Page 42 of Red

“There are just a few signatures needed, then I can file all of the paperwork with city hall this afternoon.” Justice Trenton pulled out several piece of paper from his binder and placed them on the desk.

Erik scribbled his name where he needed and handed the pen to Melinda. She hovered over the line.

“Not signing it won’t change anything,” he said into her ear.

“I know,” she muttered and scrawled her wide looped signature across her line.

“Very good.” Trenton snapped up the papers and tucked them away. “Congratulations,” he said, but Erik could see the uncertainty lingering.

“Thank you.” Melinda graced Trenton with a genuine light smile. One she had yet to give to him. He rolled his shoulders back, warding off the inevitable stab of annoyance at not being gifted a simple smile. A genuine curve of her lips. It wasn’t that much to ask for.

Erik turned to his brothers and let Melinda small talk with the justice while he gathered his coat.

“Nico, go with Trenton here and get copies of everything, then bring them over to Walter Simpson’s office. I want those transfers in place by this afternoon.” Erik delegated the tasks necessary to finish the estate disbursement. The finish line was coming up fast, and he could finally start working on the property purchases and gambling license. The real work was about to start.

“I’ll go with him,” Ian announced.

Erik studied him for a long moment. The open hostility toward Erik’s activities was missing from his scowl.

When they were children, Ian would often volunteer to run an errand for their mother so he could sneak off to play in the woods or meet a girl he wasn’t supposed to be talking with. Erik could always tell he had ulterior motives because of the way he’d gulp after making his offer.

The same way his throat worked now after speaking.

“Okay, fine,” Erik said with a narrowed gaze. His younger brother was definitely up to something.

“We should at least go out for dinner tonight,” Nico piped up. “Take her out somewhere nice.”

Ian nodded. “Yeah. She’d probably like that.”

“Fine,” Erik agreed. They were married now. She wasn’t a prisoner, or a pawn in the twisted game his uncle had forced him to play. A night out would do her some good. Keep her relaxed, and her mind off of what would happen when they got home.

Melinda would become his—permanently.

Chapter 15

At eight o’clock, twelve hours after she’d sworn to love, honor, and obey the most arrogant man she’d ever met, Melinda walked by his side into the busiest restaurant in town. Erik’s brothers were behind her as they were shown to their table.

They were seated on the raised level, overlooking the main seating area. A week ago, she wouldn’t have been able to get a table down there, and now she found herself sitting in the first-class level.

Erik ordered a bottle of wine for the table, and Nico fired off some appetizer requests. Melinda sat with her hands folded in her lap, unsure of where to put her eyes. The three brothers fell into a casual conversation about real estate and commissioner fees, but she wasn’t listening. The ring on her third finger felt heavy and out of place.

The silverware clanking and glasses touching faded off into white noise while she continued to finger the ring. Simple in its design, a pink-gold band. No frills or diamonds, just a band linking her life with Erik’s.

What a strange evening. She sat sandwiched between Erik and Ian, with Nico across from her. Like an ordinary family out to dinner. Nico and Ian had never threatened her or been anything but cordial. She’d gotten used to them being her prison guards; now they were just her brothers-in-law.

“I think your phone is dinging,” Ian pointed out from beside her.

She took the clutch from the table and pulled out her phone, feeling the heat of Erik’s gaze on her. They had barely shared a full conversation since they’d swapped vows that morning. But his attention never went far from where she sat.

Swiping her phone to life, she opened an email and quickly scanned the contents. Her heart, trotting along peacefully with the words, broke into a breakneck gallop.

“What just happened?” Nico asked on a laugh.

She peered up from her phone.

“You’re grinning like you’ve won the lottery.”

She practically had. Her cheeks ached from grinning so wide, and even the day’s events couldn’t pull her smile from her lips.

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