{"id":24894,"date":"2025-12-21T23:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=24894"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:30:36","slug":"24894","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=24894","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

I looked across the room. There it was. Resting on Sloan\u2019s collarbone, catching the light of my chandeliers.<\/p>\n

I excused myself, needing air. I headed toward the corridor leading to the executive offices. That\u2019s where I passed\u00a0Franklin Whitmore<\/span><\/strong>. He was pacing, his phone pressed to his ear, his \u201crefined\u201d mask completely gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need this wedding to happen, dammit,\u201d he hissed into the phone. \u201cThe Burns family is liquid. They have the capital to cover the situation.\u201d A pause. \u201cYes, just get us through the ceremony. After that, we restructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hung up, wiped sweat from his forehead, and smoothed his jacket before returning to the party.<\/p>\n

I stood frozen in the hallway.\u00a0The Burns family is liquid?<\/span><\/p>\n

My parents had a second mortgage. Garrett made a decent salary, but he wasn\u2019t wealthy. There was no family fortune. Why did Franklin think there was?<\/p>\n

And then, the realization hit me like a physical blow.<\/p>\n

For the last four years, I had been anonymously paying off my parents\u2019 debts. When my father needed knee surgery? I paid the hospital directly. When the mortgage was overdue? I had\u00a0Birch Hospitality<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0cut a check. I did it because I loved them, despite everything. I did it anonymously because I didn\u2019t want their gratitude or their questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

But my mother\u2026 in her delusion, she must have assumed the money was coming from Garrett. She must have bragged to her friends, and eventually to the Whitmores, about her successful son who quietly took care of everything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I looked across the room. There it was. Resting on Sloan\u2019s collarbone, catching the light of my chandeliers. I excused myself, needing air. I headed toward the corridor leading to the executive offices. That\u2019s where I passed\u00a0Franklin Whitmore. He was pacing, his phone pressed to his ear, his \u201crefined\u201d mask completely gone. \u201cWe need this…<\/p>\n

Read More “”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":226,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24899,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24894\/revisions\/24899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}