This was the first time in more than forty years that one of my parents wasn’t the speaker for a big Royaume event. My doing it was a ceremonious passing of the torch, something Derek would have been doing without question if he hadn’t left.
I could still picture how it would have gone if this gala had taken place a year ago. This alternate reality. My brother, handsome and charismatic, making everyone laugh during his speech that no doubt would have been equal parts charming and inspiring. I would have been here, but I would have been largely ignored. Insecure arm candy to Neil, who was a bigger deal than I was. Only halfheartedly introduced by my legendary father—and only when I was standing close enough that it was absolutely necessary.
So much had changed.
And it was going to change more still.
As people arrived, they had to make their way down an enormous marble staircase to the ballroom floor where the tables were. It made every entrance a grand one, and part of the fun was watching everyone. Mom and I stood at the base of the stairs, greeting people as they came in.
Mom knew everyone’s name. She’d whisper it to me before they got to the bottom of the steps. Foreign princes and dignitaries, real estate moguls and politicians, actors. There was even a famous vlogger here, a big donor for the ALS clinical trials Royaume was doing.
There were billions of dollars in this room. Bottomless pockets. And for the first time, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with that money. I knew who I’d be to the Montgomery legacy, how Royaume would remember me, what the history books would write, and how I’d spend the rest of my life.
In the last twenty-four hours, I’d achieved a kind of clarity that I’d never thought possible.
My whole life I’d always felt a little fractured and scattered. Probably because it was always someone else trying to decide what I needed to be. I was a mosaic of someone else’s design where none of the fragments were put in the right place. And now I had finally put myself together and I recognized myself for the very first time.
I’d made my arrangements with the board. I’d coordinated with my brother and his wife. Everything was in place. I just hoped Daniel showed up for it.
As the steady stream of arriving guests turned into a trickle, Mom leaned in. “I am so impressed, Alexis. I know this isn’t usually what you’re comfortable with, but you’re doing so well.”
I kept my eyes trained on the top of the steps, hoping that the next person to appear there would be Daniel.
“I think you’d be surprised at how motivated I am,” I said.
Gabby and Jessica left their husbands at the bar with Neil and came over. Mom saw them coming and excused herself to chat with an old colleague and left me with them. This was the first time I’d spoken to either of them since the day Daniel came into the ER.
As soon as I was in earshot, Jessica sighed loudly. “How long are they going to make us wait for dinner? At five hundred dollars a seat you’d think they’d at least feed us at a reasonable hour.”
Gabby stopped in front of me, poking at the ice in her mojito with a straw. “Your dress is pretty.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, glancing at the top of the steps.
She put her straw to her mouth. “So Philip says Neil asked him to help him look for an apartment.”
When I didn’t answer she went on. “That’s good, right?”
“It is,” I said flatly.
“So, like, that’s it then?” she asked, talking around her straw. “You guys are over?”
“We’ve been over,” I reminded her.
“I know. It’s just kind of romantic that he tried so hard to get you back. I was kind of rooting for him at the end.”
I scoffed internally. Which part was romantic? Him holding me hostage in my own home? Or him finally getting the help he needed so he could be a halfway decent human being worth dating?
I didn’t bother to reply.
She just wanted gossip. And she’d have plenty of it by the end of the night—but none of it would be about Neil.
Gabby shifted her feet like my silence was making her impatient. “So have you talked to that guy?” she asked.
I looked at her now and cocked my head. “You mean the squirrel guy?”
She blinked at me. “I—”
“You met him. You spent three days living in his home. You know his name,” I said. “Maybe you should check your one-star review for the Grant House and come back with it.”
She gawked at me.
Even Jessica’s jaw dropped.