Page 48 of The Marriage Agreement
“You bought my dad’s place?” I remember the estate being sold soon after Dad died. No one in our family wanted it and Mom desperately needed money, like always. I just didn’t think she would sell it to him, of all people.
“Yes.” He gets out of the helicopter and offers his hand. Absentmindedly, I take it. “My mom’s something else.”
“No need to call your mother a traitor. She sold it to a tech billionaire who then sold it to me after his company went up in flames. I basically bought it at a discount.”
“So you can rub it in my face?” I couldn’t hide the distaste I felt.
“As an investment. Not everything I do is about you.”
“So bringing me here is mere coincidence?”
“No. That part is deliberate.”
I wonder what he has in store for me. A creeping sensation tickles the back of the neck. Whatever is going to happen tonight, I doubt any of it is going to be good. I steal a glance at Damien and try to gauge his mood and guess his intentions as he leads me not to the house, but to the other side of the estate. He is unreadable, but he doesn’t have his usual menacing look. Maybe it might not be bad. Maybe he wants to restart things. That hope is immediately crushed when I see us enter the maze.
I feel my hand go clammy under his. We come to a stop at the center where a candlelit table is set. The fountain is working and is decorated with tiny lights around the statue. A lot of the tiny lights are dotted around the maze, making them look like tiny fireflies. It’s a recreation of our fateful night but a lot classier. Damien’s events organizer would make my mother jealous if she were to see this. Maybe he’s not being malicious.
My heart warms as he draws a chair and gestures for me to sit. I perch myself onto the plush chair and Damien goes to sit on the other end of the small round table. A server appears out of one exit with a bottle of wine and pours it into the two glasses on thetable. Damien waits for the server to leave before lifting his glass to his mouth.
“Why are you wining and dining a sure thing?”
“You’re worth billions of dollars. Shouldn’t I savor the moment?”
“So you’re not doing it out of some twisted vengeance?”
He takes a sip of his wine. “Drink,” he says. Or more precisely, orders. I stretch my fingers under the table to release tension and when I’m sure they won’t shake with nervousness, I take a sip of the wine.
“Delicious.” It tastes old, decadent, and European.
“It should be. It’s an expensive barrel of Bordeaux. Your birth year, actually.”
“Wow. I don’t think you needed to woo me. I am a sure thing.”
“Mere coincidence.”
My cheeks redden and I take my gaze away from his own intense one. The hunger in his eyes hasn’t lessened ever since we came here. I turn my attention to the fountain next to me. “I like what you’ve done to the place.”
“How can I not? This place holds special memories, after all.” His words are tinged with hurt he can’t erase, even though he tries to sound nonchalant. I have never apologized to him. My goal was to explain myself and when I found out I was pregnant, all I wanted was to let him know about Lake, and when he refused… Well, it all turned to rage. “Damien.”
I am interrupted by a team of servers carrying plates of food. They place the starter in front of us and leave once again. The food looks amazing. Miles better than the stuff I’ve been eating for the past eight years. I follow Damien’s lead and bite into the little bread with mushrooms and liver on it.
“How was Lake when you left him?” Damien asks.
“He’s getting along with Greta. When I called, I could hardly speak to him. He was too enamored with the toy plane you gave him.”
“I’m glad he likes it.”
“Look.” I put down my spoon. “I understand why you’re doing all you can with Lake, but you risk spoiling him if you grant him his every wish.”
“What’s wrong with giving him the life I never had?” He takes another bite of the bread.
“For one, you risk turning him into a trust fund baby. I thought you hated those.”
Damien leans back into his chair, having finished his food. “I’m only making up for lost time.”
A retort is on the tip of my tongue.If you cared so much, you shouldn’t have ignored me.The truth is, it is looking more and more likely he will never admit it. He was young. He wanted to achieve his dreams and party. I’m sure the possibility of my pregnancy struck him, but he didn’t want to go through with it because a child would have put a hold on his ambitions. The more I think about it, the bitter I become. Not because I had to have Lake, but because he could live his life without facing consequences. “You shouldn’t have ignored me,” I finally say, tired of bottling my feelings.
He sighs, “This again.”
