Chapter 4

Winona didn't waste another word on Brianna. She turned, opened the passenger door, and spoke to me in a slightly gentler voice, "Get in."

I stayed where I was, still trying to process the fact that Winona had actually stepped in to defend me.

When I didn't move, she simply took matters into her own hands and pushed me into the car.

As we pulled away, I glanced in the rearview mirror. Brianna was still standing there in shock, while Elliot hurried out of the building and caught her by the arm.

After Winona brought me home, I spent two days locked in my room to decompress, which gave me the space I needed to completely untangle my feelings about the relationship.

On the third day, I drafted a formal resignation letter and mailed it directly to the HR department at Brianna's company.

Not long after that, our butler, Kevin Perry, knocked on my door and told me Dad wanted to see me in his study.

When I arrived, Dad was seated behind his mahogany desk. A gold-embossed invitation lay in front of him.

"Sit."

His tone was as detached as ever as he gestured toward the chair across from him.

I sat down, my attention immediately drawn to the invitation.

Dad picked up his cup, blowing lightly across the steam on the surface. "There's a rising business owner named Brianna Lindt holding a wedding reception today.

"She's been trying to get involved with one of Pearson Group's projects, so she had someone send us an invitation. Apparently, she's hoping to get on our good side."

Hearing her name made my heart skip a beat.

Dad studied me for a moment before saying, "Michael, you'll attend on my behalf."

My head snapped up. "Me?"

"Yes," he replied, setting his cup down. "Consider this your official introduction to the corporate circle as the Pearson family's heir."

For a moment, I couldn't even process what he'd said.

The Pearson family's heir.

I instinctively turned toward Winona, who was leaning against a bookshelf with her arms folded across her chest.

If anyone should've inherited the Pearson family, it was her. She was their biological daughter.

But when our eyes met, my usually aloof sister surprised me with a warm, genuine smile that even seemed encouraging.

Only then did realization dawn on me.

They had never thought of me as an outsider.

They stayed out of my personal life because they respected my choices, and they hadn't scolded me after Brianna stood us up because they genuinely felt for my situation.

I looked down, finally reading the names stamped onto the elegant wedding invitation.

"The bride, Brianna Lindt, and her groom, Elliot Collins, wish to extend an invitation to their wedding reception."

A bitter ache spread through my chest.

So much for a simple staged ceremony to fulfill an old woman's dying wish.

Brianna had turned it into a full wedding reception, invited a roomful of guests, used the occasion to make business connections, and even sent an invitation to the Pearson family.

She certainly knew how to kill two birds with one stone.

My initial instinct was to refuse, but looking at the quiet expectation in Dad's eyes and the encouragement from Winona, I reached out and took the invitation.

"Alright," I said. "I'll go."

The reception took place in the main ballroom on the first floor of the hotel.

Brianna stood by the entrance greeting guests, looking stunning in an intricately tailored white wedding gown. Despite her appearance, she seemed completely restless.

She kept checking her phone, her brows furrowed in a tight frown.

She had just learned that my phone number was no longer in service. My resignation letter had also been delivered to the company.

Until then, she'd been certain that I was only angry, believing that giving me the silent treatment for a few days would make me crawl right back to her.

Now, a sudden surge of panic gripped her, making her realize she might've actually lost me for good.

Just then, the ballroom doors swung open once more.

Brianna instinctively looked up and froze.

I walked in wearing a tailored black suit that Mom had personally picked out for me, my hair styled flawlessly without a single strand out of place. Fastened to my lapel was the Pearson family's heirloom crest.

The hotel's general manager personally escorted me into the ballroom, and Brianna's initial shock quickly turned to alarm.

Apparently convinced I'd come to disrupt the wedding, she abandoned the guests around her, hurried over, and seized my wrist, dropping her voice to a harsh whisper.

"Michael, you quit your job just to get back at me, and now you've dressed yourself up and come all the way here to make a scene."

Her gaze fixed on the Pearson crest pinned to my chest.

"Where did you even get the money to rent something like that? Do you have any idea who some of the people in that ballroom are? Stop embarrassing yourself and get out of here right now!"

Throughout our seven years together, I had never once revealed my true identity to her. I had always viewed myself as just an adopted son, believing I had no right to throw the Pearson name around.

I yanked my hand out of her grip, reaching into my pocket to pull out the gold-embossed invitation she had worked so hard to deliver to my family.

"Ms. Lindt, you've got the wrong idea," I said. "I'm not here to ruin your wedding. I'm here on behalf of Pearson Group and my father to congratulate you."