I've dreamed of the perfect marriage ever since I was a little girl: a marriage complete with a hardworking husband while I tended to the home and our children, preferably four little rugrats to call my own. I dreamed of a life filled with laughter...
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The chatter of pretentious high society greets my husband and me as we step into the ballroom, which is decorated in gold and crystal. Nerves have been incessantly swarming in my stomach all afternoon, and not in a good way. I hate everything about these events: the fake smiles, the fake conversations, and the fake people.
With a deep breath, a last-ditch effort to release the angry little buggers, I wipe my palms over the soft fabric of my cream-colored coat as I glance down to make sure the edges of my coat are perfectly in place.
"Look your best tonight, little bird," my husband's cold, lifeless words repeat in my mind. He said them as he ran out of the house for work without so much as a kiss goodbye, a gesture, more specifically a lack of a gesture, I'm used to by now.
Look your best, little bird.
Do not embarrass me, little bird.
You are a reflection of me, little bird.
I'm used to these words of direction and command. They're no different from the prompts my parents ingrained in me since childhood:
Smile and fix your dress, Charlotte.
Lose a few pounds before the gala, Charlotte.
Men don't like women who speak too much, Charlotte.
Daniel Michael Montgomery, CEO and founder of Diamond Steel, Co., not only comes from significant wealth but is also a money magnet in his own right. He started his company shortly after graduating from high school, building it from the ground up. His parents refused to invest and fund his life unless he graduated from an Ivy League college first. Always a stubborn man, Daniel set out to prove them wrong, earning his excommunication from his entire family and their circle of friends for years. But, ultimately, he proved them wrong and he was quickly welcomed back into high society with loving arms and forgotten anger.
A warm hand presses into the small of my back, bringing me back to the present.
"Hand over your coat, little bird." Daniel's warm, cinnamon breath brushes against my blushed cheeks, sending an army of sparks over my skin. Even after four years of marriage and everything he's put me through, my husband still makes me feel alive . . .
. . . and I absolutely hate it.
I peek up at him. My eyes trace his strong jaw to his brilliant caramel eyes, but his eyes aren't on me. No. They rarely ever are. He's scanning the room, and my stomach drops, knowing exactly what, or should I say who, he's looking for. My jaw clenches as I hold back my anger and heartbreak.
Keep it together, Charlotte. Ladies never react.
Smile and be gracious, Charlotte. Ladies are never easy to anger.
Be polite and quiet, Charlotte. It's a man's world and women are to remain silent.
"I can take that from you, madam," a man in a black suit says with a warm, welcoming smile.
