All Chapters of Sold to the Ruthless Alpha Billionaire : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

POPPY'S POV"Again," Lana said, eyeing my curtsy with disapproval. She was the head maid and she had the bearing of someone who had never done anything wrong in her life.I bent my knee and dipped and came back up and looked at her. “What about that?”She pressed her lips together."Was that wrong?" I asked but I already knew it was wrong.She huffed and shook her head. "The weight needs to go back, not down," she said. "You're dropping straight to the floor like you're sitting in a chair. A curtsy is not sitting in a chair.""I know curtsying is not sitting in a chair." I snapped before I could help it. She gave me a straight look. "Then do not perform one like it is."I tried again and the result was, by my own assessment, better. But by Lana's expression, it was no different from the first attempt.Penelope was sitting on the small bench in the garden with her hands folded. She had been watching us in silence and I found it unnerving that she left me in the hands of Lana. Speaki

POPPY’S POVI stared at Penelope and waited for the second part of the sentence… the part where she clarified that she didn't mean what she had just said.But she didn't offer one."Sister-in-law," I repeated. "As in Edric's wife."She nodded slowly. "Yes."I turned this over. "Grey's first love married his half-brother.""It's more that Edric pursued her while she and Grey were together." Penelope said. "They were together for two years. Everyone in the pack assumed she would be Luna." She paused and shook her head. "Then Edric came into the picture, ruining everything."I looked at the house. "She chose Edric.""She did." Penelope folded her hands in front of her. "Grey found out through someone else. He didn't hear it from her directly, which I think was the part that…" She stopped, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully. "It wasn't handled with any kindness. That's probably the most honest way to say it."I thought about Grey's face when the servant boy had said the name. He looked

POPPY’S POVDinner was lamb and roasted vegetables and a sauce that smelled expensive, but I had no interest in any of it.I sat in my usual place at the long table and moved things around my plate.I told myself that whatever I was feeling had a logical explanation that had nothing to do with Annalise and the way he treated me after.Grey sat at the head of the table and ate as if I hadn’t just called me a Rosen and threatened to kill me. I found it irritating."There's a deal in Varnmore that needs closing in person," he said, without looking up from his plate. "I'll go after the wedding. And I’ll be gone for weeks, possibly three."I said nothing."The Hartwell contract has been stalled for two months. It needs to be face-to-face." He reached for his glass. "Cade will manage most of it from here. You'll have the full staff."I cut into my steak and the knife went through it with more force than was strictly necessary.The sound it made against the plate was slightly too loud for t

POPPY’S POV"Can I ask you something?" I said.Lana looked up from her notes. "You may.""Grey's company." I kept my voice neutral. "Ashford Holdings. What does it actually do? Beyond the pack territory management."Lana eyed me warily but she answered. "Acquisitions primarily. But they handle resource rights and corporate holdings in three major cities. The Alpha runs the business interests parallel to the pack governance." She paused. "It's a significant business. There are branches all over the world and a full corporate staff separate from the pack staff here."It must be a conglomerate then. It made sense, the pack wasn’t feared for ñothing after all. So I asked again. "How many people report directly to him?""At the executive level? Eight, perhaps ten." She set her notes down. "He manages most of the high-level negotiations personally. It's why the Varnmore trip requires him in person. Some contracts won't pass without him in the room."I thought about this while Lana moved o

POPPY’S POVSo I named five without blinking. He didn’t even look impressed, he just turned back to the window. Moments later, we arrived in front of the company and I sucked in a sharp breath. Even with the limitation of the car window and where we parked, I could tell it was tall. “We’ve arrived.” Cade announced but he didn’t need to. The building was a statement on its own. I got out of the car and stood on the pavement, blinking in awe.The company stood over fifty feet, nearly reaching the sky in all of its glory. Made of nothing but steel and glass, it put every other buildings around it to shame Grey was already moving toward the entrance and I fell into step beside him with my bag over my shoulder.My heels were wobbling slightly, after effects of only wearing flats and converse. I was still not used to wearing heels but I practiced in them twice in my bedroom. So I was fine, I was completely fine.The lobby floor was made of shiny marble, and the room was high-ceilinged