Page 16 of Right With You
“And I’m grateful to him in this one instance because he seems to have chosen a mildly decent person, but?—”
A dark head of hair swooped in and pinned me with a fakely outraged expression. “Che cosa dici, fratello? Sono magnifico!How dare you suggest I am anything but perfect for your goddess of a sister?”
Proving himself to be as irresistibly charming as ever, I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Alright, alright.É vero. Sei il migliore.”It’s true. You’re the best.
I couldn’t argue because Aurelie’s husbandwasactually the best. Our grandfather had found this outrageously kind and loving Italian man for my sister, who also happened to be the heir to his own family’s fortune and the lynchpin in a deal Grand-père had orchestrated to add a major Italian brand to the family portfolio.
Gérard Devereaux had managed to marry off his granddaughter and actually make her happy while getting exactly what he wanted. Because it’d worked with Aurelie, he seemed to believe it would work with me.
Deep down, I knew he cared about us both. He was shepherding an entire dynasty of business and wealth and familial obligation he built, and he was doing it without his son. Since my father had abdicated any business duties when my mom passed and he basically quit functioning, my grandfather’s focus had shifted. The next generation naturally felt more of the weight, and Aurelie had done precisely as he’d wanted because it also happened to be what she’d wanted.
Sometimes, I wished I’d wanted the same. But I hadn’t. And the shift between us, that bitter distance that’d opened wide when I’d joined the Army and doubled down on the chasm by changing my name… I wanted it bridged. As I’d gotten older, I understood more. I didn’t agree with the pressure he’d put on me or his methods, but I didn’t want to cling to my anger and hurt forever. So here was a chance to try and rebuild or maybe, begin something new.
Just not enough to marry someone I’d never met.
“I’m not like you, though. I’ve never been the grandson he wanted, and I don’t see why he’s trying to force the issue now, but he’s made clear he is. During our original conversation, he made clear the clock was ticking.” Hence my lie, and now the situation.
Aurelie had always been dutiful and taken the path expected of her, partly because she had the older sister obligation gene, and partly because she enjoyed it. I would never cease to be grateful this was the case.
I had done so many things against the wishes of my family and particularly against the patriarch. Why would he think I’d do as I was told now? When my mother passed the year I’d finished school, my ability to care about his wishes turned to ash. My American mother had always been the subject of his scorn, and at seventeen, I’d committed to continuing her legacy. His disdain and frustration fueled my revelry, and I did whatever I could to push him.
Yet even now, I wasn’t simply saying no to his nonsense. He’d taken it too far—a call to heel, and I wasn’t his lapdog. I answered to him, yes, but not without question. I’d made up an excuse—told a lie—rather than reject the idea of marriage entirely. He saw me as aimless and drifting outside the military, and marriage, according to him, would settle that. Settle me. I didn’t need to prove myself, but I was giving him an inch with this whole engagement. It showed I had commitment in my life, direction, a purpose, even if it was all a sham for the purpose of his visit.
Granted, I had several other reasons to want to appease him in some way, but not all the way. I couldn’t turn my nose up at the trust anymore—or yes, I could, but I didn’t want to. That very juvenile satisfaction at shoving his wealth back in his face years ago had grown into something more fraught. As a teen, I convinced myself I couldn’t have cared less. As a grown man with a solid chapter of his adult life behind him, I understood the complexity of relationships and resources. I could use the money. And in some way, I recognized the way the trust reflected the relationship with my grandfather itself.
Damn, but it was all tangled.
“Luc, sweet naïve child, Grand-père will never give up on you. He may have given you space, but I guarantee he viewed your time with the Americans as a dalliance.”
“Oh, dalliance,” Michele chimed, waggling his thick brows to make the word sound even more salacious.
Aurelie giggled, then continued. “He’s likely expecting you to return to the fold, a prodigal come home. Since you haven’t done so willingly, he’ll bring you to heel via marriage.”
“I’ve gathered as much.” He’d made it clear. It wasn’t as though he’d kept his motives from me.
“Is the woman he has in mind so awful?” Michele asked, his jovial tone softening. He might’ve been a jokester, but he wasn’t uncaring.
“I don’t know her. But I don’t need to.”
“Ah.” He nodded.
Michele thought he understood me, but I doubted he ever could. His parents were still alive, still happily married. He’d grown up anticipating an arranged marriage, and had walked into it willingly. For him, it’d worked out beautifully.
He was also such a sweetheart in the most genuine sense, I would lie to them for his sake more than for Aurelie’s. I didn’t want Aurelie to have to lie to our grandfather, either. Keeping her from understanding the situation fully allowed her to avoid having to choose between her loyalty to him and her allegiance to me. I might’ve disagreed with our grandfather’s machinations, but it didn’t mean I felt the need to cause turmoil in Aurelie’s life.
“Wait. What does that mean? You don’t want to be forced into anything which is nothing new, but?—”
“His heart already belongs to someone else,” Michele explained as though he knew.
Aurelie gasped, her nearly black hair swishing around her face. “This girl you said you’re almost engaged to is real?”
I scrubbed my hands through my hair and launched into rapid French. “She is real. She’s impressive. And since he’s placed this spotlight on me, I’m going to propose. I hadn’t planned to do it just yet, but now I will.”
This was the lie I’d use for Aurelie and Michele so they understood the newness between me and Elise. They couldn’t know we’d only been dating for hours and it was fake. They couldn’t know any of it except that my grandfather’s plan had accelerated the timeline.
Aurelie exhaled a giant breath. “I can see why you’re concerned. Is it too soon? Should you consider meeting Grand-père’s woman and?—”
“It’s not too soon.” Inwardly, I cringed, but outwardly, I simply nodded. “It would’ve happened, just notnow.So I need your help to keep the meeting simple so she doesn’t feel bad about the timing, or even better, I’d like to avoid it altogether. Andthatis why I’m calling you. I need your help.”
