“What exactly is happening?”
“We’re planning.”
“Planning what?”
“My wedding.”
“In my house?”
“Our family house.”
There it was.
Our.
The planner approached.
“You must be Liam. I’m Caroline from Evergreen Elegance. Chloe has been showing me the property. We’re developing a preliminary transformation plan.”
“Transformation?”
Caroline smiled.
“Nothing finalized.”
Chloe pointed toward the living room wall.
“We would open this section for flow.”
I looked at the wall.
Grandpa and I framed it after a plumbing leak forced us to rebuild that side of the room when I was sixteen.
“You mean remove it.”
“If structurally possible.”
“And the kitchen?”
Chloe shrugged.
“Obviously gutted.”
Something inside me went very quiet.
“Caroline, would you excuse us?”
The planner immediately understood.
“Of course.”
I motioned Chloe into the hallway.
“What are you doing?”
She sighed.
“We just went through this.”
“No. We did not. I offered you a venue. I did not offer renovations.”
“We need changes.”
“You need nothing.”
“Liam—”
“You are not removing a wall.”
“You haven’t even heard the plan.”
“You are not touching that kitchen.”
“That kitchen looks like 1998 died in it.”
“Grandpa built those cabinets.”
“And?”
I stared at her.
She rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. Don’t make every board sacred because Grandpa touched it.”
That sentence hurt more than I expected.
Maya appeared behind me holding her phone.
She showed me Chloe’s Instagram.
A photograph of Cedar Lake.
Caption:
Can’t wait to marry my soulmate at our family’s sprawling historic lake estate. So blessed to carry generations of love forward.
Hashtags followed.
Family estate.
Generational wealth.
Lake wedding.
Blessed.
I handed the phone back.
“Everyone leaves.”
Chloe blinked.
“What?”
“Now.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
The sweetness vanished.
“You cannot kick me out of my own family property.”
“It is not your property.”
“You only have it because Grandpa was manipulated.”
“Leave.”
Ethan walked over.
“Guys, maybe we can just slow down.”
I looked at him.
“Ethan, I like you. This isn’t about you. But there will be no renovations.”
He raised both hands.
“I wasn’t trying to—”
Chloe cut him off.
“You said you liked the open concept.”
“I said I liked the idea if Liam approved.”
“He doesn’t get to approve everything.”
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
Chloe started crying.
Instantly.
“You are unbelievable.”
I walked toward Caroline.