Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 556

DOMINIC

What is this woman doing by your side, Sparrow?" My granny's voice was low, controlled, and venomous. "And where is your wife?"

I closed my eyes for half a second and asked myself why I had ever thought inviting her tonight was a good idea.

The answer was simple and stupid. I had believed her. After the mess with Imelda, after I had flown out to meet her father and signed away a business worth billions just to close that chapter for good, Granny had called me. She had apologized. She had told me she had not understood how much Celeste meant to me, that she had only ever been trying to protect her grandson, that in the end she wanted me happy. Celeste had told me she was the oldest family I had left, and she was right. We had buried almost everyone else. So I had let her back in, sent her an invitation, and hoped.

Now I watched her stare at Scarlett like something she had found stuck to the bottom of her shoe, and I remembered exactly why I had stopped taking her calls. Sparrow moved before I did. "What is that supposed to mean, Granny?" He stepped up beside Scarlett, close enough that the message needed no translation. "Do you have some personal history with Scarlett? Why are you trying to pick on her?"

My grandmother's chin came up a fraction of an inch. "I only asked about your wife, Alexander, and you are getting upset with me?"

I opened my mouth. I had a whole speech ready, and none of it was going to be polite. But Celeste's fingers closed around mine and squeezed, hard enough to mean it, and when I looked down at her she gave me the smallest shake of her head. Let him handle it.

I hated that she was right. If I stepped in, I would only make the scene louder, but Sparrow was not someone who knew how to deal with drama.

Sparrow turned to Scarlett, and his voice dropped, going low and private in a way I had never once heard come out of him. "Would you excuse me for a minute?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Tasha is not really my wife."

I watched my grandmother's face travel through four expressions in the space of a heartbeat. Shock. Disbelief. Suspicion. And then something that looked almost like grief.

"Listen carefully," Sparrow said. "Scarlett, the woman you just insulted, is Tasha's aunt. Tasha had a problem. She was dying, and she needed help. Scarlett came to me and begged me to save her niece. One thing led to another, I fell in love with Scarlett and I wanted to marry her.