Page 36 of Forgotten Desires

“Till custody do us part.”

He laughs. “Something like that.” Then he stands, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a ring box.

Even though this is all for show and I know it, my heart races. I’ve dreamed of being proposed to. Where the man I love would get down on one knee, pull out the box, and tell me all the reasons he wants to spend his life with me.

This isn’t the dream, though.

This is business. I tamp down my emotions as he gets to his knee and I shake my head. “Please don’t.”

His head tilts as he watches me. “Don’t?”

“Don’t ask me to marry you. Don’t take this . . . please just don’t.”

It seems to dawn on him why I’m asking, and he nods, sitting beside me and opening the box. There rests the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. It’s nothing like I would’ve expected from him. It’s delicate, with scrollwork on the sides and up to a very large emerald-cut diamond surrounded by others in a beautiful halo that looks almost like a picture frame. It’s antique, stunning, and exactly what I would’ve wanted.

I hate him for knowing what I would want, because I don’t hate him at all.

“I bought this ring today. When I went to the store, I had the intentions of buying a disgustingly big rock, one that would possibly break your finger from the weight of it, but that didn’t feel like us. We weren’t about the money, we were about more. As I looked around for something I thought was us, I saw this in a case, alone, and I couldn’t walk away. It’s beautiful, like you, soft and yet strong, like you, and more than that, it has a past, like we do. Somewhere in time, I believe a man loved a girl so much he had to make something to show it,” Crew says, clearing his throat. “I think he knew he wasn’t good enough for her, and had to give her something to remember him by.”

“Crew.” I try to cut him off, but he continues.

“He wasn’t good enough for her then, and he isn’t now, and when she’s ready to leave, he’ll let her go because she is too beautiful to be in a cage. I know you want more than a marriage of convenience, and I fucking hate myself for taking this from you, but this ring represents how I’ve always seen you, Brynlee—perfect. I won’t ask the question. I won’t take that from the man who deserves to give you a proposal with his heart on his sleeve. When you’re ready, put the ring on, and I’ll know it means you’ll do this.”

My God. Doesn’t he get it? Doesn’t he see that he’s ruined any fucking proposal that could ever come? I will never recover from that. He . . . ruined me. He will obliterate me by the end of this. This is a mistake. I need to protect myself and say no, not put that perfect ring from my perfect idea of a man on my stupid finger.

But then I think of someone else who needs protection.

The little girl with Crew’s eyes. The ones that were in so much pain, pleading for her father to save her.

I close my eyes and see those eyes, staring up at me, asking me to give her a chance.

I can’t say no.

I will destroy myself if it means saving her. Just like I always do.

I grab the ring and place it on my left hand, where it fits perfectly. Like a moth to a flame, I will burn and turn to ash.

* * *

Things move incredibly quickly when you decide to marry in a week. After we agreed to the engagement, Carson stood and called his assistant, who contacted a wedding planner, who told me that anything I wanted was at my disposal. So many congratulatory wishes were cast upon us in the matter of an hour. His asshole friend from college, Ford, got on the phone, welcoming me into the fold.

I hated that guy then and I have a feeling he’s not going to grow on me now.

Crew hangs up his last call and finds me in the kitchen, where I’m standing like an idiot, trying to make sense of my new life.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

He smiles. “We have to go to the city. I need you to go to the penthouse, find a way to redecorate, whatever you want, so that it looks like we’re building a home for Layla.”

All of this is way, way too much. He needs to slow down. “We have to do other things first,” I remind him.

“Like what?”

“Oh, like tell my brothers for one. I’m not going to run off with you tonight. We have to tell them. You thought facing your ex in court was scary? My brother is armed.”

He exhales heavily. “Of course. I’m an ass. We need to tell your family. Whatever you decide for the destination of the wedding, I’ll cover costs for everyone we include.”

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