I Dropped The Bidder To Keep My Empire Chapter 04
“Suitable.” That was just a nice word for getting shipped off.
He wanted me to marry someone with no claim to the Vance inheritance.
Either Derek’s enemy. Or some broke aristocrat overseas.
Once I was married, even if my grandfather wanted to hand the Vances over to me, he wouldn’t have a legitimate reason.
Derek owned Harbor Heights. If he didn’t sign off, no one would touch me with a ten-foot pole.
Six in the morning. The Vance private hospital’s ER.
I’d just gotten my dislocated shoulder set when I ran into them in the hallway.
Derek helped Ashley out of the car. She had a bandage on her ankle.
She wobbled as she walked, her brow tight.
Landon, Lucas, and Grant followed behind, carrying all kinds of wellness gifts.
“Sierra?” Ashley’s eyes went red the second she saw me.
She looked at the sling around my neck. “What happened to you? Is it because I took the tiara last night? Are you upset?”
Derek looked up. His pupils shrank when he saw my sling.
Lucas stood next to Ashley, and his face went ashen.
Grant leaned against the nurse’s station, watching like he was at the circus.
“Getting treated,” I said. I turned to leave.
“Sierra.” Ashley’s voice was syrupy sweet. “I heard Daddy already picked out a groom for you. In three days?”
The hallway went dead silent.
Derek’s face went dark. “Three days?”
He marched up to me. “Sierra, haven’t you caused enough drama? When did I ever say I was throwing a wedding in three days?”
I looked down at the floor tiles. I didn’t say anything.
It had been less than five hours since my father’s study.
Ashley not only got the news—she’d stabbed me with it right in front of Derek.
“Derek, I…” Tears rolled down Ashley’s cheeks.
“If you really have to marry Sierra, I’ll be happy for you. It’s just so sudden…”
Something wild flashed in Derek’s eyes.
He turned to Landon. “Take her in for an exam. Make sure her wound doesn’t open up.”
Landon nodded and guided Ashley into the exam room.
Grant laughed under his breath as he walked past me.
“Miss Vance really knows how to work an angle. Last night you were faking a dislocation. Today you’re leaking wedding news. That’s playing with fire.”
Derek stood in front of me. He stared at the sling around my neck for a few seconds.
He didn’t ask if I was in pain.
He just said, coldly, “Sierra, using an engagement to force my hand? That’s beneath you. Tell your father to take it back.”
I looked up at the man I’d loved for three years.
My shoulder still throbbed.
This injury had shown me the real difference between us.
Ashley scraped her skin, and four men stayed up all night with her.
My bone popped out of its socket, and I waited alone in the ER at midnight.
“Derek, what makes you think this has anything to do with you?”
“Nothing to do with me?” He let out a bitter laugh and grabbed my chin. “Everyone in Harbor Heights knows you’re mine. Now you want to marry some random guy? What am I supposed to be?” The warning in his eyes was almost dripping out. “Don’t test me, Sierra. Cancel the engagement. I’ll pretend none of this happened.”
“What if I don’t?”
His fingers tightened.
“Stop being ridiculous, Sierra. If you don’t want to lose the Channing Group’s support, go home and do what you’re told.”
“Then we’re done, Derek. I don’t want your support.”
The air went dead.
Derek stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind.
He knew me. He’d even taught me my negotiation strategies.
He always thought I couldn’t protect the Vance empire without him.
“Sierra, I taught you those tricks to use on outsiders. Now you’re using them on me? How are you any different from the scheming social climbers you complain about?”
I almost wanted to laugh.
The difference was, I really thought you were my safe place.
I stepped back and pulled my chin from his fingers.
“From now on, Mr. Channing, my business isn’t yours.”
“Sierra.”
His voice was ice at my back. “You walk out that door today, and when you come crawling back to me, remember how Ashley begged me on her knees to forgive her last night.”
I didn’t look back.
I got in the car. My phone screen lit up in the dark.
A text from my father. Cold.
“The list is set. Be there in three days.”
He was backing me into a corner.
I turned off the screen and looked out the window toward Vance Manor.
They were putting up decorations all night.
And my groom was still asleep on the other side of Harbor Heights.
Soon, everyone would know exactly who Sierra Vance was marrying.