Chapter 2

"Penelope Sullivan!"

Frost lay thin and cold over Stanley's face.

"Everyone in the New York circle knows I knelt outside the old Delgado estate for three days and three nights to marry you. And now you say the wedding's off, just like that?"

"I threw away my dignity for you, and you want to break up over one stupid bet?"

My hands tightened around the blanket, inch by inch.

"This bet—if you'd lost it, what was the penalty?"

Sophie answered for him.

"If you hadn't jumped in to save Stanley just now, Stanley would have had to crash my wedding and stop me from marrying the man in the alliance match."

I bit my lip.

"So win or lose, the whole point of this bet was to stop Sophie from marrying someone else."

Clark Chavez, the ringleader of the friend group, laughed out loud.

"You're only figuring that out now? Sophie and Stanley grew up together, childhood sweethearts. There's no way he'd ever let her marry another man."

"If you hadn't shoved your way in, Stanley would've had Sophie in the Delgado family a long time ago."

"Clark, nobody thinks you're mute just because you keep quiet."

Stanley only shot him a light glance.

Clark shut his mouth at once.

Then Stanley walked over to me and took my hand.

"Penelope, the one I've always meant to marry is you. Sophie is just a little sister to me. They've got it all wrong."

Sophie stood behind him, her eyes dark with resentment.

Just as Stanley and I were still locked in the standoff, she suddenly stepped forward.

"Penelope, I actually brought a change of clothes and some pads. The wind's strong out here—let me take you to the lounge to change first."

Not giving me any room to refuse, she forced her arm around mine and steered me toward the lounge.

Stanley let out a breath.

"Sophie, thank you for this."

The hand hooked through my arm dug in secretly, her long nails gouging into me until it hurt.

She leaned close to my ear and lowered her voice.

"You know why Stanley doesn't believe you're pregnant?"

I turned my head to look at her.

The corner of her mouth curled into a nasty little smile.

"That party where he drank until he blacked out—you took the early flight out the next morning. After you left, I went into his hotel room."

"He thinks that night was with me…"

My steps stalled.

No wonder that after that night, Stanley had bid three times over market price at the auction to win the pearl necklace I'd had my eye on.

It wasn't a gift. It was compensation, from a man who thought he'd done something wrong.

I yanked my arm hard out of Sophie's grip.

She didn't resist. Instead she deliberately made it look as if I'd shoved her, staggering and crashing down hard onto the deck.

Her forehead struck the boards, going red.

Stanley heard it and came flying over, pushing me out of his way and pulling Sophie up off the deck into his arms.

"Penelope Sullivan! Why did you push Sophie?"

I hit the deck, and the pain tore through my belly again.

"I didn't push Sophie. She said the party two months ago—"

"Stanley."

Curled in his arms, Sophie's voice broke.

"I was only trying to be kind and take Penelope to change, and she's still holding a grudge about the bet you and I made. She just went after me out of nowhere."

At that, Stanley turned a cold stare on me.

"Penelope Sullivan, you're the future Mrs. Delgado of the Delgado family. If you're angry, say so. Don't vent your feelings with cheap, gutter tricks like this."

Sophie glanced timidly at Stanley, then spoke, her voice trembling.

"Penelope, if you're still angry about the bet, fine—I'll bet you again."

My chest heaved.

"How do we bet?"

Sophie stepped out of Stanley's arms and pointed at the dice on the table nearby.

"Roll dice. Six dice each, highest total wins."

"You wanted the yacht to turn back, didn't you? The loser jumps into the sea and swims back to shore from here."

There was no fear in her eyes, only excitement she couldn't hold down.

"Penelope Sullivan, do you dare?"