Vera

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Rodrick Lacroix stands alone, surveying the small after-dinner crowd as they mingle among the tables in the dining hall of his father's restaurant, Lacroix's

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Rodrick Lacroix stands alone, surveying the small after-dinner crowd as they mingle among the tables in the dining hall of his father's restaurant, Lacroix's. He can't wait for the evening to be over. It is taking everything in him not to roll his eyes as he watches the plastic bimbo his father, Albert Lacroix, was now calling his fiancée making a spectacle of the diamond hanging from her finger. Even after all these years, Rodrick still couldn't decide what he hated the most about Mini Lux. Was it the vapid personality, the fact she had the IQ of a teaspoon, or the painfully obvious way she flaunted her very much new money status with her gaudy sense of fashion? The woman is wearing a bright orange, skin-tight dress that barely passes for clothing, her fake, blonde hair piled high on top of her head. She stands out like a neon sign among the dark tailored suits and elegant evening gowns of his father's friends and business partners. Was her complete adverseness to class on purpose, or simply because her simple mind couldn't grasp the concept? You could take the girl out of the slums...

"Dad, I'm bored," says a little voice behind him. Rodrick turns his attention to his son, Matthew Lacroix, who is looking so incredibly grown up in his smartly pressed suit and tie it takes Rodrick a moment to remember he is only nine years old.

"Not having a nice time with Camille?" Rodrick asks, ruffling Matthew's unruly dark curls. Rodrick has a strong suspicion that his son has most likely not been having a nice time at all. Camille Debone was as much of a spoiled little princess as her mother, and maybe even harder to deal with. As the only other kid at the engagement dinner, however, Matthew had very few other social options.

"She called me a baby," Matthew says. "Even though I'm only two years younger than her," he adds, his voice betraying a babyish whine despite his efforts to hide it.

Rodrick squeezes Matthew's shoulder, feeling for the kid. He had yet to learn how to handle women. "Why don't you tell her about that science project you've been working on?"

"I tried, she said volcanoes are boring." Mathew rolls his eyes. "Can't Mom and I go home? I think she's bored too."

Rodrick feels a flash of anger shoot through him, and stifles it quickly. His wife has spent all evening looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here. No. Anywhere but here with him.

"Mom and I have to stay," Rodrick says, a little harsher than he should have. He spots his wife walking across the dining room towards them, her auburn hair gleaming in the light, and his jaw tightens. Her smile is securely fixed on her face, and to her credit, she has fooled almost everyone this evening.

"Why don't you ask Camille about something that she likes and talk about that?" Rodrick says, absentmindedly, as he walks away from Matthew towards his wife. She's absolutely ravishing in the emerald green silk dress he purchased especially for this evening, and for a brief moment, Rodrick is so struck by her beauty he forgets his anger. And then her cold, green eyes land on him and her perfectly perfect smile falters.

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