Chapter 37

In spite of the fact he’d married Beth Martin, Sir would never be considered one of them. Even his astronomical wealth, when he’d had it, couldn’t buy that for him.

The Families weren’t angels; there were Alden, Stuart, and Richardson bastards all over the country, considering they went to Ivy League colleges on the East Coast and Stanford on the West, but one thing the Families never did was toy with each other. Maybe that was why I’d been willing to believe Daniel was interested in me.

That was one thing I’d learned from Sir—not because he followed that edict, but because he didn’t. When I was seven, Eddie Alden had been my best friend, until the weekend we’d had a sleepover at Llewellyn Manor. His mom came to pick him up on Sunday afternoon, and Sir cornered her in my playroom. She’d kneed him in the groin, grabbed Eddie by the hand, and dragged him out. The next day at school, Eddie had told me he wasn’t allowed to be my friend anymore.