Page 315 of Double or Nothing

Dad raises his eyebrows.

“I haven’t blamed anyone. That’s just come from your lips, not mine.”

I sigh.

“Bryce was helping me, not Jack.”

“By advising Reid behind my back?”

“No. That isn’t how it is. He believes in my paintings. He always did!”

Dad’s brows don’t soften.

“Belief in someone doesn’t mean you can manipulate events to your own advantage. Loyalties are loyalties. Period.”

I can’t stop a hiss of a laugh.

“That’s rich coming from you, Dad. Hypocrisy at its finest.”

Mum inhales so sharply she puts a hand to her chest. Dad tenses up, his expression filled with scorn.

I already overstepped the mark at the auction house, but the tension keeps on growing.

Christopher places a hand on my knee.

“No point getting worked up, Alice. Let’s not get feisty now.”

I shove his hand away.

“You don’t get to say anything about me. You lied to me right from the start.”

Mum closes her eyes. Dad looks out of the window. Both of them feigning ignorance.

“Let’s not discuss our relationship in the car, darling,” Christopher says. “This evening has already attracted enough attention, I think. For everyone.”

He looks pointedly at Dad.

Of course.

Those two in cahoots over the Parker Otley alliance.

That’s the real disaster at play here. Not Christopher’s lying. Not the engagement. Not being practically caged by my family loyalty and having to fake enthusiasm over pink fucking roses.

The fact that people in the room may have noticed an argument.

“Such a shame if the perfect façade got ruptured,” I say. “Heaven forbid anyone were to witness anything less than idyllic behaviour from the Parkers.”

“Alice, please!” Mum says.

She sounds wounded, as though I’m the one hurting her.

I turn back to the window.

My reflection shimmers in the glass. Perfect hair. Navy dress. Christopher’s ring flashing whenever we pass beneath a streetlight.

“The façade isn’t from our side of this atrocity,” Dad says. “Reid deliberately inflated the sale. He drove it far beyond any sensible valuation. Any fool could see that.”

His words hit like a sledgehammer.