“Are you sure we should be there?” I asked as Ela helped me knot my tie.

She glanced up at me with a furrowed gaze. “Is that even a question? Tonight is my father’s sixty-first birthday, and I am his daughter. Would you miss your father’s birthday just because there is bad blood between you and his fiancée?” she demanded.

Honestly, I would.

Robb and I shared a very close bond, and I couldn’t have wished for a different father, but I would decline an invitation to his birthday if it would help me preserve peace. Ela and I were two people who did things differently. Marcel was not only...