Page 2 of An Inconvenient Marriage
I stared and waited for the loud bellow of laughter to follow such an incredulous statement, but it never came.
Is he fucking serious?
“I don’t see what this has to do with the business at hand.” Even though I was fuming, my tone hadn’t changed at all. It was an art I’d perfected over the years. Once people get even a glimpse of your true feelings, they’ll drain every last drop until you have nothing more to give.
So I made a point of not giving them anything to begin with.
“I didn’t come here to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”I’m here because you need to hurt like—
“It’s quite simple.” Trent sank into his leather chair and laced his fingers atop his rounded belly. “She needs some… guidance. Someone to tame her, if you will. Marry her and set her straight. If you can do that within six months, we can do whatever business you damn well please. Hell, I’ll even dance naked around a fire and sing ‘Kumbaya.’ If you’re not up for it, we might as well call it a day.”
Six months? Six fucking months?
I needed this business deal to go through. It was crucial to my plan. Hell, it was the damn cornerstone of it. I’d waited years for this and didn’t want to wait a second longer.
But I also didn’t want to marry Natalie fucking Stevens.
I was about to push to my feet and tell this asshole exactly what I thought of him when it hit me. This wasn’t a hiccup in my plan. This was even better than the plan itself. He was offering me his daughter on a silver platter.
Hisdaughter.
Something that belonged to him. Something I could ruin in the same way I wanted to ruin him. So what if the woman disgusted me about as much as her miserable father did?
No one ever said vengeance was easy.
My gaze locked on to his, and I slowly rose to my feet. Smoothing a hand down my tie, I buttoned my jacket. Trent’s eyes never left mine, and even though he tried hard to hide it, he still reeked of desperation.
Why was he so desperate for me to marry his daughter? I wasn’t stupid enough to believe the reasons he gave me earlier. There was more to this than he was telling me.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter because somewhere in the not-so-distant future, Trent Stevens and his daughter would be nothing more than ash at my feet.
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I gritted my teeth and forced the words from my tongue.
“Very well. I’ll marry your daughter.”
2
Natalie
“Pleasedon’tmakemedo this.”
His hand came up, and I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut to prepare for the impact against my cheek. But it never came. Instead, he gripped my chin between his fingers and thumb and yanked my face closer to his.
“You’ll do this and anything else I tell you to do.” His hold tightened. “Or else you can kiss your stupid little dream goodbye. Am I clear?”
Nothing about the way I was being treated was new to me. I was used to it. Should have been immune to it, too, by now. But I wasn’t. My eyes still stung with unshed tears, and my heart still twisted in on itself.
It hurt.
Because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of a single reason why my father hated me so much.
“I said,” he gritted out, the putrid smell of his whiskey-infused breath churning my insides. “Am. I. Clear?”
My bottom lip trembled, and those pesky tears were dangerously close to slipping down my cheeks. But if I cried now, it would just make matters worse. It was always worse when I cried.
So I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked the sadness away. “Yes, Father.”
He glared at me for a moment longer, then roughly let go of my chin. The action was so forceful, my head snapped back.
