Page 148 of The Catalyst

Martin coughs as his father picks up his fork. “It’s simple. I want you to marry my son.”

CHAPTER 59

BETH

I’m not at all surprised by the request. Nolan and my mother were already working it out amongst themselves before she went to rehab and it sounds like a fair trade. I already came to terms with the idea of that months ago when I had time to think about it.

He’s the only one I’ve actually thought about marrying in any capacity and the idea doesn’t scare me at all.

“What?” Martin says as his father stabs a green bean with his fork and shoves it in his mouth.

Nolan glances at Martin, but mostly ignores him. He looks directly at me when he says, “I want you to marry my son in exchange for releasing Nigel O’Reilly from jail. We can discuss the details later, but that’s the quick answer..”

“You can’t be seri–” Martin starts, but I quickly cut him off.

“Martin, stop.” His gaze darts to me as I sigh. “It’s fine.”

Martin’s expression relaxes as if he really thought I would throw a fit about being betrothed to him. It’s better than other alternatives. It’s actually the best case scenario.

“Actually, I was not referring to Martin.”

My eyebrows fly to the sky from his add-on. “Then, you mean Michael?” I’m unaware of any other sons, but for all I know, Nolan Gray has a second family, and there’s some dude I’ve never met that he wants me to marry.

But, why would he want me to marryMichael? The betrothal was supposed to be between me and Martin.

Wait. Isn’t Michael gay? I thought he was. He has a thing for Nigel, but he could be bi. That’s a relatively common thing as far as I know. Not very many people, especially from religious areas, are accepting of people from the LGBT community, or if they are, they don’t talk about it–not that I’ve heard, anyway. Nolan Gray gives me the feeling that he wouldn’t support Michael’s lifestyle choice, which is truly sad. Now, I just want to hug Michael and tell him that I support his choices. He’s worth more than having to hide who he truly is.

“Yes, Michael. He’ll be taking over everything once I retire–”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me, Dad!” Martin groans as he tosses down the cloth napkin straight onto the big plate of food in front of him.

My face pales from what Nolan said. Oh, no. That was Martin’s chance to get away from his father and all the abuse and control.

“Andthatis exactly why I carefully decided on it being Michael to take over for me and to be the one to marry Miss Mercer. You are run by your emotions, Martin. You take everything as a personal attack and have zero self-control. I can’t have you as the head of the family business. You would explode at some executive who looks at you wrong. You’re volatile, which is not a good thing to be in business.”

“My opinion doesn’t exactly matter, but Martin does have a point,” I interrupt.

“Really? Have you run a multi-billion dollar corporation before?” Nolan grumbles.

“Dad, manners.Miss Merceris our guest.” Martin throws his father’s condescension back at him, and I can’t help feeling a bit proud of that move and thoroughly entertained by the lashing Nolan is getting during this meal.

“I may not have run a business before, but my dad did, and you can learn a lot just by listening to what others have to say, like how experience in the field and having the right mentality for a job are equally as important, but I have also seen people that didn’t seem like the right fit to run a business thrive just because someone said they couldn’t do it. Motivation is always an interesting factor. Just because Michael has the right mentality to go into the business field doesn’t mean he’s actually business savvy or wouldn’t run your company into the ground. Like I said, mentality and experience are both important, but neither are a guarantee that things will work out.”

I just need to shut up because my mouth will get me into a lot of trouble, especially around that man. Even though Nolan gives me the side-eye, Martin sends me an appreciative look.

I send him a subtle wink that his father can’t see.

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Nolan mutters as he lifts his glass of water to his lips, taking a slow sip before replacing it on the tablecloth. “The terms are for twelve years of marriage. That’s the low end of time Mr. O’Reilly is facing. It seems like a fair trade. You provide us with at least one heir, don’t make us look bad, and Mr. O’Reilly gets to walk free. I’ll have a contract drawn up, and when you sign it, Mr. O’Reilly will be released.”

A contract to give my life away to the Gray family for twelve years? He’s right, though. It is a fair trade. This family is a prison for someone like me to an extent, and I set the events in motion that led to the accident. It only makes sense that I spend twelve years in my personal version of hell. It would’ve only been made better if he made me marry Martin.

What about my baby, though? I’ll figure something out.

“And that’s twelve years starting today or…” I trail off, leaving it open for him to add to it.

“No. Starting from the day you marry my son,” Nolan says as if this shouldn’t have even been a question.

“When you have the contract drawn up, I’d like my lawyer to look at it, and I may have some suggestions for it as well.” Holding my head high, I don’t let it show how truly tragic this is for me, but if I’m going to do this–sign my life away–I’m going to get as much out of it as possible. If I have my way, this deal will protect not just Nigel but every past, present, and future Bastard from this ever happening again.

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