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He pauses when a smattering of polite applause fills the air. “Thank you.” He smiles. “But tonight, we’re here to celebrate the other person Izzy has brought into our lives. Penelope,” he says, gesturing to me.
I smile genuinely and step forward to take my sister’s outstretched hand.
“Penelope has become the sister I never knew I wanted, and so tonight we’re here to celebrate you officially becoming one of us,” he announces happily.
The guys all move in closer, Hawthorn at my elbow, as we allow the crowd of people we invited to see us together. Gulliver steps aside, and I move to the microphone, smiling at the sea of faces in front of the stage.
“I’m so glad you could all be here to help us celebrate,” I say, pausing for a moment. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, when my great-grandfather died, he left his estate solely to me, and that choice forced a wedge between me and my twin sister. Because of that, most of you don’t know Izabella, and tonight is the first time you will have met her. Money and power are wonderful things, but family and friends are equally—if not more—important. I recently made the choice to walk away from my inheritance. I chose my own happiness and that of my sister over money, and I don’t regret a single thing. My sister has found love, and I have been lucky enough to have found a family in Gulliver, Hawthorn, Davis, and Kip.” Turning to my sister and Gulliver, I lift my glass, tipping it toward them. “Izzy, Gulliver, I’m so incredibly happy for you.” Smiling at the crowd, I raise my glass. “To family.”
“To family,” the room echoes.
Stepping back from the microphone, I search out my parents’ angry faces in the crowd and tip my glass to them, smiling wider when they just glower at me. Just like we’d planned, I wait for Hawthorn to wrap his arm around my shoulder to publicly claim me while the others move to the side of the stage, but no one moves except Hawthorn, who steps to the microphone without touching me.
“Tonight is all about family,” he says, tension radiating from him. “I found my brothers in elementary school, Gulliver, Kip, Davis, and I have been inseparable ever since. We’ve grown up together, knowing that we plan to unite our families in a business empire that can only be forged through the bonds of brotherhood. When Gulliver found Izzy, I gained a sister,” he says, smiling at her, before turning his attention back to the crowd. “When her sister joined our group, I got so much more.”
A ripple of apprehension swells inside of me as I wait for whatever he’s going to say next. Glancing at the others, I expect to find them equally panicked, but they all look calm, Davis even winks at me before turning his attention back to Hawthorn.
“Princess, come here,” Hawthorn calls, holding his hand out to me.
Tilting my head to the side in silent question, I step toward him, placing my hand in his and letting him pull me in closer.
“Penelope Emerson Rhodes, you are worth more to me than any amount of money in the world. I love you—every real, imperfect inch of you. You’re mine, and I’m yours in every way,” he says as he drops to one knee in front of me. Still holding my hand tightly, he slides a small, black velvet box from inside his jacket and flips it open to reveal a flawless diamond ring. “I won’t ever let you go, Princess, so will you marry me?”
Inhaling a sharp, shocked gasp, I stare down at him on the floor in front of me, and the rest of the room disappears. All I can see is him, and all I can hear is the pounding of my own heart. “Why?” I whisper, needing to understand.
“Because I stopped falling. I love you, Penelope, and all that matters now is you. Good or bad, bitchy or smiling, all of you is mine, and I just want to be yours, so say you’ll take me. Say yes.”
“Yes,” I gasp, nodding as tears fill my eyes.
His smile is blinding as he stands, slides the beautiful ring onto my finger, then lifts me into the air and kisses me like I’m his everything. Suddenly, the room pulses back into existence, and my ears are filled with the applause of the people around us.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses to the future Mr. and Mrs. Gulliver and Izabella Winslow and the future Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorn and Penelope Benedict. To young love,” Kip says.
“To young love,” the room echoes back.
I should be smug, I should be searching out my parents to gloat in their faces, but right now, no one else but us matters. I don’t care what they think, I don’t care what they do, all that matters is him and the rest of the people on this stage. My new family.
Suddenly getting revenge doesn’t seem that important anymore, because walking away from them was the best thing I ever did. Breaking that will was the best thing I ever did, because it led me to him, and he’s my world.
“I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
“I love you too,” I whisper back.
The rest of the party is a blur, we don’t retreat upstairs to hide, instead, we drink and laugh and dance like no one and nothing else in the universe matters.
I get to meet Hawthorn’s parents in real life as his fiancée, and I’m surprised to find that they’re over the moon for us. Apparently, his father sent Hawthorn his great-grandmother’s engagement ring after the very first time he saw us together on video chat.
His parents are wonderful, sweet, and unassuming people, considering how rich and successful they are. Both his mom and dad’s families are shipping titans, and they met and got engaged around the same age as us.
While we talked with them, his parents tried to convince me that Hawthorn and I should join them and start to travel the moment we finish senior year. When his mom pulled out her cell and started scheduling their jet to take us to meet them in Japan after graduation, Hawthorn pulled me away from them with a laugh.
For hours we dance and kiss and ignore the rest of our guests in favor of each other. “Shall we sneak off?” I ask with a happy smile.
“I don’t ever want to sneak again.” He laughs, scooping me off the ground and into his arms, bridal style. “I’m taking my fiancée to bed,” he announces loudly, eliciting a rumble of laughter and a few catcalls from the people who are still enjoying the free-flowing cocktails and Michelin-starred chef’s food.
Burying my face in his neck, I giggle as he practically runs from the ballroom with me in his arms. When he jolts to an abrupt stop, I lift my head, the smile immediately falling from my face as I see my parents blocking our exit, their angry expressions focusing on us.
“Trudy, Barnaby, if you’ll excuse us, we were just heading up to bed,” Hawthorn says, the barely restrained vitriol in his tone making his words short and stilted, like he’s forcing them through gritted teeth.
