Page 17 of Owned

I didn’t give a shit. No one would say anything. I was richer than most of them and likely more powerful too, and that they probably all despised me was only a badge of honor. Fuck, the feeling was mutual.

“Mr Blackwood,” Charlotte said as I approached the table, smiling as she rose to greet me, as if she hadn’t been blackmailing one of my closest friends. “We finally meet. How nice to see you.”

She was tall, willowy, and beautiful in the way older women can be, when their skin fits tightly to their skulls revealing the exquisite bone structure beneath. Her hair was white and she wore it in carefully styled waves that grazed her shoulders. She had on a white pantsuit of impeccable tailoring, which blended in perfectly with the all-white color scheme going on around her.

The white also drew attention to her vivid green eyes, a trick I was sure she’d spent a lifetime using. And why not? Her eyes were her best feature, as she must already know.

I didn’t particularly want to give her the requisite peck on the cheek that was expected, not considering how she’d been blackmailing Ten, and causing Caleb an immense amount of worry. But I was good at pretending and she wasn’t the only one who used their looks to charm the pants off people.

“Charlotte.” I deliberately used her first name as I leaned in to press a kiss to her powdery cheek. “I’d say it was nice to see you too, but it’s really not.”

She gave a delighted and surprisingly dirty laugh, and as I lifted my head, she glanced admiringly up at me from beneath her lashes like a practiced coquette. “You know, if I was thirty years younger, I’d be offering myself to you and hoping for a pregnancy the old-fashioned way. None of this ‘donation’ business.”

“If you were thirty years younger, I just might let you.” I gave her my own practiced smile in return, one flirt to another. “Though, really, isn’t age just a number?”

“True. I do hope Rowan feels the same.” She glanced behind me. “What do you think, Rowan?”

I stilled then turned around, and sure enough, there was Rowan standing behind me. She hadn’t just arrived either, because I suddenly saw what I’d missed before — the huge worn black purse sitting on the floor next the chair opposite Charlotte’s.

She wore a repeat of the outfit I’d seen two weeks earlier in Arcadia, plain black and white, like a waitress. Her hair was in a ponytail down her back and her blue-violet eyes were very, very wide as they met mine.

“A-Atlas,” she stuttered. “What are you doing here?”

Fuck. Clearly Charlotte had not told her that I was her intended groom.

Anger twisted in my gut and I glanced at Charlotte, who’d gone to sit back down in her seat. “You didn’t tell her.” It wasn’t a question and I didn’t bother masking my displeasure.

Charlotte gave an elegant shrug, unbothered. “I may have neglected to mention you, I admit.” She arched a brow at Rowan. “It won’t be an issue, though, surely?”

Rowan was still standing there staring at me, shock written all over her face. Then abruptly color rushed into her cheeks and she moved over to her seat and sat down. “Are you really telling me I have to marry Atlas?” She gave Charlotte a very fixed look, every line of her drawn tight.

The anger inside me grew hotter, but I kept it caged. Charlotte Hamilton was a manipulative bitch, but nothing would be gained from angry words. And as much as I wanted to grab Rowan and leave, get her away from Charlotte’s machinations, that wouldn’t help Ten. Also, who knew what she’d do if I refused to offer her the DNA sample she wanted? That would leave Rowan to deal with her alone, and there was no fucking way I was going to do that.

I pulled my own chair out and sat down, making myself comfortable.

“Shall we have some champagne to celebrate?” Charlotte asked, ignoring Rowan’s question.

“Why didn’t you tell me it would be him?” Rowan demanded, refusing to be either ignored or intimidated.

Good. The kid had never been a pushover and I was glad to see she still wasn’t. She’d need some of that steel if we were both going to be doing Charlotte’s bidding.

Charlotte smiled at her. “Because I thought you might back out before I’d even had a chance to put the request to you. You two have a history, after all.”

Of course she knew about me and Caitlyn and our short lived marriage. Cait had told me that Charlotte hadn’t given a shit about her and probably didn’t even know if she was alive or dead. Apparently Charlotte knew very well that Cait was alive and had been keeping tabs on her.

Rowan’s jaw had become very tight. “Yes, but I don’t?—”

“You fucked up, Charlotte,” I interrupted, deciding to take control of this particular conversation. “You should have told her I was going to be involved. Or, more importantly, you shouldn’t have asked her to do this in the first place.”

At that, Rowan turned her head sharply in my direction, blue eyes now fully violet with temper. “How long have you known?”

“A few days,” I said, giving her the unvarnished truth.

“So you knew before me?”

I didn’t respond, my own temper simmering as I stared hard at Charlotte sitting across the table from us, apparently unbothered by the drama. “Keep Rowan out of this bullshit,” I ordered. “She has nothing to do with it.”

“Unfortunately for you she has everything to do with it,” Charlotte said, before glancing at Rowan. “My dear girl, I’m so sorry for all the bother. I thought we would be having this meeting with Tennyson Fox, not Mr. Blackwood. Unfortunately, though, Mr. Fox has pulled out. Mr. Blackwood here has offered to provide his name and his DNA for our little project.”

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