Page 253 of Power Play
The anger left me so quickly that it felt like falling. “What?”
Her voice shook. “They already knew about you.”
“Since when?”
“The fair.”
My jaw tightened.
“One of Daddy’s colleagues has a son at KFU. He saw us.”
“They knew since the fucking fair?”
She nodded.
“And said nothing?”
“They thought it would pass.”
A slow laugh left me. “They thought I was a phase.”
Charm wiped her face. “My mother laughed when I told her I was bringing my boyfriend to Thanksgiving.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid. “She laughed?”
“She thought I was joking.”
“What else?”
Charm shook her head.
“Dímelo,” I repeated, lowering my voice.
“They took me outside.”
I didn’t move.
“She said you were beneath me.”
The apartment fell silent as something inside my chest went very cold.
Charm kept talking now that she had started. “My dad said you weren’t my future. They said you had no foundation. My mother brought up your reputation, and Daddy said you were dangerous.”
I looked away because if I kept watching her, I was going to say something I couldn’t take back.
“I told them you had a degree. I told them Klein loved you and that they didn’t know anything about you.”
My teeth clenched. My degree shouldn’t have mattered. Klein’s approval shouldn’t have been the piece that made me worthy of sitting at their table.
“And?”
“My mother said it didn’t change what she thought.”
I nodded slowly. “Pendejos.”
“Ryan.”
“No.” I looked back at her. “Don’t fucking defend them right now.”
