Chapter Four
Twenty-four hours. That was all the time my new husband gave me to clear my head before he expected me to introduce him to my dying father and the rest of the world.
I sat in total silence as Saunders took me home. All I could do was stare at the wedding ring, searing painfully into my flesh.
It was cliché to say I imagined my wedding day since I was a teenager. I pictured the perfect white dress—subtle and elegant. My friends would cry with happiness, each of them standing at my side as I said I do. I dreamed a thousand times of Dad walking me up the aisle, my arm in his as he fought back tears the moment I stepped into the arms of the love of my life.
Hell, I planned an entire wedding. The forgotten planner lay under my bed, soaked with tears and ripped pages after Laurence out of the blue broke things off.
Our wedding was supposed to be beautiful. A true celebration of us surrounded by those we held dear.
Instead, my wedding was at a courthouse with no one I loved or cared about around to witness it. No one walked me down the aisle. I wore what I did to work: a gray skirt and a white blouse. The man who slipped the band onto my finger was not the love I always wanted.
Jaxon Dade was practically a stranger to me.
A well-dressed and devilishly handsome stranger, but an unwelcome stranger nonetheless.
“You’re home,” Poppy greeted me with a glass of red wine. “Are you okay?”
I took a healthy mouthful and stepped out of my heels. “Is Flynn awake yet?” Drifting into the living room, I found no evidence that my brother had yet awoken from his two-day slumber. “Has he even come down for a glass of water?”
Poppy shook her head. “Haven’t heard a peep from him. I sent Saunders up this morning to check on him. He assured me that he is still breathing.”
Barely.
Saunders, my father’s personal security, appeared with my brother’s seemingly lifeless body in the early hours of the morning. I was in bed when Poppy shook me awake, her eyes tear-filled with panic. Whatever the hell Flynn was up to, it was not good, considering the amount of drugs and alcohol in his system.
Our doctor paid a visit, happy to take the money for his discretion, and handled things as he always did when it came to my baby brother.
Flopping down on the sofa, I drained the glass of wine and stared aimlessly at the bookshelves lining the walls.
I could feel Poppy hovering, wringing her hands together.
Twenty-four hours. That’s all the freedom I had left.
“Your father was asking for you this afternoon,” Poppy said. “He thinks he is strong enough to come down and have dinner with you this evening, isn’t that wonderful news?”
“Wonderful.”
Don’t you want to tell him our wonderful news?
My stomach lurched at the memory of Jaxon’s voice, the feel of his hand gripping mine, and the not-so-subtle bite in his words as beads of his blood embedded themselves under my fingernails.
“Should I put an extra place setting at the dinner table this evening?” Poppy pushed. “Maybe a bottle of champagne to celebrate?”
“I doubt Flynn will join us for dinner. Plus, he is more of a vodka sort of guy, or is it whiskey these days?” I said. “There won’t be any need to set a place for him. He will likely still be asleep for the next day or so.”
Poppy exhaled dramatically. “Evie, that is not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.” I tried to smile. My thumb brushed the metal around my finger again. “Not tonight, but tomorrow. No alcohol. I want everyone to have a clear and steady head when I tell Dad.”
She smiled. “Perfect. Any dietary requirements I should know about?”
I shrugged. “Not sure.”
Poppy’s lips turned downward. “Well, do you know if he eats meat or if he is a vegetarian?”
“I have no idea.”
“I know you and Frederic aren’t well acquainted,” Poppy said. “But you have spent time together at functions before. Surely, you’ve seen him eat there?”
“I didn’t marry Frederic Dade,” I said slowly. “I may not have been entirely forthcoming with you when I said I was marrying Mr. Dade.” A sliver of a laugh escaped. “I married the other Dade brother.”
Poppy gasped. “The one you wrote that article on?”
I laughed maniacally because the absurdity of what I’d done truly set in. I nearly forgot about the piece I wrote, the very same piece where I used Jaxon as an example of sacrificing romantic relationships for success.
Not my finest work. I was just doing anything to be noticed during my freelancing years.
God, I hope Jaxon never read it, especially the part where I called him a typical lonely billionaire.
“What’s so funny?” My brother shuffled into the room. Dark rings circled his hazy eyes. His skin was pale, and his lips were in desperate need of water.
“Nothing,” I replied before Poppy got the chance to speak. She was too busy staring at me like twenty heads had sprouted from my neck. “You look like complete shit, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Flynn grumbled. “I feel like shit. Poppy, could you bring me a cup of coffee? Maybe Irish it up a little to help take the edge off this headache.” He slid onto the sofa beside me, his head resting back on the cushion. “Oh, and some painkillers, too. All of mine have mysteriously disappeared from my room.”
My jaw tensed.
Thankfully, Poppy left without a word. From the look we shared, she would be bringing him nothing except a glass of water and, hopefully, a slap on the back of the head for good measure.
“Dare I ask?” I clicked my tongue against the back of my teeth. “What happened this time?”
“Pal of mine invented some new app for your phone, something to do with online shopping and finding discounts for customers.” Flynn stifled a yawn. “Whatever it was, it exploded overnight. He turned his first quarter of a million in two days and has offers coming in left and right…”
Inhaling slowly, I tried to center my patience, to stop myself from reaching across and shaking whatever sense I could into him. “Get to the point, please.”
“He bought a yacht. We went on a sailing party. He’s planning to sail it around the Caribbean and wanted me to come with him for the journey.”
“Of course he did,” I scoffed. “And let me guess—you thought that was a splendid idea, huh? It’s not like you have responsibilities here or anything. Not like you have university or a dad who is dying and is weeks away from announcing his retirement.”
“Evie…”
I raised my hand, cutting him off. “Don’t give me any of your shit excuses. I don’t want to hear your apologies this time. I don’t want to hear about how it’s difficult for you watching Dad die. I’m not sure if it’s occurred to you, but you are not the only one going through this.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” I laughed without feeling. “While you were planning on sailing around the fucking world, snorting enough coke to kill an elephant and drinking yourself into oblivion while fucking anything with a pulse, who was here looking after Dad?”
My brother’s cheeks burned red.
“Would you have forgiven yourself if he died when you weren’t here? Would you ever be able to look at yourself knowing you were too busy chasing your next high while Dad took his final breath?” The wine turned bitter on my tongue. “You’re meant to be here, Flynn. For god’s sake, Dad needs you here.” I slapped my hand against my chest. “For crying out loud, I need you here.”
He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry.”
A twinge of guilt tightened around my heart. “The state Saunders brought you back in… Flynn, I can’t lose you, too. It’s not fair.”
“I fucked up.” He exhaled unsteadily. “There’s no excuse. I should have been here.”
Reaching across the sofa, I grasped my brother’s hand in mine.
“I’ll do better. University starts back up in September, I’ll get my shit together before going back,” Flynn said. “Starting fresh, I’ll be here for you and Dad. No more screwing around, I promise.”
I tried to smile against the weight crushing my lungs. This wasn’t the first time we had this sort of conversation, and I knew it wasn’t going to be the last. Flynn promised every time that he would stop. He promised to take things more seriously, to be there for me.
And every single time, he broke his promise.
Soon, he was all I was going to have left. Slices of panic cut through me. When Dad passed, I was going to be utterly and entirely alone.
“Do you think Poppy would cook us up some mac and cheese for dinner like when we were kids?” Flynn asked.
“The one with tiny pieces of sausage cut up in it?”
Flynn grinned. “Fuck yes. The best dish of all time in my opinion, especially when she puts red… wait a second.” He lifted my hand to his face. A line formed between his brows. “Why the hell do you have a wedding ring on your finger?”
I fixed the knives and forks on the table for the twentieth time.
Tension rolled down my spine and across my shoulders. I hadn’t slept a wink, and it was starting to catch up to me.
“This doesn’t feel right to me,” Flynn grumbled, placing a jug of water down on the table. “How can you have gone and married this guy without any of us there?”
“Last time I checked, you were halfway to the Caribbean.” I refolded a napkin. “Your invite must have gotten lost in the ocean.”
“You didn’t invite any of your friends.” He scrunched his nose. “You three don’t do anything without each other. Lola will kill you when she finds out.”
“If Dad couldn’t be there, I didn’t want anyone there.”
“How could I have not known you were seeing someone?” he questioned. “You’ve been totally heartbroken since that massive dickhead left. I thought maybe he would have come to his senses and tried to patch things up with you by now.”
Ah, Laurence.
Being with him was so simple, so easy. Four years together, four seemingly happy years, and he ended it in the blink of an eye without so much as a reason.
He was making me breakfast on Thursday and handing me a box of my stuff on Friday.
It had been two months, and I still didn’t understand what happened.
“You’re not around, Flynn.” I shrugged. “I saw little need to fill you in on the aspects of my dating life.”
I swallowed the lie, letting it turn to ash. I couldn’t tell him the truth. Flynn never took life seriously, but he was known to be quite unpredictable in the face of a threat. I couldn’t risk him doing something stupid to Jaxon or blowing the cover story I invented during my sleepless night.
The doorbell echoed through the house, and I bolted before anyone else reacted.
Opening the door, I found Jaxon Dade standing on the doorstep. He was dressed immaculately in monochrome from foot to collar. His oil-black hair was pushed back revealing the intensity of his perfectly sculpted face.
Holy shit, he was painfully gorgeous.
He was nothing like his older brother.
Frederic was no doubt handsome, but he was attractive like an impending deadly iceberg. Beautifully cold, with even more bitter ice hidden beneath, waiting to drown those who got too close.
Jaxon on the other hand was like an approaching hurricane. I was unable to look away despite knowing it would lead to total destruction. Tattoos peeked out from his shirt cuffs, stormy gray and whiskey swirled eyes, and a jawline that rivaled a marble statue.
He was a prince of sin in human disguise.
“Douceur,” he said, the tone tight and mocking. “I hope you didn’t miss me too much.”
I grimaced. “Like a kick in the teeth.”
Jaxon chuckled, the noise creating goosebumps on my arms. “A real wife usually greets her husband with a kiss.”
“Try it and let’s see how you cope the rest of your life with no testicles.”
“Noted. May I come in, or are you planning on having dinner out on the street?”
I contemplated slamming the door in his face. I considered telling him to go and tell his brother that they can both go straight to fucking hell. Our lawyers were only a phone call away and I knew they’d easily make the last couple of days disappear from history.
A quick annulment and it would be nothing more than a bad dream.
But there was a part of me, one I detested, that knew Frederic was right. Without Jaxon, without someone to walk me step-by-step, I was going to be the worst CEO in human history.
I couldn’t do that to my dad’s company, not after all the work and sacrifices he put into it.
Jaxon understood the world I was being thrust into. I may not have liked him, but if I let him and he stuck to his brother’s deal, he was my only hope of making it through the next year unscathed.
I stepped aside. “Come in.”
He sauntered into my family home. The dark contrast of his clothing, and general aura, against the muted colors of the foyer were stark. It seeped off him, smothering the gentleness with each breath he made.
It was hard not to be drawn to him.
“Dinner is about to be served,” I said. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but my father is quite unwell at the moment. He’s fine. He simply looks worse than he actually is.” Was I rambling? “He may not stay the entire dinner, which is to be expected. He needs his rest.”
“Fine.” Jaxon nodded. “Then tell him before he retires for the evening.”
“I don’t want to cause him any more upset than this news is already going to cause,” I continued. “Therefore, I will do all the talking. If my father found out the true reason for our… our….”
“Arrangement.”
Marriage.
I swallowed the unspoken word. “I don’t want to think what it would do to him. I always told him I would only marry for love, and he supported that completely. If he knew that I married for any other reason, he’d try and get me out of it.”
“Ah.”
“I’ve thought all night about the best way to break it to him. If he thinks this is about business, or anything else, he will have lawyers round here before dessert is served.”
His lips twitched upward. “Let me guess. You wish to pretend that we are in love?”
“If you’re capable.”
He chuckled, stepping closer until all I could smell was his aftershave. Spice and coffee. It was hard to stop myself inhaling the provoking scent. “Lead the way, douceur.”
“What did you just call me?” Heat filled my cheeks at his lazy smirk. “It doesn’t matter. Just stop calling me that.”
Not waiting on a response, I turned and walked straight into the dining room.
There was no going back.
This was my life now whether I liked it or not.