“This signature is notarized.”
Sadi looked at him.
“So?”
“It means someone made an illegal document look legitimate.”
The Moretti representative smiled.
“Debt is debt.”
Roman’s gaze became cold.
“No.”
He placed the contract down.
“Fraud is fraud.”
The man’s smile vanished.
Roman leaned closer.
“And you picked the wrong family gathering to deliver it.”
Sadi grabbed his sleeve.
Roman looked at her.
She expected rage.
Instead he stepped back.
The Moretti man left.
Chloe began crying.
Ethan sat with his face in his hands.
And Sadi suddenly understood something.
This was not about a wedding.
May you like
Somebody had built a trap involving the Millers long before Roman walked into the room.
And somehow, they had been waiting for him to notice.
