Chapter 0081

“A…beach party?” I say, cocking my head to the side as I study the note.

“It’s about an hour away,” Kent says, watching me closely as I read. “Friends and family, apparently.”

I look up at Kent my eyebrow raised. “Did you…read my mail?”

He stares at me impassively, not needing to confirm. I study the envelope, wondering how the hell he

re-sealed it, and then why he bothered to reseal it…

“Fay,” Kent says sharply and I look up to see that he’s frustrated with me. As usual. “Are you going to

go?”

I look back at the invitation and see, in particular, that it’s made out to me. No mention of Kent or

Daniel. Apparently, it’s a private party.

“Am I…allowed to go?” I ask, looking back up at him.

Kent shrugs. “I’ll send you with my guards, of course. But there’s no real reason to refuse. Unless, of

course, you don’t want to. You’re not a caged pet, after all.”

Kent says the final words ruefully, but my lips crook into a smile, recognizing my lanugage from this

morning. He was listening, I realize. He’s trying.

“Okay,” I say, moving towards Kent and then past him, walking down the hallway to where a man is

waiting by the front door. “Are you the messenger my father sent?” I ask cheerfully.

The messenger just bows a little, which I assume is a confirmation. “Okay.” I say, smiling innocently.

“Please tell my father that I’m happy to accept.”

The messenger nods, reaching for the handle of the door so he can go deliver the reply.

“Oh,” I say, and he stops, turning back to me. “Would you please tell my father that we might be a few

hours late? I apologize – I just got the invitation now, and it will take us some time to get ready.”

The messenger hesitates, and then ventures a word. “We?”

I smile broadly at him. “Yes,” I say, turning for the stairs. “My fiancé will accompany me to the party.”

As I head up the stairs, I see Kent out of the corner of my eye, smirking. Apparently, he approves.

Daniel mopes in the car. “I can’t believe you agreed to this for me,” he murmurs. “I hate this kind of

stuff, Fay.”

“Oh, come on,” I say, nudging him with my elbow. “How can you hate a barbeque. At the beach.”

Daniel just scowls at me and I laugh at him, smoothing out the wrinkles in my blue-and-white striped

skirt, which I’ve paired with a little white crop-top.

Luckily, he has immaculate taste.

“You really do look pretty,” Daniel says, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

“Thank you,” I say, preening a little bit. I could tell that Kent approved, too, when I had come downstairs

ready to go. He hadn’t said anything, but the look in his eye had been enough.

I had hesitated, before we left, seeing that Kent was sending us with two guards each to keep an eye

on us.

“Is it…” I had asked, looking at the guns strapped to their hips, a little scared. “Is there any reason to

think it will be like last time?” I ask, worried. “With…the guns?”