“The guest rooms are empty.”
“That’s not the point.”
There it was.
The point.
Bryce placed his napkin down and began speaking in the controlled tone he used when he wanted selfishness to sound reasonable. Her parents would be emotional. Long-term houseguests strain marriages. Her mother was “particular.” Her father had “opinions about everything.” And most telling of all: this was exactly why inherited money needed protection from “outside family pressure.”
Outside family.
He meant her parents.
Not his own, of course. His mother had stayed with them for six weeks the year before after a facelift revision and treated the house like a hotel with complaints. Bryce had called that “helping family through recovery.”
Natalya listened.
Nodded once or twice.
