Page 19 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

Holy shit.

“Bolton, as inBolton Steel?”

He nods slowly. “Now you understand the need for discretion.”

“I…”

Shit.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I’m actually speechless, and not just because the man I’m supposed to marry has changed from the clean-cut, much older, yet seemingly kind and gentle one sitting across from me to the sinister-looking, massive mountain man now towering over me with an unfriendly sneer on his lips.

All the money makes sense now.

But none of the rest of this does.

I hold up a hand. “Wait a minute. Why do you need tobuya wife?”

There’s no point in beating around the bush because that’s exactly what’s happening. He is, for all intents and purposes, buying me, and I’m letting him. But it doesn’t make sense for a man literally worth billions toneedto do it or so quickly that he made this arrangement with Wife Wanted in a matter of days.

His jaw tightens, and a muscle there tics under his thick beard. He glares at Ronald, who rests his forearms on the small table, making it wobble in protest.

“We aren’t asking you why you need the money.” Ronald raises a brow. “Do you want to share that with us?”

Good point.

I shake my head no. There isn’t any reason to dragthatpart of my life into whateverthiswill be. Once the money is secure in the hands of Attorney Fields, I can let him take the wheel, and all I’ll have left to do is pray.

Ronald smirks. “That’s what I thought. Whatever is said and done here today, whether you end up signing this or not, is protected by the NDA you already signed when you met with Carly.”

The NDA, right…

Silas stares at me, the inferno building in his gaze. When I believed I had to marry Ronald, the thought of it being indefinite wasn’t all that terrifying. He’s old enough that it wouldn’t last forever. A few decades at most. And all I needed to end it was his agreement—something that might not be so hard to get, given how agreeable he seemed.

But Silas is about my age, which means this could very well be a lifetime thing with this grumpy, irritated, angry, handsome, and scary-as-hell man who makes my entire body vibrate just by standing near me.

Thatindefiniteclause is there for a reason, something that’s important to Silas Bolton—which means I’mfucked—literally and figuratively if I sign this contract.

Ronald offers a tight smile. “Do you still want to go through with this, Lyla? Because we don’t have a lot of time.”

Neither do I.

I guess that’s the one thing offering me solace in all this…Silas seems about as happy to be doing this as I am. Maybe that means it won’t be as bad as all the possibilities I’ve built up in my head getting up here.

Looking between Silas and Ronald, then down to the contract, I try not to focus on the what-ifs and instead the “I musts” that Iknoware true.

“$50,000. Today.”

Ronald gives a sharp nod, and I peek at Silas again out of the corner of my eye. He stands with his arms crossed over his barrel chest, tattoos covering every inch of the exposed skin on his arms and neck.

I wonder where else they are…

My cheeks heat at the thought, and I quickly return my attention to the piece of paper that will change my life.

This is not at all what I’d expect the heir to a multi-billion-dollar fortune to look like, and I don’t know enough about him or his family to ask any more questions. Like why we’re meeting up here like this and why everything has to remain so hush-hush. Or why the hell a man like Silas needs tobuya wife.

Not that they’d answer them, anyway.

Does it really matter if it’s him or Ronald?

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