1. Winter

"To my wonderful daughter,happy birthday, darling." My father, Charles DeLaurie the Third, held up a crystal flute to toast.

"Cheers to one of the last birthdays you'll actually enjoy getting older," my mother teased and took a deep swallow of champagne.

I sipped the pink liquid, letting the bubbles dissolve in a tart fizz on my tongue.

We were having dinner at The Dunes country club, in a private room. We never dined at home as a family. For one, the cavernous dining room and mile-long table didn't exactly suit a cozy family dinner. For another, my parents were so busy, they could only be found in the same room for special occasions. I was lucky my birthday had merited them coordinating their schedules to be here tonight. They hadn't managed last year.

Soft music played in the background, and the gentle clink of cutlery on fine china from the adjacent dining room filled the silence as we ate.

"So, darling, how is freshman year? Some of the best years of my life were at Hade Harbor University," Dad reminisced. "Are you enjoying living on campus? Are you sure you don't want to rent a place nearby?"

"Charles, Winter wants to be like her peers. What is college for if not living in a sorority and having fun?" Mom nibbled at her steamed spinach. After arriving home yesterday from a month-long wellness retreat in India, she had announced she was vegan now.

"She can still have fun with her own place," Dad pointed out.

"I'm fine on campus. I like the sorority house, and after all, Mom's a legacy…" I trailed off. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about the sorority, but I'd take the sorority house over my own apartment.

Mom nodded. "Zeta Pi Nu prepares young women for life after school. It's an invaluable experience for a young woman. Let her make her own choices."

"As long as you're happy with it, darling," Dad said, and squeezed my hand.

I lit up for a moment at the touch. His attention was like a beam of sunlight falling on my face, always too fleeting and precious.

"I am."

"So, there anyone special in your life lately?" Mom asked after a moment, wincing slightly as she took another mouthful of steamed spinach.

"No, no one. I'm not really thinking about dating right now," I admitted.

Honestly, getting in a relationship with some guy who was just going to disappoint me, or worse, get close to me because I was rich, wasn't something I was eager to do. People lied and manipulated, and pretended to care, just to benefit themselves in some way. What was even the point?

The point is avoiding the cardboard cutout bankers' sons your dad fixes you up with.

Right, there was that.

My parents had set me up with a plethora of "suitable" boyfriends, sons of their friends. They had been awful, without exception. They had been less after my money, and more my name and reputation. They were already rich enough to be satisfied with their lives, but having an old, respected name like DeLaurie in the family would be a real boost, not to mention having access to my father's connections. Hence, at the grand old age of nineteen, I felt done with dating.

"Ah, yes, well. I might have already taken care of that this evening," Dad murmured, patting my hand.

Wait, what?

A knock sounded at the door, and Dad checked his watch. "Our guests are right on time." His cheeks were rosy.

"Guests?" Of course, it couldn't just be family. Of course not.

Dad beamed. I knew in my gut who was coming to visit. Dad was only this excited for one visitor, his old roommate from his college days, Duncan Fitzgerald. My least favorite of all my father's creepy rich friends. They belonged to the same local members-only club, Invictus H.H Group. Where the rich and privileged of Hade Harbor used their insider connections to get even richer. An investment club you had to be born into to join.

"Uncle Duncan wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday in person." Dad took a deep slug of scotch and then glanced up expectantly.

The door swung open. Two men entered.

The elder was Duncan. I'd known him my entire life. My belly dropped at the sight of the guy beside him, his asshole son, already smirking. Trent.

I stood. My father's voice was booming, and so was Duncan's. The huge dining room suddenly felt crowded. My mother was finishing the champagne off while no one was watching. She hated my father's old cronies with a passion only dulled by alcohol and impeccable manners.

Trent smiled at something my father said before staring at me. His eyes were a watery blue, and I flinched when his gaze touched me. He didn't just look. He scanned me head to toe. My skin crawled. There was something shrewd in that weak gaze that I didn't trust at all. Calculated sleaze.

"Duncan, nice to see you," I said dutifully and let my father's friend shake my hand. His was clammy.

"Please, sit. Let me see how Charlie's little girl is growing up." Duncan's tone was jovial enough, but there was something lurking behind those seemingly harmless words.

"So, I know it's been a while since you kids got together, but do you remember Trent? He remembers you."

The only person worse than Duncan was his asshole son.

I forced a smile. "Of course." Who could forget one of the worst people they'd ever met?

The last time I'd seen him, I'd been fifteen on a boring day trip to New York, where my father and Duncan had sent me and Trent off to Central Park Zoo with our drivers. Not a single enclosure had escaped being banged on by Trent, and at the end of the day, while we'd been waiting on the cars to be pulled around, he'd ripped a fifty-dollar bill in half to taunt a homeless woman sitting on a park bench. He'd let the other half blow away. When I'd confronted him about it, he'd proven his subhuman status.

"Why should she sit in the park, stinking up the place, right where I want to sit? She can chase around the rest of the bill, and we can sit and watch. Dinner and a show, what more do you want?"

His company was vomit-inducing, and I'd left him there, found the lady, given her all the cash I had in my wallet, and taken the subway uptown to wait for my dad in his office.

"He is really flourishing at HHU. Studying finance, or course, like his old man. One day, God willing, he'll lead Invictus H.H Group and guide another generation of founding families to new heights of success." Duncan smiled proudly.

"Exciting stuff," I murmured flatly.

"Isn't it?" Trent drawled, his gaze still on me. I regretted the pale-pink satin slip dress I'd decided to wear. I felt naked under his lecherous gaze.

"I'm so happy you two could finally have dinner together. It's been far too long since the families have gotten together." Duncan clapped my dad on the shoulder and smiled at him.

My father nodded, his eyes turning to me, full of hope and contentment. This was exactly what he wanted. To be surrounded by his family and old friends. This made the trip home worth it for him. I summoned a smile. I'd always managed to find one for my dad.

"Shall we open another bottle of champagne?"

I lasted an hour before making my escape. I needed a breather. Trent Fitzgerald was even worse than I'd remembered, as impossible as that should be. But my dad was laughing with his old buddy, and I liked the sound. That didn't mean I couldn't get a little help to make it through the rest of the evening.

I headed in the direction of the bathrooms. I'd grown up wandering the halls of The Dunes. It was where Invictus H.H Group met to discuss their investments, where my mom saw her charity committee friends, and where I'd had tennis lessons twice a week since I was five.

When I got near the bathroom, I veered off to the left and pushed through a door marked Staff Only.

Ramona had worked at The Dunes for years, and she was my pot hookup. She got it from her brother, who was a big-time dealer, apparently. She dealt to most of the younger members of The Dunes and made a good living from it. She worked as a bartender, but she'd told me once that the only reason to keep the job was the access to the trust fund kids of Hade Harbor.

I had no idea if she was working tonight, but we had a system where I sometimes took my delivery from her locker. I didn't usually mess around with it when my parents were here. Dad, in particular, would be so disappointed in me. However, tonight was an exception, thanks to Trent and the dinner that would never end.

I hated to disappoint my father. Mom never seemed to care much either way. She was never disappointed in me, but she never expected much, either. She was just herself, absorbed in her own world of philanthropy, wellness retreats, and chairing numerous charities.

Dad traveled just as much, if not more. He called regularly; he remembered life events. He wished me luck on exams and came to my graduation. I knew it was a damn low bar, compared to other people whose parents were with them every day, but it was all I'd ever known.

Always lacking that finite resource of my father's attention had made me crave it. I was a daddy's girl, there was no point in denying it. My father tried to give me all the material things I wanted, and I tried not to disappoint him or rock the boat. I had this strange, contradictory feeling that while I was the apple of his eye, his love for me was always hanging by a thread.

The staffroom behind the kitchens was empty. I shot a quick message off to Ramona.

Me: Need my delivery.

Ramona: I'm off tonight. I left it in my locker. Have fun.

Satisfied, I tucked my phone away and went to Ramona's locker. Typing in the code, I eased it open and looked for the envelope she usually left my stuff in.

I stuffed the white rectangle into my purse, just as a hard voice spoke from behind me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"