Chapter 8
DEX
My father has summoned me to his office. The soiree was only yesterday. An uneasy feeling sinks in the pit of my stomach. This can only be about one thing: last night.
All morning, I’ve been thinking about last night. The soiree, the trickery, the surprise guest and the way we were all blindsided by our father into meeting her.
I’m meeting Jett and Zach later for drinks, and I might drop by later to see Rio. If he likes the Beauty Queen, and all signs point to my father wanting an alliance, then Rio needs to let the old man know, and fast. I sensed that the heiress was eager to get the deal done.
I knock on the door and walk into the old man’s office. “You wanted to see me?”
“Sit down.” He gets up from his chair just as I’m easing myself into the one opposite him. He stands, hands in his pockets, staring down at me in that calculated way when he has something of importance to impart. This man likes to have the upper hand, to look down and control the room at moments like this.
“What did you make of last night’s soiree?”
I knew he’d ask me this instead of admitting the truth. That he tricked all of us into meeting her.
“Did you mean to ask that, or do you really want my opinion on the heiress?” I cross my arms. I have a feeling I know why she was there, but I want to hear it from my father.
“She has a name. Daniela.”
“We thought that deal was dead, that it never went anywhere with Jett. And yet, suddenly, you orchestrate an event and fly her in from Brazil?” I shake my head. “Last night wasn’t about networking. We can network with those people any time of the year. Last night was all about parading her in front of us Why can’t you just admit it?”
The old man glances at his watch. “She’s here to form an alliance, if possible. One that will be mutually beneficial to the Oliveiras and the Knights.”
I sit up straighter., I’ll be damned. He’s admitted to it. “Why couldn’t you tell us before?”
“Would you have turned up last night?” he asks. “I’ll give it to you straight. She approached me.”
I stare at him, unable to process what I’m hearing. “ She approached you ?” My jaw clenches. “You told us that you went to them.”
“Months ago, yes, before Jett ran off to Bermuda for his little escapade.”
“It wasn’t an escapade,” I snap. “He’s in love with Cari. She’s been good for him, and you should be happy for him.”
“Escapade,” he repeats, his tone dismissive.
“He’s happy. Brooke has a mother figure she adores, and Jett—”
“I don’t want to talk about Jett,” the old man interrupts, waving his hand like he’s swatting away an insect. He doesn’t like talking about Jett because my brother one-upped him.
Every time I’m before this man, I feel like a seven-year-old boy. How did my mother put up with him? Why did she put up with him?
She didn’t.
She endured him for us. And when she found out he had a secret family, it was more than she could bear. And then I … I made things worse. I push away the dark thoughts that stalk me every time the past comes up.
My father keeps talking. “Daniela Oliveira called me, because her father is most eager for an alliance.”
The heiress initiated this?
“Why didn’t her father call you?”
“His health is failing.”
I cock my head and try to figure out what might be going on, but it would only be pure speculation. “Jett turned her down, and if she’s still desperate—”
“This isn’t about her. She’s not desperate to make a match for love. She’s doing it because she’s a businesswoman and she and her father believe our families merging would be mutually beneficial for us both.”
“It still smacks of desperation to me,” I mutter.
“Jett,” my father says, pausing to take a breath. “Jett embarrassed me.”
I try not to smile at the memory of that Knight family dinner when Jett brought Cari along—something that never happens in this family. He stood up and said he wasn’t going to go through with my father’s arrangement. Declared he loved Cari. Made a grand statement and told everyone he loved her. “That was pretty cool,” I say, proud of my older brother.
My father sneers at the memory. “And now, Daniela has chosen you .”
The words barely register.
“What do you mean she’s chosen me?” I growl. How could she? “I barely had a nice word to say to her.”
I didn’t lead her on. She’s gorgeous and has curves in all the right places, but I like my women to be lean and athletic. There’s no way she could have mistaken anything I said to her for flirting.
“You must have sent out some signals.”
“Yeah, keep-the-fuck-away-from-me signals.”
“They evidently worked like a charm,” my father says, deadpan.
I scowl, looking up at the ceiling, wondering how the hell the heiress has interpretated so much so wrongly.
The old man gives me a wry smile. “She seemed to think you were pleasant. She likes you. I don’t know what you did—”
“I didn’t do anything. Trust me. I have friends with benefits—”
“And you can keep them. Have as much sex as you like on the side with whomever you want—”
I put my hand up, not needing to hear this from my father of all people. “I don’t need complications like a marriage in my life, especially not an arranged marriage.”
If I were ever to have the misfortune to marry, I wouldn’t be fucking around on the side, like he did.
If , I were to ever marry, it would be because it would mean something. Because she would mean something to me. But this concept is something the old man wouldn’t have a clue about. And, since I have zero plans to ever marry, it’s a moot point.
“Don’t think of it as a marriage,” my father says. “Strike that word from your vocabulary, if you’re struggling to come to terms with it. This is purely a business arrangement.”
“Why a marriage, then? Why go to all that hassle instead of just merging or having a hostile takeover?”
“Forming an alliance benefits both of us. Arminio, her father, and I have discussed this at length. A marriage of convenience is the best solution. The company shareholders are getting skittish, an alliance with a powerful American family would do much to alleviate their concerns. For us, we get access to the telecoms market in Latin America. We get to see how it works, without starting a new business ourselves. We get access to their research, their systems, their products, their marketing. We get to see what works before we decide to go it alone.”
Forming an alliance. He makes it sound like a cold and clinical process. Something that is a formality. A marriage should surely be more than that? Not that I’ve ever considered it.
“No,” I say, determined not to let him dangle any carrot he might be thinking, in front of me.
“She picked you, Dex.”
“I don’t give a shit.”
Besides, Rio likes her. I can’t do this to him. Even if it’s just an alliance on paper.
“You don’t have to love her.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Of course, love is not a requisite for marriage. You, of all people, would know that.”
“I loved your mother,” he says in a low voice. It’s rare for him to mention her. I feel like I’ve hit a nerve and any memory of her hits me like a punch to my solar plexus, momentarily winding me. I can’t speak. I can’t think.
“You don’t have to do anything,” he continues. “You don’t have to consummate the marriage. You just need to marry her and stay married for a year. Live in separate bedrooms. Don’t talk to one another if you don’t want to, but you must put on a convincing show to the public. Only immediate family on both sides can know the truth.”
I swipe my hand through my hair. I’m not doing this, but I am curious. “Why me?”
“You can ask her later.”
I sit upright, because this man clearly has his agenda which he’s following. “There will be no “later.” I didn’t make any moves towards her and I’m not interested.”
All I can think about is Rio and how he couldn’t take his eyes off the heiress. About how he’s had that photo of her in his apartment all this time. I haven’t seen him yet, but I’m meeting him for drinks later. We all need to analyze what happened last night.
Sometimes, I wish all of us, the Knights and the Italian Knights, could just be one big family. Sometimes it seems that we’re more similar than different, and only rage separates us. Their existence drove our mother to the edge. Their existence took her from us.
But they have what we lost—a mother. Rio mentioned once that he was going to Italy to see her. That his mother lives there now that the boys are all grown up. I haven’t really pushed him for much information, because talking about his mother makes me think of mine. And there are days when I can’t bear to do that.
I can’t agree to this. I can’t do this to Rio. He’s my friend and my brother. There’s no way I’ll marry the heiress, but I can’t tell the old man about Rio’s interest. We don’t tell him our business unless it’s a life-threatening situation.
“She picked you,” my father insists, like I have no choice in the matter.
“How do you know? Have you spoken to her?”
“She came to my penthouse this morning for a debrief.”
Innuendos swirl around in my head, but my father is serious. His face is set in a hard line and those cold, reptilian eyes stare back at me. I feel almost sorry that Daniela had to go to his place and have a meeting with him this morning. I remember the phone conversation she had with her parents, and how her voice was soft and filled with so much love. I didn’t understand a word, but I could tell, just from the way she spoke to them, that she cares deeply about them.
“Why did she pick me?”
“We’re going round and round in circles. I have no idea. Perhaps you should ask her when you get to know her better.”
“That’s not happening. I won’t be getting to know her better.”
“Surely it must count for something, having such a stunning woman choose you over your brothers? She’s gorgeous. Simply stunning. Why wouldn’t you be interested?”
He’s such a despicable being. I’m tempted to ask him why he doesn’t go ahead and marry her himself, but that would be awful for the heiress. I couldn’t do that to her, put such a vulgar idea in the old man’s head. I’m sure he would, if there was something in it for him, but I have a feeling using one of us to get whatever the hell he thinks this deal will do for him, is a simpler way.
“I barely spoke to her!”
“Maybe that’s what she likes. The silent type. You’ve seen how she looks. Men gush over her. They’re enthralled by her beauty. She’s used to it. That idiot Rio couldn’t even string a sentence together from what I observed—”
“Don’t call him an idiot.”
My father raises an eyebrow before continuing. “Zach and Enzo would have followed her around like loyal puppies. Jett is with someone who’s a decade younger than him—”
“He’s in love,” I interject. Jett is also someone who believes in marriage. He believes in love. I don’t. I will never marry.
“Matteo flirts with anything in a skirt, and he missed this opportunity. Which leaves only you.”
“I don’t care. I’m still not interested. This isn’t happening. The best thing you can do for her is to tell her to get the next flight back to Brazil.”
“What would you say to twelve million dollars?”
I remember the deal with Jett; the carrot the old man dangled in front of him. It was ten million. The reward has increased. “Twelve million for what?” I ask, but an idea starts to form in my head.
“To stay married for one year. You get a million dollars a month and you can walk away at the end of the year. It will be the easiest money you’ll ever make.”
I don’t know if I can do this, not even for twelve million. Not everything revolves around money.
“I already have more than enough money. I don’t need more.”
“You have access to the Knight legacy, Dex, but I’m not dead yet, so you don’t own much of it. Think about it. Twelve million for a year’s work. Are you really going to turn your nose up at that?”
I glare at him. “Like I said, money doesn’t mean as much to me as it means to you.”
There’s no way I’ll ever agree to marry the heiress when Rio likes her. I need to talk to him first. But I shift in my chair. I already have money. We all do. But still, twelve million dollars, just to stay married for a year? Maybe I could do some good with it? I’ve been toying with an idea, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but I kept putting off.
“Think about it,” my father says, his voice smooth. “You don’t even have to sleep with her, but then again, if she’s willing, why not?.”
I look away squirming at this so-called fatherly advice.
“She flies back in a few days’ time, and she needs an answer. You don’t have long to get back to me. Think about it. Twelve million dollars for doing nothing. It’s like having roommate.”
Except, it’s not. It’s nothing like that.
I already know what I’m going to do.
I need to talk to Rio first.