Page 9 of Broken

“Course they will.” He snorts. “But we’ll insist on a morality clause to protect our family’s good name.”

My brow pinches in a frown. “A what?”

“A morality clause. It basically means that if he does anything to tarnish your good name, then you can walk away with a pile of cash.”

“What the hell could he do to tarnishmyname?” I snap, reminded of the rumors he and my mother spread about mewhen I took a break from college. At the time I was too brokenhearted to see how ridiculous their scheme was or how fucked up it was that they thought the rumors were more palatable than the truth.

“It’s mostly used for cheating spouses,” he says, giving a dismissive wave of his hand.

“But he might not cheat, especially if he has one of those clauses in the prenup. He’s not stupid,” I insist. I guess I don’t like the idea of my husband cheating, even if the marriage is fake.

He gently squeezes my thigh. “Then, my dear sister, we make him cheat.”

I blink at him. “Make him cheat?”

“Melanie, darling, no offense but you aren’t his usual caliber of woman,” he says with a cruel sneer, and in my mind’s eye I see myself punching him in the mouth. “All we have to do is present him with a beautiful woman he can’t resist, and I’m sure he’ll take the bait.”

I press my lips together, offended on so many levels that I can’t think straight. “Like a honey trap?”

“Exactly.”

“No, Bryce.IfI agree to marry this guy, I am not going to encourage him to cheat on me. Why the hell would I even do that? It’s crazy.”

“He’s going to cheat anyway, Mel. But this guarantees us evidence of his crime.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “How can you be so sure?”

He glares at me. “Because he’s Nathan James. Do you have any idea the type of man he is? He dates a different beautiful woman every week. Supermodels. Actresses. Whores. He’s also a lawyer for the Irish Mob and the Cosa Nostra, and fuck knows who else. He is not a good man. And so what if we take some of his millions? It’s pocket change to a man like him.”

Turning away from him, I stare out the window. One minute Bryce is telling me what a catch he found for me in Nathan James, and the next what a terrible man he is. I don’t know which is true, but I do know that Bryce doesn’t really care. He’d marry me off to Lucifer himself if he thought he could make a quick buck out of it.

“You know this is the right thing to do, Melly,” he says, his tone much softer now. The use of his childhood pet name for me makes bile burn in my throat. “For Mom and for Ashley.”

For Ashley, yes. Not for Mom. And definitely not for Bryce. But my little sister’s fate is unfortunately tied to theirs, and until she can stand on her own two feet, it’s up to me to take care of her. Because there’s nobody else to do it.

“Will you at least come to the meeting tomorrow?” he asks, his tone dripping with nauseating sweetness.

I wipe a stray tear from the corner of my eye.

“Melly?”

“Yes! I’ll go to the damn meeting.”

Chapter

Six

NATHAN

Istare out the window at the retreating back of my date, looking at the same ass that captivated me two weeks ago when I first met her at the gym. So why is it doing nothing for me now? The doorman of her building nods in greeting and opens the opaque glass door for her. Before she steps inside, she spins on her heel, a scowl twisting her pretty features as she flips me the bird.

I snort a harsh laugh, impressed by her fire if nothing else. Her contempt is no less than I deserve after the terrible end to our already disastrous date. I wince at the memory of her on her knees, her lips wrapped around my shaft as she sucked me off. Or at least she tried to before I stopped her mid-act. Not that she wasn’t eager or exceptionally talented in the art of giving head, but when she fluttered her eyelashes at me, her dark brown eyes wet with tears, it should have made my cock twitch and brought me closer to the edge. Instead there was nothing. And when I pulled her head back and told her to stop, the look of pure shockon her face made me wonder if it was the first time she’d ever been rejected in her life.

The fact that I wasn’t able to get close to finishing was no surprise to me though. My last few dates have ended in a similar unsatisfactory way.

“Home, sir?” My driver’s familiar voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

After checking to make sure my date is safely inside her building, I lower the partition until I’m staring at the back of Teddy’s head. “Yeah, home.”

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