Chapter 29
Cormac
Idon’t knock, I shove open Bradley Ford’s ornate old-world office door, and it bangs against the wall. My former professor looks up from a stack of papers.
“What the hell, Dr. O’Rourke?”
Good. He should look concerned.
Scarlett and I walk in side by side, our hands clasped together. Her breathing tells me she’s terrified of what I’m about to do. But she doesn’t try to stop me. She can’t. We both need this.
And we’re too far over the edge to stop.
Ford rises halfway out of his seat. “Scarlett? What’s—”
“Pierce Langston just had Scarlett’s funding revoked,” I cut him off. “And evicted from her apartment. He’s threatening her career. Her future.”
Ford goes pale and sinks back down into his leather tufted chair. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s true, Dad,” she speaks up. “He locked me in one of the labs and tried to shove an engagement ring on my finger.”
“He would have dragged her out of there if I didn’t show up,” I add. “He had cars parked outside ready to abduct her.”
Ford stares at us, his face confused about what he’s seeing, compared to what he’s hearing.
His daughter is in trouble, and his response is a disbelieving scoff. “Abduct her? That’s not how the Langstons operate. Pierce promised me he’d let you finish school. You used to love him, Scarlett. With the name Langston, you will have the world at your feet.”
“What?” Scarlett looks like the floor just fell out beneath her. “I don’t believe this.”
Holy crap, he wants his daughter married to Langston. “You mean the third world where women are property?” I sneer and slam my fist so hard on the desk that pens jump in his metal holder.
“Scarlett, come here.” Ford waltzes out from behind his desk. “I’ll talk to Ramses, we’ll straighten this out.”
“There’s nothing to straighten out.” I pull her hand up and against my chest. “Pierce lied to you, Bradley. That Langston prick isn’t getting anywhere near Scarlett.”
“Dad, he told me to my face again today, he doesn’t want me to be a doctor.”
Ford stares at his daughter. He believes her and not me, but this isn’t a contest.
“That little bastard.” Ford’s hands push thinning hair off his forehead. “Scarlett, I don’t have that kind of cash available to pay for your tuition. But I can go to—”
“A loan shark?” I fold my arms. “One missed payment on a medical school tuition debt, and these men will bury you under the Hudson River Tunnel.”
“I have a few…students renting rooms in the Dean’s residence,” he confesses, because that’s illegal. “I can at least pay for a hotel.” He holds out a credit card, but I smack it from his hand.
It clatters to the floor between us. Ford’s shoulders hunch like a once great titan whose turned hollow.
“The Langstons can either pay a hotel manager to look the other way or pay a cop in their pocket to show their badge to get into the building and take her,” I argue.
“You’re not just in debt, are you?” Scarlett shakes her head. “There’s something else you’re not telling me.”
“I made a bad investment right before your mother died,” Ford sighs. “I lost more than your medical school savings, Scarlett.”
I know how this works. I’ll have to pay his debts. “How much do you owe?”
“You work here, Cormac,” he grumbles. “I can’t take money from you.”
“Your pride is a little late. Consider it a dowry.”
Ford’s eyes stray to our hands again. “Dowry?” He blinks, his jaw taut. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to marry your daughter.”
The color immediately drains from his face. “No. Absolutely not. You’re her professor. It’s unethical.”
“The semester is already halfway over.” I cut him off with a flat tone. “And your worry about ethics comes a little late, don’t you think? Letting students live in your house.”
“What do I tell the other faculty?” Ford cries out. “How do I explain that I allowed a professor to marry a student?”
“Tell them Scarlett and I met after she and Pierce broke up in August. We had a relationship before you hired me.”
“No one will believe that.”
“Then say you wanted to play matchmaker. After all, you gave me the only class you knew your daughter had.” I’m not sure that’s entirely a lie. “Everyone is afraid of the Langstons. They will applaud you for taking a stand against what Pierce did.”
Ford waves his hands like I’m holding him at gunpoint. “I’ll figure out a way to take care of my daughter. She can wait until next semester, then I can—”
“No. She’s not leaving school again. She’s marrying me,” I grind out. “I’ll handle her tuition. Her security. The roof over her head will be mine.” I lean in. “You wanted me to get a wife, and your missteps and trusting the wrong people resulted in your daughter needing a place to live.”
Ford swallows hard. “Her scores in your class…”
“We can install some safeguards. Someone else can grade her work.” I straighten to my full height. “All you need to do is sanction the marriage. Because if you don’t, your daughter doesn’t get her education.”
He knows I’ve got him cornered. After shaking his head, he looks between us. Guilt is written deep into the lines of his face. “If this is how you want to play it, Dr. O’Rourke.” He picks up his phone.
My heart starts a drumroll of beats, thinking he’s calling Ramses Langston, or school security, or… Darragh.
Scarlett shivers behind me. “Cormac…”
“It’s okay,” I say to be strong.
Her father hangs up the phone. “The officiant is on his way.”
“Officiant?” I say and glance around.
“Yes. You marry my daughter, right here, right now,” Ford says, showing some backbone.
I turn to her. “Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to rush it like this.”
Nodding, she whispers, “It’s okay. I agreed. I wasn’t expecting church bells and a white dress.”
Just hearing her say that, I know she might have been.
A knock on the door comes a few minutes later. His assistant peeks her head in. “Dr. Ford, the officiant is here.”
Ford’s gaze flicks to Scarlett, then back to me. Something tightens in his jaw. For a second, I think he might change his mind.
“Send him in,” he says.
My heart rate begins to level out.
The assistant nods, and a beat later, a man steps into the office. He’s mid-fifties, gray at the temples, wearing a shabby suit, and carrying a slim leather folio. Whatever is inside that thing is my point of no return.
“Dr. Ford.” The officiant holds his head up high, then glances between Scarlett and me. “I was told there’s a ceremony to perform.”
“There is,” Bradley says, his voice steadier now. Controlled. “Like the others, keep it brief.”
Like the others… Let me guess, professors who waited until the last minute and tried to bargain for more time.
I shift closer to Scarlett, my hand still tight around hers. I’ve not let her go this whole time. Not for a second. She’s mine.
The officiant opens his folio, pulling out a single sheet. “I’ll need confirmation of intent from both parties,” he says. “Full names, for the record.”
“Dr. Cormac O’Rourke,” I say with a small tremble in my voice.
Holy shit, this is happening.
“And your bride?”
Her father flinches at that. It’s subtle, but I catch it.
Scarlett’s fingers twitch in mine before she answers. “Scarlett Ford.” Then she whispers to me, “You… You don’t want a pre-nup or anything?”
I think about that. “No,” comes out easy. “I trust you.”
That gets Bradley’s attention, too.
The officiant writes down our names and other information that makes me curious. “Very well.”
He doesn’t ask for rings or witnesses. Hmm.
Just turns to me. Coldly. “Do you, Dr. Cormac O’Rourke, enter into this marriage of your own free will?”
Free will. I almost laugh. But I don’t. “Yes.”
A million crazy thoughts fly through my head. I woke up this morning feeling hopeless. Now I’ll be going to bed with a wife. The woman I wanted to marry all along.
The officiant’s gaze shifts to my bride. “Do you, Scarlett Ford—”
My thumb presses into the inside of her wrist. A pulse point to ground her. To claim her.
Her chin lifts, and there’s even a hint of a smile. “Yes. I… I do.”
The officiant gives another short nod. “Then by the authority vested in me by the state of New York, I pronounce you husband and wife.”
Just like that. It’s done.
No music. No extended vows. No kiss the bride. But this is a transaction. One I’m forcing.
“I’ll file the paperwork, Dr. Ford, and get you a copy for your records.” He clicks his pen shut and waltzes out like this is totally normal.
I turn to Scarlett before anyone else says a word. There’s a flicker of something in her eyes. Like that night treating Ava. She’s crashing. “Stay strong, little Ford.”
On a shaky breath, Bradley says, “Scarlett… I’m sorry.”
She glances at her father and then at me. Smiling, she takes my hand. “I’m not, Dad.”
Respecting Bradley, who is still my boss, I place a chaste kiss on Scarlett’s lips. I have to tell her when we get to my apartment that I can’t make this a physical marriage. Not until she knows the truth about who I really am.