Page 80 of The Heir

“My parents, Maribel and Richard, have been married for thirty-eight years. I have a sister named Teresa who’s been married for three, and an absolute pain in the ass for a brother named Mason who is not in a relationship. I'm the oldest. My father is in real estate, and my mother was a maid when he met her. He was traveling for work when he saw her and brought her home for a whirlwind romance and wedding.”

"Yeah okay.Brought."I snort, making an air quotes gesture with my fingers. “Did she at least get to remember it?” I take another bite and glare at him.

It hits me then that I’m honestly pissed I didn’t get to plan our wedding.All this money and I couldn’t even get what I wanted?I keep my lips shut because that sounds real gold-diggerish like. Then another thought hits me; he snatched me up out of nowhere, so even if Iwasa gold digger, it’d kind of serve him right wouldn’t it.

Ifeel a smile cross my face at the prospect of spending a shit load of his money on something nonsensical just to see the look on his face.

“Oh God,” he grumbles. “What wicked thoughts are you thinking about now? It can’t be anything good, judging by the smile on your face."

“Nothing.” I clear my throat, snapping out of it.

“Does that bother you then?” King says softly. “That you can’t remember our wedding?”

I eye him, my gaze falling to his hand. “Probably about as much as it bothers you to have your hands messed with.”

King gets his own devilish smile. “Well if that’s the case, let’s get married again.” He snatches up my hand and kisses it, working his way up my wrist. “And again.” Kiss. “And again.” Kiss.

I flush, my eyes going wide as I pull my hand away.“Okay!”I say shakily, feeling my lips tremble.“Focus please.”I admonish with a tone I can’t say I really feel. Picking up my napkin, I throw it at him playfully. “Finish telling me about it.”

We've finished with our dessert, and our food is brought out. He waits until the domes are removed, and Marianne leaves the dining room again before he talks.

His eye flicker across my face before he picks up his fork. “So, about two-hundred and sixty years ago or so, when all the wealthy families in the country were making a name for themselves; some mafia, some oil tycoons, railroad, that sort of thing,minebecame infamous for their jewelry trade. Requiring a lot of travel, as you can imagine.”

I can't.

I take the first bite and then moan in earnest. I don’t know who the chef is but they’re getting a personal thank you.

“Well one day, as the story goes, Jeremiah King, my thirteenth great grandfather, was in the Indies doing trade when he came across awoman he became enamored with. The family didn’t want to let her go, because she apparently was already promised to another and they’d paid the dowry already.”

Intrigued, I giggle. “Oh shit, sounds like drama.”

“Jeremiah kidnapped her in the dead of the night, left a diamond ring behind for her parents as payment, and forged papers to smuggle her across the continent. They had twelve children and were married for thirty-five years.”

I frown. “Wow.”

“So then it’s said that his siblings had a competition amongst the four of them to see if they could do the same thing. And the only stipulation was, it had to be true love, and you had to be able to provide for her a better life than the one she was leaving behind. Ironically, all the marriages were successful, and my family became one of the biggest and most successful in their sector of business which helped create the wealth it garnered. If you're interested, there are heavily detailed letters stored in my parents' library with accounts from the men and some of their wives." Sitting back, he eyes me carefully. "All the men credit their wives with being the reason for their success.”

“What else is new?” I snort, taking a swallow of my wine. “Women have been men’s backbones for eons.”

King smiles at me, making a shiver race up my spine. “This way of doing things in my family became so successful that it’s actually written up in a clause that those who do not acquire their wives this way will not be able to claim their inheritance.”

My jaw drops. “That’sfucked up!”

“For who?”

We engage in another staring contest. “For thewomen,you stupid man!”

King tilts his head, giving me an interesting once over. “I actually think it's rather genius, because you want to know why it’s so successful?”

“Sure, enlighten me.” I give him a sarcastic look.

“Because in today’s modern world, in order to successfully abduct a person and not get caught, you have to treat that person in such a way as they don’t want to leave. Endear them to you. And well, when you already love that person, it shouldn’t be that hard of a concept.” His blue eyes bore into mine, rendering me mute. “You treat them good, and they won’t want to run, won’t want to tell. A bond is created that is special to only those two people.”

“It sounds psychotic, to be perfectly honest.”

“Be that as it may, we’ve only had one failure in all the years of my family implementing this strategy.”

“Oh yeah? What happened?”

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