Chapter 5
Dorian
I’m sitting with Knox in my office.
We’ve been going over the new equity contracts for the last hour. Though I keep my focus on the documents in front of me, I’m aware of Knox’s occasional assessing stares.
I haven’t spoken to him—or any of my other brothers—since my meeting with our father the other day. I was so angry I couldn’t talk about it. The only thing I managed to do was start gathering a list of potential women who might suit the part of being my wife.
Without me asking, Levi took it upon himself to do the same, and he’s been bringing me résumés.
So far, no one has caught my interest. I don’t know if that’s because my heart’s not in it or because the women genuinely don’t interest me.
I pick up another file from the stack, and Knox frowns, snatching it out of my hands.
I glare at him with raised brows and cock my head. “What? What’s with you?”
He narrows his eyes and looks at me as if I just spoke another language. “Seriously? What’s with me? Dorian, it’s been two days since you spoke to Dad. You’ve just been working to keep busy.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
He flicks his palms over. “Let’s talk.”
“No.” I dismiss the idea with the wave of a hand.
“Why not? If this were me, you’d insist on talking it out and trying to come up with a solution.”
I flash him a crude smile. “What solution, Knox? Dad already made his demands, and now I have fucking Parker to worry about. So, no thanks, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Come on, at least tell me what you’re planning. It’s Wednesday. The clock’s ticking. You now have two and a half weeks to find a wife.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Have you picked a potential candidate yet?”
“Of course not. I’ll brainstorm over the weekend and come up with a plan.”
“Obviously, I don’t agree with Dad, but…” He pauses for a beat, and his face brightens. “With regards to the marriage, it may not be all bad.”
“Oh God, no.” I shake my head with distaste. “Don’t do that.” I tap on the table with my index finger.
“Don’t do what? Give you advice? I’m your brother. Of course, I’m going to give you advice.”
“I don’t want that kind of advice, Knox. You think just because you got married and it worked out great, it’s the same for everyone?”
“I don’t believe that. I’m just saying it’s not all bad. Look what happened to me.”
He nods like he’s suddenly become some marriage guru and imparting some great wisdom that will change my life.
Knox’s wife, Isla, is the daughter of the man who tried to ruin him. Last year, he set out to recoup his losses by taking her inheritance through a marriage clause in the trust her father left her. It was a ruthless plan. Until he fell for her.
The thing was, I knew he was interested from day one. Now they’re annoyingly in love with a baby on the way. I’m happy for him, but his story isn’t mine.
“We didn’t exactly have the best examples of marriage growing up,” he continues. “I felt it was important I say that it doesn’t have to be the same for you.”
He’s not wrong to be concerned that I’ve been influenced by the bad examples we’ve had. Or more specifically, the one and only—our parents.
Dad wasn’t to blame for that. It was our abusive mother.
Knox got the worst of her wrath. He even took punishments for us so she wouldn’t hurt us.
What I’ll never tell him is that I took punishments, too.
And because I never showed weakness or pain, that woman who gave birth to us took me to the darkest side of the dark.
My parents got divorced when I was eleven. Our mother put us through so much my father sent us to live with our grandparents in England for a few years.
When we returned to the States, my father had married Louise and they had a two-year-old.
“If you pick the right person, it doesn’t have to be bad,” Knox says, pulling me back to the present. His words tell me he knew exactly what I was thinking. “And not all women are like Catherine.”
Ahh. Catherine—my cheating ex. I was wondering when someone would drop her name.
It feels like a lifetime since I was with her, but her name still carries weight.
I suppose it’s expected. She was my first girlfriend, the one I was with the longest, and the last woman I gave the girlfriend label.
After I caught her in bed with Jack, balls deep inside her, I decided being exclusive wasn’t worth it.
Definitely not if a woman could earn your trust and stab you in the back the way Catherine did.
Then she blamed me. She said I didn’t love her. The callous thing about her accusation was… she was right.
She was perhaps the first to see that part of me is missing.
I can’t love.
And I’m okay with that.
“Let’s drop this.” I give Knox a sharp stare, the sting of those memories grating on my nerves.
“Can’t you just hear me out?”
“Listen.” I lean forward and plant my hands on the desk.
“I’m not in this to find some freaking soulmate.
There is no right person for me. Whoever I choose to marry will know right from the start what to expect from me—which is nothing.
They’ll get a nice cushy lifestyle where they won’t want for anything.
We’ll pop out a child and look like a family for the media’s sake.
But we’ll live separate lives. That’s what I’m doing. ”
He sighs, raising his hands in surrender. “Fine. Do that.”
I dip my head. “I will do that. Right now, there are bigger things to worry about. The investigation team hasn’t found shit, and come Monday, I’ll have cousin Parker grating on my ass.”
Knox winces. “What are you going to do about him? You guys will be working together.”
“Oh no, we won’t. If that fucker knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay the hell away from me.”
“I think it’s out of order that Dad brought him on board.”
“It’s a scare tactic for me, and it worked.”
Parker is our aunt Jennifer’s son. She’s my father’s younger sister. They live in England and take care of the Vale Global branch there. Parker has the same job as me, so he’d easily fall into my role if I failed.
He’d also be all too happy to step into my shoes because my father is giving him an opportunity his side of the family would otherwise never have.
The line of inheritance and positions at the company lies with my father and his sons.
My aunt’s children would only ever take over if something terrible happened to us.
Or if like now, my father changed the rules—which he can do if he deems one of us unfit.
So, that’s what he thinks of me. That I’m unfit.
It’s more a slap in the face that my father summoned my cousin, of all the people, because he knows we don’t get along. We’re the same age, have near enough the same interests, but we clash in personality.
Knox reaches across the table and taps my shoulder. “Stay focused, man. I’m sure whatever plan you come up with will work. Then I’ll happily send Parker on his merry way back to London. I have no need for his pompous ass here.”
“Thanks.”
“No worries.”
A knock sounds at the door. I lift my head. “Come in.”
The door swings open, and Levi struts in, a bright smile on his face. “Wait until you see the women I found you.” He holds up the blue folder in his hand.
“God, Levi not now.” I frown, giving him a thin stare.
“Come on. Don’t be so lame.” He waves me off and saunters over, flapping the file back and forth. “When am I ever going to get to do this again?”
“I never asked you to do it in the first place.”
“It’s my brotherly duty.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” I glare at him.
“Locke has it all covered. This is important. You need a specific type of woman.”
Knox chuckles. “He’s right. And what’s the harm? Besides, it’s more appropriate for him to help you with this than me.”
Because Knox is so obsessed with his wife, no other woman exists in his world but her. I roll my eyes, showing my disdain.
Levi lays the file out before me and takes out five report-style pages with headshots of young women who I know will be New York’s finest.
He moves his hand over the files like he’s showcasing multimillion-dollar diamonds. “These are my top five. These women will make your abrasive-as-fuck ass look like Saint Dorian of Manhattan. Think the Dalai Lama’s long-lost protégé.”
Knox bursts out laughing while I seethe.
“Levi, I swear to God, one of these days, you’re going to test the wrong nerve. If you ever compare me to a saint again, I’ll throw you out that window.”
Levi grins, completely unfazed. “See? That devilish attitude right there is exactly why you need a good woman.”
Knox leans back, arms crossed. “If he murders you, I’m not cleaning it up.”
“I’ll be fine.” Levi smirks. “Now, let me introduce you to my girls.”
Levi fans the pages out like playing cards and slides the first profile toward me.
Staring back is a brunette with sharp cheekbones and a résumé full of charity boards and Ivy League degrees.
“Meet Amy. She’s charity obsessed and a trust-fund angel,” Levi announces. “Perfect for photo ops and Christmas cards.”
I give the picture a cursory glance. Given that Montgomery was so heavily into his charity work, picking a woman who does the same thing would feel like a mockery and make me look worse. “Next.”
Levi smirks and reaches for the second. A woman with jet-black hair and a smile so practiced it could be trademarked.
“This is Francine. Media darling, very religious and runs a foundation for… something.” He squints at the header. “Sea turtles?”
“Thrilling,” I deadpan.
Knox huffs a laugh under his breath.
The third and fourth follow just as quickly—perfect women on paper, polished within an inch of their lives. All wrong. All forgettable. Then Levi slides the fifth page across the desk, and everything slows.
She’s a blonde with a soft mouth, green eyes that hit like a punch to the gut.
Not the same shade as the girl I’m thinking about, not the same shape, either, but close enough that something under my ribs goes taut.
The air shifts. My jaw clenches before I can stop it.