Turtle Matt Renee

The day we planned to come out, Daniel got a life-threatening task from my father. Before leaving, Daniel promised to marry me if he returned alive. For three years, I turned down all suitors and waited for him. Three years later, he came back. One leg ruined, a finger partially severed, a fresh scar bisecting his face. He dropped to one knee before my father. “Sir,” he said. “I trade my goods for your permission to marry Ava.” Ava stood beside him, one hand resting protectively on her pronounced belly. My father’s eyes flickered to me. Everyone knew that if I wanted to, I could burn this all to the ground. But I only looked at the girl and said, “Congratulations.” For three years, family match files stacked up all around my room. I pulled one out at random and decided to get married. On my wedding day, Daniel stood in front of my car, a gun in his hand. “If you marry him today,” he said, “I’ll kill him.” ... Of the seven most important men under my father’s command, Daniel Roman ranked last. He was the best-looking of them all, and I had been in love with him since I was a girl. My father later said that if he had known about us, he never would have given Daniel that assignment. Of the seven, Daniel was the best fighter. If even he couldn’t make it back, no one else stood a chance. But that job had been three long years ago. “Miss Willa, Daniel is back.” My eyes flew open. I ran from my room without even stopping for shoes. The butler intercepted me in the hall. “Miss Willa…” I took one look at his face and knew something was wrong. “I understand.” I grabbed an umbrella and went outside. The rain was coming down in sheets. I walked so quickly the hem of my dress was soon soaked through. The front hall was crowded. My father’s men were all standing under the portico. Some looked relieved. Others looked furious. I couldn’t tell what they were angry about. “Dad.......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......

My boyfriend, the heir to a bourbon dynasty, called and ordered me to go apologize to his blue-blooded fiancée. I hung up and blocked him. Just hours earlier, I had won the highest honor in the whiskey world for his family. Then he announced his engagement to another woman in the morning paper, all so he could inherit the family fortune. He’d even tried to gaslight me over the phone. “It’s just a business arrangement. You’re the only woman I love! Once I get the trust, I’ll marry you!” He thought I loved him enough to have no dignity left. He thought the only thing he’d thrown away was a girlfriend without the right last name. He would find out soon enough. What he had smashed with his own hands was his family’s only future. … A moment later, an unfamiliar number lit up my screen. I answered, and Grayson Hayes’s voice came through at once, tight with anger. “Clara, how many times do I have to explain this?” “I already told you, Savannah and I are just a business move. It’s to unlock the family trust. Do you really have to be this petty?” “I promised you, once I have everything, it’ll be our turn. What more do you want from me?” “There’s a limit to this tantrum. You can’t just joke about breaking up whenever you feel like it.” I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles went white. The glaring newspaper spread flashed before my eyes again. For the past ten years, being with Grayson had been my life’s sole ambition. In my private notebook, I had filled page after page with inspiration for hundreds of new releases, each marked with the year, barrel type, and projected flavor curve. Every one of them had been for the future of the Hayes family, and for the future I thought I shared with him. But every time I tried to move our relationship forward, Grayson had an excuse. At first, it was, “Those old men on the board haven’t accepted you yet. Wait until this new release wins gold. That’ll shut them up.” To secur......