They Rejected Me—Then I Married The Billionaire They Feared Chapter 02
My father had given them a choice.
Any one of them could have said no. He would’ve written them a check, sent them off, and let them build their own lives somewhere far from the Grants.
None of them ever said the word.
Logan clicked his tongue.
“Easy for you to say. We ate at your table. We slept under your roof. Every dollar we grew up on came out of your family’s pocket. What right did we ever have to refuse?”
Adrian’s face wasn’t much better.
“If you want to pick someone, pick me. Just leave the other two out of it.”
Caleb and Logan’s expressions softened at that.
The way Adrian stood there, ready to take the sentence for all three of them, made something twist tight in my chest.
I was about to speak when Sienna Lane came rushing down the hallway.
The second she saw me, she ducked behind Adrian, her fingers clutching his sleeve like a lifeline.
Adrian didn’t hesitate for a heartbeat. He stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body.
“She hasn’t done anything to you today, Evelyn. Let her be.”
Caleb and Logan closed ranks beside him.
The three of them stood there like a wall, tucking Sienna safely behind them—as if I might lunge forward and tear her apart the next second.
Looking at them, I suddenly remembered a day five years ago.
The afternoon Sienna moved into the Grant estate, she’d given me an old hair clip. She called it a welcome gift.
In return, I gave her a bracelet worth fifteen thousand dollars.
But the moment I opened the little box, Adrian snatched it out of my hands.
His face was cold. “That’s something her mother left her. You’re taking that from her too?”
I turned to Sienna, waiting for her to explain.
Instead, she sank down onto the carpet, sobbing so hard her shoulders shook.
“Miss Evelyn didn’t take anything from me. I gave it to her. She’s been so kind to me—she even gave me a bracelet. Really, I’m okay.”
Every word only made Adrian and the others more certain that I was bullying her.
Logan told me, right there, to give the clip back.
Caleb said the clip might be worthless, but it meant more than any bracelet I could throw at her.
I still thought it was a misunderstanding. I swallowed my anger and held the clip out to Sienna.
She reached for it—then let her fingers go slack on purpose.
The clip hit the floor and shattered into pieces.
Sienna bit down on her lip and looked up at me, her voice cracking.
“You’d rather smash it than give it back to me?”
That was the day Adrian made me apologize to her.
By then I’d already told him I loved him, already told him he was the only one I wanted to marry.
He used that against me.
I was terrified of losing him. So I stood there with red, stinging eyes and said I was sorry.
From that day on, every time Sienna laid eyes on me, she’d cry. She’d shake. She’d hide behind them.
I hadn’t done a single thing.
I pulled myself out of the memory and looked at Adrian.
“If you’re that afraid I’ll hurt her, then keep her glued to your side twenty-four hours a day.”
Adrian’s brows drew together.
“Is that a threat? What are you planning to do to Sienna?”
Logan clapped his hands together suddenly, jabbing a finger at me.
“Don’t tell me this is about us giving The Glass Reef to Sienna. You’re really going to make her life hell over that?”
Caleb’s face cooled to match.
“You’ve had everything handed to you your whole life. Sienna’s never had a real birthday. Nobody ever bothered. It’s one night at a private aquarium. Do you really need to make it into a war?”
I stared at them.
“The Glass Reef?”