"Father, how could you?" Amelia's voice, usually as melodious as the wind chimes on their veranda, was now a sharp, discordant cry that cut through the silence of David Vance's study. "How could you fix my marriage to Kevin Thorne?"
David, a man whose presence usually commanded a room, flinched at the raw anger in his daughter's eyes. He set down the leather-bound book he was pretending to read, his gaze meeting hers. "Amelia, please, let's discuss this calmly."
"Calmly?" she scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "You expect me to be calm when you're essentially selling me off to a man I despise? A man who cheated on me, Father! You know how much I hated him from the beginning."
She paced the rich Persian rug, her elegant silk dress swirling around her. "Was it not enough that h
