Chapter 2 #2
“I want a lively family like yours. I want a compassionate wife like Amelie. But my demanding schedule makes it difficult to dedicate myself to a full-time family. I can’t give up my work, but I’m tired of coming home to an empty house.
Business is stressful enough without factoring in other people’s feelings.
If I need to leave for Africa at the drop of a hat, I can’t be bothered with fighting my wife over the unprecedented business trip, and I wouldn’t have to if there were someone else to pick up the pieces.
I’m not proposing to take your family away but rather add to it. ”
I sat back in my chair. It finally dawned on me what he wanted. Kai Cavendish wanted to play house without the responsibilities of the real thing. He wasn’t asking to marry my wife but rather to marry into my family.
He was suggesting bigamy.
My face twisted in disgust. When you had Kai’s type of wealth, regular thrills became boring. He sought a bigger target for entertainment, exploiting our lives, problems, and desires to make a mockery of marriage.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” he asked boldly. “I want a family with flexible commitment, and you want financial freedom.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“My private investigator did a deep dive into your past,” he cut me off smoothly.
“The average income in Darster is six figures. Your middle-class parents made less than that. A lot less. You’ve been looking up at the wealth in this town from the ground floor for years.
Aren’t you tired of it? Don’t you want to see how the better half lives?
Imagine a house overlooking the beach, just like the ones your rich high school friends lived in. ”
I swallowed. He knew too much about my past, making it impossible to deny my deepest, darkest desires.
Sixteen-year-olds in this town drove brand-new Mercedes and Audis, while I trudged along in my parents’ secondhand Camry.
Of course I remembered my friends’ beautiful homes and their less-than-enthusiastic reaction upon seeing mine.
The experience is what fed my desire for success and wealth.
My classmates were aware that I was the scholarship kid at their fancy private school and well below their tax bracket.
No one bullied me, though. They simply ignored me or made offhand comments.
Stefan can’t come to Vale with us, because you know.
We’d invite you, but dinner starts at two hundred dollars per person.
I was the outsider, itching to be a part of their exclusive inner circle. Amelie was the first person in that godforsaken school to look past the superficial and see me.
“You can lie all you want, Stefan,” Kai mused. “But I believe your lifelong dream is to rule over the same people who never gave you the time of day.”
I didn’t deny it because it was true. What I would give to stick it to the people who didn’t think I could afford Vale or a stupid dinner.
What would it be like to become the Prince of Darster and have them beg for my attention?
“Is that all?” I asked instead.
Kai smirked. “I suppose there are other things. You’ve always wanted to pursue a career in travel photography. I can make that wish come true as well.” He glanced at the faux cave where Amelie was reading to the kids. “You just have to grant one of mine in exchange.”
A bitter laugh spilled from my lips. This man was a master manipulator.
“If I marry Amelie and become her second husband, we can live in your dream house like one big happy family,” he continued, unperturbed by my laughter.
“In exchange for welcoming me into your family, I’ll make you rich beyond your dreams. You can use my contacts to get your dream job.
Vacation homes, boarding school for your brothers and sister, private jets, a fat bank balance, country club memberships. You name it. It can all be yours.”
It was the most audacious compliment.
He had appraised my wife and valued her worth at millions of dollars. Had any man ever been so offended? Had any man ever been so flattered?
In my mind, Amelie was the most exceptional woman on earth.
I pursued her relentlessly in high school, and once she agreed to be my girlfriend, I held on to her with all my might.
If I had given anyone else an opening, even the smallest window, they would have swooped in and done what I did—never let her go.
But according to Kai, he had met another equally exceptional woman.
“You can have any woman. Why did you target mine? Why not someone unmarried, or the woman you spoke of earlier? You could’ve approached her with this plan.”
“She wouldn’t have gone for it,” he replied remorselessly.
Meaning she wasn’t financially desperate enough to listen to his preposterous scheme. It always came down to money, didn’t it? I had to suffer this humiliation because I didn’t have any, and he had plenty of it.
I picked up the drink he had salvaged. I should do something dramatic, like throw the glass against the wall.
But Kai was acting with class despite his unsavory suggestions.
The calm in his voice made me feel childish for wanting to throw a fit.
How dare he act like a gentleman while talking about fucking my wife?
“I’m offering us the best of both worlds,” Kai pressed. “One where you only have to share rather than give anything up.”
“You mean, share my wife with you?”
He nodded. “I want the marriage to be real in every way, which includes an intimate relationship and legal paperwork. But it doesn’t mean anything has to change between the two of you.
You’ll be divorced on paper but remain married in every other way.
And it’s at Amelie’s discretion whether she wants children from either of the marriages. ”
I sneered. “Oh. I didn’t realize Amelie had a say in this.”
“Amelie has nothing to lose from this arrangement.”
“How about her dignity?” A pit in my stomach appeared at the image of them together in bed.
The smile on his face stretched. “I have immense respect for your wife, Stefan. I won’t let her suffer any indignities.
I’m not a promiscuous man. I won’t stray from my marriage, so diseases and other women won’t be a concern.
But if you’re referring to an intimate relationship, I’ll clarify.
Yes, I want us to be a real couple and sleep in the same bed, but sex will be consensual. ”
“You’ll spend millions of dollars to marry my wife, and she doesn’t have to sleep with you?”
“As long as she makes an honest effort in the marriage—spends a set number of nights with me, has meals with me, accompanies me to my company events, everything a wife does—I’m willing to wait.”
He was full of shit. “What if she never changes her mind?”
“All good things require patience. But I won’t force her even if we’re incompatible in the bedroom. It’ll be at my discretion to decide whether she made a genuine effort. But if I conclude that she did her part in making the marriage work, you’ll be compensated. I’m willing to put that in writing.”
His confession gave me pause. With sex off the table, this was just about a rich man playing house with us. That wasn’t so bad, was it?
Oh hell. Did I just entertain letting another man into our marriage? My unconditional love for Amelie suddenly felt cheap.
I desperately wanted the life he offered, but the cost was too high.
I couldn’t sully our epic love story. A humorless laugh shook my shoulders.
“You underestimate how much I love my wife. The reason I want financial freedom is to take care of her. What’s the point of money if I have to share Amelie’s love? ”
“Without money, you won’t have Amelie’s love.
She wants children of her own, but your dead-end job can barely support the three you have.
She was raised like a princess and never wanted for anything.
If she wanted to start a family, she could find someone else, someone financially secure.
By then, my offer would be off the table, and you would’ve lost her anyway.
All you would accomplish is depriving your family of a golden opportunity. ”
Panic flared inside my rib cage. The thought had crossed my mind.
That one day, Amelie would tire of living paycheck to paycheck and look for a man of higher stature.
The possibility seemed more real now that Kai had said it out loud.
Any rich man could come along, offer her everything I couldn’t, and take her away from me.
For God’s sake, Kai Cavendish was willing to settle for being her second husband. Who was a better prospect than him?
“If you’re so confident she wants financial security, why did you approach me and not Amelie?” I asked.
“Because for things to transition smoothly, you must agree first, then help her consider the benefits.”
“Meaning, you want me to convince my wife to marry you.”
“Why wouldn’t you want me to? From every angle, you come out a winner,” he insisted. “Our marriage won’t cancel yours. Everything will remain the same between the two of you.”
“Except the sanctity of our marriage.”
He sighed as if explaining an elementary concept to an adult.
“The sanctity of marriage is defined by those in the marriage and their values. Old-school Mormons still practice polygamy. Sister wives work toward their shared goal of a big family and restore balance by dividing household tasks. The sanctity of marriage isn’t lost on them.
If anything, their devotion to family values, such as having a lot of children, is the foundation of their marriage. ”
“What kind of marriage requires you to share your spouse?”
“The kind that places more importance on growing a family than monogamy. Similarly, our needs for financial freedom and a family are more important than monogamy. If women can come together for the sake of the big picture, why is it so unthinkable for men to do the same?”
“You’re a feminist now?”