Page 2 of The Sweetest Devotion

My father had come across his wealth honestly: school, hard work, and fair deals. Rumor had it, Cain’s father had done so through brutal measures: dirty money, blood, and lies. James might have been a cheat, but there was something about Cain that threatened more.

My father was co-owner of a five-diamond hotel kingdom. He was ultra-selective of who he let into his circle. With whom he considered doing business. Knowing all this, Cain still turned him down when my father had first approached him. It was as if the exclusivity didn’t even faze him.

Or, business wasn’t whattrulyinterested him to begin with.

I’d said no when Cain had asked me out previously, and now with my father gravely ill, he’d weaseled his way into finally getting what he wanted. Two birds, one stone. My father got to have his precious joint casino and hotel, and Cain got to have me. Everyone won.

Exceptme.

These types of things weren’t exactly unheard of in our upper-crust world. Arranged marriages came with the territory of being an heir to multimillion-dollar companies. I’d seen it happen a few times to girls I knew in passing, who ran in similar circles. Rings were exchanged, hands were shaken, and business ties were set. Nobody batted an eye.

Still, I never saw this happening tome.

“I can’t,” I let out as I pleaded with my mother. “Don’t make me do this.”

She pursed her lips where she stood beside me, primping her own appearance in my vanity mirror. “It’s a done deal. Your father has never asked you for anything, Kennedy. You think he wanted to get sick like this? You think it’s easy for him to watch all that he built from the sidelines as he lies bedridden? All he wants is this project to go through. It’s not like we signed you up to marry a monster.”

But they had. I couldn’t prove it, sure, but one good look at Cain and I just knew he wasn’t the hero.

My father and Cain had made their deal, shook on it, and signed contracts. I could say no and lose everything, my family and the trust they’d set up for me since birth. I’d be nameless and penniless. Not to mention homeless. There was no way I could continue living in my penthouse suite at Hampton Hills’s local Residence Hotel.

It wasn’t fair.

My mother stood from the mirror, turning and facing me. “Now, I do believe we’ve kept your guests waiting long enough.”

These weren’tmyguests. No one I truly cared for was here in attendance. My only friend, my best friend Jadyn, was at her home in Bedford Heights. She called bullshit on this whole thing when news hit me a week ago. She would’ve come in moral support, but I didn’t want her to play a role in this bizarre movie of my life.

I was sure Stephanie and Elyse were downstairs somewhere. They were my parent-approved friends—surface-level associates I only knew through my father’s business companions.

My mother didn’t wait for me to collect my bearings. She looped her arm through mine and tugged me out of the room. The cool air in the hall did little to alleviate the fever of anxiety swelling my body. I stumbled as my mother dragged me down our marbled staircase where already I could see guests here and there on the first level. One of the dual front doors was open. More people were arriving. The late evening outside was a too-tempting escape route.

There was no time for that as my mother put on her best smile, jerked me upright, and began putting on a show.

She wasn’t completely heartless. When news struck of my father’s deteriorating health, she’d been delirious with grief and denial. He was the love of her life, and she wasn’t ready to part with him. But in Hampton Hills, you didn’t let your true emotions show.

“Oh my gosh, you look so beautiful, Kenn!” Elyse gushed as we reached our great room where a bevy of guests were. “I still can’t believe you never told us you were seeing Cain Carter.”

Elyse and Stephanie were good for light conversation whenever we were at an event together, but I saved all personal details of my life for Jadyn. Someone I could trust not to take a bullhorn and broadcast my innermost thoughts to the media.

“We wanted to keep it between us,” I lied through my teeth. “After Gaius and all the social media last time, we figured this was best.”

It wasn’t a total lie. At the time I’d been seeing Gaius, rising rookie running back for the Long Beach Sharks, the media had been all over us. We were “relationship goals” for many as we were often spotted leaving places like Nobu or amongst a Black Hollywood party. I definitely wanted my next relationship to be more private and intimate—instead, I got something much worse as I took in the large gathering that had come to celebrate my engagement.

Elyse nodded sympathetically. “I don’t blame you.”

“So sad your dad couldn’t be here, Kenn,” Stephanie said as she reached out and caressed my goose-bump-littered arm.

No one outside of my family knew my father was sick. To the public, he was simply away on business, unable to attend this heinous little soiree, but sent his best wishes.

I paid Stephanie no mind as I set eyes on Him.

Standing amid two men clad in expensive suits, nursing champagne-filled glasses, was Cain. He didn’t smile. Only nodded as he listened to whatever it was that they were saying. In the little time that I’d known of him, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him smile. Not even in those off-guard shots I’d seen online of him escorting a date from a restaurant or event.

Cain ran the Cartier Casino in Las Vegas, but he lived here in southern California. There was the off chance he’d be a busy spouse where I’d only have to see him once every few months. Honest wishful thinking, really. He’d finally gotten his hooks in me and I knew he wasn’t letting me go.

“It’s time,” my mother leaned close to whisper in my ear. “Don’t mess this up. Your father’s counting on you.”

With a nudge in my back, my mother sent me forth to go and greet my fiancé.

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