Page 39 of The Sweetest Devotion

My father nodded. “The marriage isn’t contractual. There isn’t exactly a legal way to rope your daughter into a binding marriage for a joint business venture. There isn’t a divorce clause. Cain simply insisted on my end I state in my will you won’t receive your inheritance unless you see three full years of marriage.” A frown marred his face as he eyed me. “He wanted five, I said two, and we met in the middle on three.”

Divorce. It was still a possibility as long as I suffered through three years of being with Cain. This was news to me.

“I think he believes he can win you over,” my father went on. “He’s a bastard, Neddy, but he knows what he wants.”

Or what hethinkshe wants.

I wasn’t sure what Cain saw in me outside of my looks. I wasn’t “wife” material.Beyond my age, I simply wasn’t interested in having children. My car was a two-door for God’s sake!

Or maybe I was a romantic and wanted to be swept off my feet by the right man. Not some devil in Zegna.

“You put me in a terrible situation,” I spoke up, blinking back tears. “And I feel forced to forgive you because of what you’re going through, and that’s not fair.”

My father’s gaze shifted elsewhere. “I don’t want to leave this earth with you hating me, but I’m thinking of your future.”

“You don’t think I can take care of myself?” I challenged.

I hadn’t a college degree or skill to my name. Even if I would’ve lived off my inheritance, I would’ve been fine on my own, or choosing a man of my own taste or caliber.

“Nichols & Wagner is half yours,” my father said gently. “I’m leaving you a legacy worth billions, and I wanted your children’s children secure. This alliance is for your benefit.”

Money. Three years of my freedom would amount to more money than I could dream of.

If only I’d gotten a say in this arrangement.

I leaned over, resting my hand on my father’s for a moment before I stood up. “I’m just not sure that’s worth stabbing me in the chest. We don’t know how long you have, but I hope you really reconsider spending your last days choosing business over your daughter.”

With that, my bravado saw me out of the room where I wept all the way out to my car.

* * *

Jadyn was the best. She only allowed me to mope for so long before coming all the way to Hampton Hills to see me.

It was almost eighty out, making us strip off our clothes and put on our tiniest bikinis and lay out by the hotel’s pool. Jay’s blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a neat bun, a pair of oversized sunglasses adorned her face, and the sun was hitting her chestnut brown skin, giving her a dazzling glow.

Jadyn embodied happiness just then, while I was sulking in my lounge chair under my sun hat.

“I feel like your dad means well in his own way, but is too caught up in the business side of things to see that he’s actually hurting and betraying you,” Jadyn reasoned. “He’s probably impressed with Cain’s pursuit in some way.”

It almost sounded like my father was.

I didn’t know what to think of it. Cain had promised me loyalty and apologized for his veiled threats at lunch. He’d suggested our marriage be stipulated in my father’s will, binding me to this union for at least three years. As if that would be enough time to fall in love with him. I could, or I could divorce when the time came.

This wasn’t forever.

Only permanent for now.

“You should have an affair, you deserve it,” Jadyn suddenly blurted out, as if the thought had just hit her.

The idea wasn’t so bad. “I haven’t told the police, but he kinda threatened to end the life of any man who touches me.”

Jadyn sucked in a breath as she lowered her sunglasses to gape at me. “Does it make me toxic if I find that…sexy?”

“Yes!” I was quick to let her know.

Jadyn bore no shame as she lay back and laughed. “God, this guy is a piece of work, ain’t he?”

Dice. I wondered how good he was with them. If he ever leaned down in his expensive suits and played dice games in alleys.

---