Page 32 of Lovely Deceit

Her jaw tenses. “Just unlucky, I guess.”

We ride in silence for a few moments. “You want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head, and I glance over, noticing her crossed arms are tense, the tiny muscles popping out. There’s a pocket of tears in the corner of her eye, but they don’t fall, as if she’s willing them not to move. “I take it you saw what he did?”

“I saw everything.” I saw a beautiful woman sitting with a bunch of self-important men, looking bored—which made me chuckle. Then, I saw her get angry, holding her own until Forbes did what he did.

“So you know, then? You know what they want me to do?”

My neck bristles. Her voice wavers for the first time as I aim the car out of the city and back toward Carnegie. “I couldn’t hear what was being said.”

She shakes her head, then finally unfurls her arms and pushes her fingers through her blonde strands. She laughs, but it’s more shock than actual amusement. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

A million different thoughts flick through my head. They’re making her leave the Knights. They’re making her take over the Astor business when she graduates. They’re making her leave Carnegie. All of those would piss her off. She’s so pensive that I can only wait so long before I grind out, “What is it?”

She turns sad, blue eyes toward me, and my stomach clenches. Finally, the tears fall, and she quickly wipes them away before peering out the windshield. “They want me to marry Keegan Forbes.”

I slam down on the brakes, maneuvering the car to the side of the road. “They what?” I bellow.

“Since my sister is dead, they figure I’m the best replacement for her. Because, of course, we’re interchangeable and the only thing that matters is that they’ll be able to tie the Forbeses’ and Astors’ fortunes together.”

“You can’t,” I growl.

She pins me with a disgusted look. “You think I want to? I loathe Keegan. The only reason I ever tolerated him was because my sister—and who fucking knows for what reason—saw something in him. She loved him. The whole thing sickens me, and I can’t believe my father would actually think this was a good idea. It’s disgusting.”

I curl my fingers around the steering wheel, my knuckles going white. When I sit and think about it, this is the natural progression in our world. I don’t know why I didn’t consider it before. “You should’ve hit him.”

“I damn well tried. I’ll work on my aim.”

“I should’ve punched the fucker. And Keegan, too. And your father,” I add with even more disdain.

Eden rubs her temples. “This is a nightmare.” She’s silent for a few moments before she peers over at me, looking lost as ever. “Can they actually make me do it?”

I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Some girls get paired off and are miserable. I always thought I was lucky because my parents honestly liked each other. There were no tense moments when it was just the three of us. It was only when you mixed in other people that things went haywire.

“I don’t even know if I want kids,” she says, complete desolation tainting her voice. “He said I’ll do all the housewife duties with a smile on my face, and that Keegan will have to beat the smart mouth out of me.”

“I’ll kill him.”

She lowers her head into her hands. “Keegan said he didn’t know.”

“Do you think he’s lying?”

Her slim shoulders shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve hated him for most of my life. I can’t fuck him and give him little demonic Forbes babies.”

She lurches, and for a moment, I don’t understand what’s happening until she swings open the passenger door and retches into the fallen leaves littering the side of the road.

Reaching over, I rub her back. She bristles at the contact, but then relaxes. It feels abnormal to touch her in this way. I don’t know how to comfort or dote on someone. My mother was the only one who was affectionate with me, and she died when I was young. I can’t even remember the feel of her hug.

With my other hand, I open up the glove compartment. “There are some napkins in there. I’ll stop and get some water somewhere.”

“I can make it home,” she says.

At her use of the word home, my stomach clenches. She said Jarvis Hall is herhome.Desire has my cock thickening, but I talk it down. This isn’t the time for that.

She leans back, resting her head against the bucket seat, a napkin scrunched in her hand.

“You’re strong,” I finally tell her, hoping I can find the right words. “You don’t have to be a slave to him if you don’t want, and you certainly don’t have to marry him. You’ll figure it out.”

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