Chapter 10 #2
“I don’t give a fuck what they want,” I cut in. My patience thinned fast around him. “I’m the one you need. I’m the one you trying to sell. If they want me attached to their little princess that bad, they’ll take what they can get. One year. That’s my offer.”
He sat back, thinking. Probably running numbers in his head and realizing Ma was right about how bad things were and hating that he needed me at all.
“You would do this,” he said finally. “After everything you said.”
I held his stare. Yeah. Because Ma didn’t deserve to lose everything because of your pride.
“I’m not doing it for you,” I said. “I’m doing it for Ma. And for the people under this company who didn’t ask to be dragged into your bad decisions.”
He nodded once, slow, accepting the checkmate.
“I can work with a year.”
“Then work with it,” I said, standing. “Send me whatever paperwork I need to see. Don’t blindside me again. I’ll play my part, but I’m not your puppet.”
“We’re still family,” he said, watching me like he wanted the words to mean something.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s why I’m still here.”
I walked out before the conversation could turn into something else, before he said something that pissed me off, or before I said something I couldn’t take back.
I was doing this for Ma. Once I hit the hallway, the weight of it finally landed.
A whole damn year tied to a woman I didn’t want, helping rebuild a company I didn’t break, fixing a mess my father still refused to admit he caused.
Part of me wanted to walk out of that house and never look back.
The other part, the part Ma raised, would never let me do that to her. I got in my truck, shut the door, and just sat there for a second. My life wasn’t mine anymore… not fully, and the one person I actually wanted to talk to… I couldn’t reach. I blew out a breath and rubbed the back of my neck.
On the way home, I called Caleb.
“Niko. Talk to me. Something’s off.”
“I just left my parents’ house, bro.”
“That explains it,” he said. “What happened?”
“I agreed to the merger.”
Caleb went quiet for a second. “nigga, come again?”
“I agreed,” I said. “The Company is in deeper shit than he said. Ma told me the truth. Without that Hargrove deal, they lose everything. House, properties, staff, the whole empire.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, bruh. Shit is crazy.”
“So, what that mean for you?” he asked.
“It means I’m engaged for the next year,” I said. “To a woman I don’t give a fuck about.”
“Victoria’s stuck-up ass,” he said.
“Yeah.”
He let that sit for a beat. “You good with that?”
“Hell no,” I said. “But it is what it is. I’m locking in my terms. My business stays mine. Wedding doesn’t happen for a year. I got time to figure out what the fuck I’m about to walk into.”
Caleb exhaled. “And what about shorty from the retreat?”
My hand tightened around the steering wheel.
“You still thinking about her?” he asked.
“Every fucking day,” I said. No point in lying to him. “I tried calling the resort. They won’t give shit up. I don’t know her real name. All I got is Elise and a bunch of shit in my head I can’t unsee.”
He laughed softly. “That woman did a number on you, nigga.”
“She did,” I admitted. “Had a nigga nose wide open in them mountains. Shit wasn’t supposed to even be like that. I ain’t think I would still be thinking about her damn near two months later, nigga. Shit got my head twisted.”
“You ever think she might be walking around thinking about you too?” he asked.
“Don’t matter,” I said. “She out there living her life and I’m here agreeing to marry somebody else for my family.”
“Messy,” he muttered.
“Story of my life.”
He got quiet for a moment. “Look, I ain’t got advice for this one, bro. I know you, though. You gon’ handle what you gotta handle. Just don’t lose yourself in the middle of all this shit.”
“I won’t,” I said. “I’ve been me too long for that.”
“Bet.”
We hung up a few minutes later. That night, I stood in my kitchen, staring at a glass of Hennessey I hadn’t touched yet.
My phone buzzed with an email from my father’s assistant about a “formal engagement announcement strategy.” I didn’t even bother opening it.
Instead, I walked to my office, shut the door, and dropped into the chair.
My mind drifted back to Winter Haven. Her head thrown back.
Her lips whispering my fake name. The way her pussy molded around me like she was mine.
“Elise,” I said to the empty room, testing the name again.
It felt wrong and familiar at the same time. Somewhere out there, she was living her life with no idea what I had just agreed to. No idea we shared more than a memory and a fake name. I rubbed a hand over my face and exhaled slow.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
I was engaged to one woman on paper, haunted by another in my head, and then there was Victoria.
I had to mentally gear up to deal with her and all the Hargrove bullshit that came with her.
None of this shit felt like a life I would’ve chosen for myself, but I had already made my move…
now I had to live with it. At least for the next year.