Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“Vows can be deceiving.
For we promise a lot of things we don’t intend to keep.
But vows are always binding.
We should be careful, because the thing about words and intentions?
They tend to have witnesses and consequences.”
Orion
Orion
Grabbing the jacket from my chair, I put it on as three knocks announce someone’s arrival, before a man enters without waiting for me to let him in.
Although I shouldn’t be surprised.
He rarely, if ever, asks anyone for permission for anything.
He wears his signature smirk while his green eyes glisten with amusement and a coldness that usually sends chills down everyone’s spines.
“As your lawyer, I have to warn you that this idea of yours has a lot of risks that might and probably will cost you billions of dollars.” His deep voice booms, alerting everyone to his domineering presence, while he throws the thick black folder on the table.
“As your cousin, though…bravo. I always knew you’d find a way to outsmart the fucker and secure yourself a deal of a lifetime. ”
We share a long-drawn-out look, and our laughter fills the space as we embrace each other in a one-armed hug.
“Rafael Wright himself is complimenting me. The marriage truly changed you.” He narrows his eyes, and I smirk, although inwardly I wonder how the fuck he ended up hitched in the first place.
To Emmaline King, no less.
The woman who put him in prison and ruined his reputation. Rafael barely survived the scandal, and wasn’t she engaged just days ago?
Not to mention her being fifteen years younger than him and an heiress to the King’s fortune.
He made no secret of hating her and despised even hearing her name. Apparently not enough to stay away from her. Unfortunately for most people who decide to cross us…revenge is in the Wrights’ blood.
I should know, considering what I’m about to do.
“My marriage is a business arrangement.”
I hiss through my teeth, picking up the folder and scanning the contract he created for me. “My marriage is a business arrangement, dear cousin. I haven’t even met her, so it could be anyone. Now, you, though…there are a lot of emotions involved there.”
He opens his suit jacket and sits in the chair opposite mine, resting his elbows on its thighs and propping his chin on the back of his hand. “Can’t deny that. I do truly hate my wife with everything in me.”
“You know what they say. There’s a fine line between love and hate.” Truth be told, I give zero fucks about his personal life. But my cousin has been such an untouchable, ruthless, and fiercely cruel wall for the past decade, so to finally have something to give him shit about?
Oh, I could never pass up on such an opportunity.
“If you are being romantic all of a sudden, Orion, then I should warn you. You’re marrying an innocent creature. She might fall for your change of personality and think she can fix you.”
For whatever reason, a foreign feeling of annoyance travels through my veins at his sarcastic and mocking tone when he speaks about my future wife.
“Watch your mouth, Rafael.” His eyes flash in warning because no one dares to throw such words at him, but that’s why we’re cousins.
Neither of us gives a fuck about the consequences or sugarcoats the bullshit.
“Business arrangement or not, she’s still going to be my wife, and you won’t disrespect her.
” I should find the sense of protectiveness that stirs in my chest whenever she’s mentioned strange.
Maybe I just feel sorry for her. After all, what else might one feel for her?
Before agreeing to the whole deal with Jones, I asked Rafael to run a background check on the daughter, and, well… the entire report was a single page.
How boring a life does one have to lead for that to happen?
I specifically asked for no pictures because her looks play no factor in my decision-making.
Still, based on what I’ve read on that page…
she’s been constantly bullied for her figure or academic achievements, stayed a loner most of high school, and never dated.
She found solace in books, and that probably led her to open a library that was a failure from the beginning.
The owner sold it to her knowing full well about its condition, and that’s something I stored to revisit later.
Nobody fucks with my wife, and for as long as this marriage lasts, she will have the protection of my name and my reputation. No fool will get to say to anyone that he managed to trick my own wife.
One close friend and no notable ex-boyfriends, just endless failed dates with losers.
Based on the report, she is kind, cares about flowers and books, and mostly stays indoors. Never even traveled abroad, which I find strange, given her family’s fortune. To summarize, she’s a far cry from the women I usually pick, and that plays in my favor.
Everyone would believe I truly fell in love. And since she didn’t seem to have a malicious bone in her body, no one would think she married me for the money or to get my inheritance.
I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect bride if I tried.
“Your newfound respect for matrimony is astonishing. That being said, noted on the wife.” Rafael finally speaks up, adjusting his cuff links.
“I’ve created a beneficial contract for both parties and a prenup.
” He raises his splayed hand. “I don’t want to hear it.
Based on what I found out, she has a complicated relationship with her father.
Unresolved daddy issues tend to create problems during divorces when Daddy dearest thinks he can use his unwanted child to his advantage.
Let’s not give Jones any opportunities.”
Using the word “complicated” when it comes to Jones’s pure hatred for the girl is being considerate and generous.
He made it clear that his illegitimate child was the bane of his existence when his wife left him because of it. She died in a car accident a few months later, so he ended up doting on their only son and taking out all his frustrations on his daughter.
Another thing that speaks about his less-than-stellar character and explains his desperation to save the family legacy for that idiot.
If it wasn’t for my inheritance, I would have told him to fuck off. I despise parents playing favorites.
And I despise parents who blame their innocent children for their mistakes even more.
Picking up an apple, I take a bite and welcome the sweet taste, only to see my father stumbling to the side and dropping his whiskey bottle on the floor, the brown liquid spilling all around him.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay in your room?
” he bellows, hurling his empty glass in my direction.
I have a second to dodge before it hits the wall and shatters into tiny pieces, the glass flying in different directions.
I wince when one sharp piece touches my cheek.
“Why can’t you learn to stay put? Useless, just like your mother. ”
“Did you add the one final clause to it?” I ask, and he nods. “Then we are good. The press needs to find out about the marriage as soon as possible.”
“I’ll leak the pictures, so try to look happy.”
“Like you did on yours?” I fire back, and he scowls. “For a second there, I believed you fell in love.”
His face darkens, and his sharp tone has the power to cut someone open. “Stop talking about my wife, Orion. You seem to have an unhealthy interest in what’s mine, and I don’t like it.”
I’ve never in my life seen him possessive over anyone or anything, which lets me know this wife of his…is way more than a revenge plan.
My intercom rings, interrupting our conversation, and I press the speaker button.
“Hello, sir,” Elizabeth, my secretary, greets me.
Hiring her five years ago was the best decision I’ve ever made.
She had just sent her only daughter to college and searched for a job after her husband tragically passed away.
She’s efficient, quiet, strict, and values order more than I do.
“Miss Diana is here to see you. And we have a judge on the first floor saying he has an appointment with you. I don’t see his name on the list.”
“Clear the judge with security and give him a special pass. You can let him in ten minutes after Miss Diana.”
“Will do, sir.”
She hangs up, and instantly, there is a hesitant knock on the door, followed by a soft click, and a woman enters. Her gentle voice puts a halt to all my thoughts at once, for I can’t focus on anyone or anything but her at this moment. “Hi.”
My future bride stands out against my black-and-white office’s dull interior like a rare gemstone amid the endless chaos, drawing attention to her stunning beauty, which should be forbidden for how perfect it is.
Since when am I so fucking poetic?
All I can do is stare at her, and I’m thankful I never asked for a picture because it wouldn’t have done her justice.
Her heavy red locks, cascading down her lower back, sway lightly under the humming AC, their silky texture glistening in the sunlight streaming through the window.
The blue tips create a sense of fire surrounding her that one desperately wishes to touch.
My body grows tense, imagining running my fingers through it, fisting it hard as she arches her back and lets me leave my bite marks on her pale skin.
So no one doubts who she belongs to.
Restrained, hopeless from the pleasure, while her sapphire eyes would beg me to continue.
Another thought that has never entered my mind when it comes to women, because the idea of anyone truly wanting me was a fantasy I never craved to indulge in.
A raspy breath slips past her full lips, and she lifts her chin, her pointy nose twitching a little in defiance when she notices my intense stare.
She skims her fingers over her tight black dress that emphasizes her full breasts, narrow waist, and wide hips that probably don’t fit most beauty standards these days. Not that I give a fuck.
What man wouldn’t want to be cradled between her thighs as she whispers his name into his ear while he takes her over and over again?
The unfamiliar yet powerful possessiveness mixed with fury washes over me, igniting my blood and transforming any potential men who might want her into an enemy that needs to be destroyed—because she’s mine.
Only ever mine.
I hate just the idea of anyone thinking the same thoughts as me, let alone acting on them, and if it were any other situation, I’d find it amusing.
Thirty-five years without obsessions that could rule me, but this beautiful creature with her curious yet cautious gaze and the aura of innocence surrounding her speaks to the primal part in me that wishes to take her far away and lock her up so no one else can place any demands on her.
Or maybe such a reaction was inevitable?
I’ve never liked sharing, and I've never had anything but things to call mine. Now she’d be my wife. And the whole world would know it, and those who fail to realize it?
Well, good luck to them, for they would need it to face me.
Any man who dares to touch her while she wears my ring on her finger is doomed to die in the most painful way.
She gasps, and I wonder what shocked her so much, and that’s when I realize her focus has shifted to my right cheek.
After years, I tend to understand that when people see the full impact of my scars.
Something akin to fear and pity fills her eyes, pulling me back to the present as the familiar coldness returns.
Coldness and common sense remind me that women such as Diana would never willingly choose to lie with a man like me. They deserve princes, and my scarred self can only be disgusting to her.
And while I always bought women’s attention, I won’t do it with my own wife.
“This should be…interesting.” Rafael’s voice pierces through my thoughts, and I glance at him, shaking my head.
No.
Nothing will be interesting about this. A simple business arrangement that ensures my inheritance.
Because anything else?
Would be wishful thinking, and I’ve learned a long time ago that wishing upon a star is stupid.
For life tends to make sure my nightmares come true, not my dreams.
Diana would never be pulled into my dark world, as its hideousness would destroy her.
And I must still have some pieces of my heart left because I do not want that.
Which means this marriage would be frigid and indifferent until our contract ends and we can both go our separate ways.
After all…
I might as well hold a degree in ensuring that people hate me.
And since Diana stirred the strings of my dark soul, I would protect her from the truth and secrets that surround me since that fateful night of the fire. Let’s hope she doesn’t have a curious nature and can follow all the rules that ensure her safety.
Because if she decides to taste the forbidden fruit…she’ll give the free rein to all my demons, and I would trap her in my own hell, from which there is no escape.
I should know.
I’ve been in it for the past eighteen years.