Page 44 of Married to Number 22
Because she could have fixed this if only she hadn’t made that damned request.
“What’sit, sweetheart?”
“She had the tools to fight them. And she offered to give them to me.”
He frowns. “And you didn’t want them or?—?”
“No.” I shift closer, needing him to understand. “I wanted them sofreakingbad.”
“Then why?—?”
“Because in order to use them, she said I had to get married.”
Seventeen
Aiden
I knowmy mouth is hanging open.
But if anyone would have asked me how Luna would finish the explanation she was giving me, there is absolutely no fucking way I could have predicted it would have ended with Grams demanding she get married.
I should have—considering the whole middle of the nightLet’s get married!—but I didn’t.
Hockey has addled my brain.
Or maybe the best orgasm of my life did.
Po-tay-toes. Po-tah-toes.
“I don’t think I understand,” I tell her.
“I didn’t either,” she murmurs, shoving her hair out of her face and sinking back down onto the bed. “It just…Grams had opinions and she always thought she knew what was right”—a half smile on her face—“don’t know where I got that from, am I right?”
She’s joking, so that’s something.
A hell of a lot better than the grief and betrayal and hurt from before.
“Stubborn and Maybelle go together like peanut butter and jelly,” I tell her softly, recalling a long-ago memory of something I heard Grams say.
A soft smile. “She used to look so damned proud of herself when she said that.”
I touch her cheek. “I remember.” Then wait for her to go on.
Then wait some more.
She sighs. “I’m not explaining this well.”
“I admit that there are a few key details that are missing, but I think I’m starting to put the pieces together.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “What are the tools she didn’t give you?”
“Her stocks in Smythe,” she says. “Combined with my small sliver they would give me the controlling share.”
My eyes go wide as I realize what that means.
“I can fix the company,” she whispers. “Or at least put enough pressure on my brother, my dad, the rest of the board in order to make it better. But instead of signing them over to me, she told me that they would only be mine if I was married within twelve months.”
And she died…eight months ago.
Fuck.
