Page 13 of Ruthless Financier
This was theReader’s Digestversion of events.
“Your sisters are all adults.”
“Background check?” I asked matter-of-factly. I’d run one on him a month ago.
“Yes.” He shrugged, but then said, “You could have started on a shoestring budget and been successful. Even I’ve heard of your reputation.”
If it was just me, yes. But I have two nonprofits to nurture, and cousins like Jasmine and Mary and their families to look after. And I’d not have the vast resources to cover both right away—until his offer. But I kept that quiet and said, “I want to own the best, not some small, struggling company.”
He stared at me and for one moment I wondered if he’d believe me. But then he said, “Interesting.”
I reached for his hand and ignored the sparks that rushed in me from the touch. “What does that mean?”
He said, “Our childhoods were the opposite. My father didn’t care about anyone, except his company. He blocked my mother from getting jobs to punish her for leaving him, and didn’t pay child support, so we both starved. He had our landlords evict us, more than once. And he let my mother die because he refused to pay her hospital bills after they divorced. He figured if we died, he’d have less of a mess to clean up. And when I moved in with him, he told his investors that my mother had been the one to lie to him and keep me from him.”
His story was more in line with what I’d seen in my life, working at the shelters. And that was why I needed to work so hard. I said, “I’m sorry.”
His entire body froze except the lift of his chin. “Don’t be. He’ll be sorry soon enough, when I take his company from him.”
Right. Mr. Ruthless existed for his own personal reasons, just as I was marrying him for mine. I stood to lead him out of the room for now so I could get ready. “Right. Well, where are we going for the ceremony?”
He nodded. “Be ready in three hours. I’ll send a limo. I booked the Monte Carlo’s wedding chapel.”
His people must have spoken to mine, as that matched the schedule Jasmine had left me. I saluted him as he walked to the door, but my lips tingled for another kiss. I decided to be bold and said, “I half wonder if your next kiss would be happy as fun as that first kiss was.”
He took that as an invitation, which it was. The contract allowed me to indulge in my secret fantasies—like the one where he was the man I’d secretly wished for, even when I denied the idea. He made my skin blush without even touching me.
As his lips met mind, his kiss knocked me for a loop and I was trembling in need.
When it finally ended, he walked away like he wasn’t affected.
I still had goosebumps and zaps of electricity in my veins. Hopefully the next few years would wash away this ache inside my soul for more of him. Once I’d had enough, I’d walk away like he did right now.
My knees had trembled, but admitting that would change the contract. We were temporary, forever.
Chapter 4
Jacob
I fixed my black tuxedo bow tie. I hated these things and would burn them if I could, but I learned the most useful tidbits when people drank champagne.
This was a skill I’d honed to get my father’s investors to take me seriously, and still practiced—though I had little taste for anything that made me lose focus.
When I closed my eyes at night, I remembered how my mother sang me to sleep as a boy, though I knew she shook from lack of nutrition. I used to sneak home an apple from the free lunch at school to feed her, though it was never enough.
While my father, her ex, could eat and drink to excess then head home to his mansion.
Heartless and selfish to the core. And I’d expose him.
Everyone would avoid him once he lost his business. And without running his empire, he was nothing.
So I used champagne as a weapon to gather intelligence at events that most people could never afford to get into.
My father’s world was eventually going to be torched, and I was there to light the fire. He had more money than anyone could possibly spend, and yet my mother was buried in a pauper’s grave.
And I knew what it was like to have nothing in my belly while my teachers paid my school lunch bill.
Indigo’s life was the fantasy world I’d wanted as a boy.
