Page 148 of Dex

His mouth twitches.“Dexter Knight let you go.Just like that?”

“It didn’t work out.”I finally sit, my legs shaking.Back ramrod straight.Nerves tingling in the base of my spine.

“What happened?”Oscar walks toward me, his steps slow and deliberate.“Why the rush, querida?”

I tense.“Please don’t call me that.”He’s being familiar, and patronizing.Manipulative, too.I shiver inwardly.

I’m suddenly not sure about this.

“You were only married a few months,” he presses.

“That’s none of your business.”

“But it is,” he murmurs.“You’ve come to me.That makes it very much my business.”

“I’m here to make a deal.”

He sits back down, across the desk from me, and steeples his fingers.“Let me guess.Paul Knight now controls the majority share in your father’s company.”

I don’t flinch.“You already knew.”

“I’m a man who pays attention.”His smile is thin and cruel.“And you?You’re a woman out of options.”

Smart.He’s smart.Or psychic.Or, as my father said, he probably has a few people on the inside, working in my father’s company.People who will happily sell important information for a price.

Oscar Ramos is the type of man who will pay any price for anything.And that includes me.

“I want my father’s company back.I want Paul Knight out.I know you’ve always wanted in, and now I’m offering you that chance.”

He raises an eyebrow.“Explain.”

“I’ll marry you,” I say, the words bitter on my tongue.“In public.On paper.If that’s what it takes.I’ll make the alliance look legitimate.”

Oscar leans back, studying me.“You’ll marry me?”

“You said once you’d help my father if I agreed.”

“You refused me then.”

“I’m agreeing now.”

He tilts his head.“You were willing to marry Dexter Knight for a business arrangement.Why not me?”

I don’t know what to say.How to tell the truth without offending him.

His eyes darken.“I saw the photos, Daniela.That charity gala in New York.The way he looked at you.The way you looked at him.You could’ve fooled the world.”He leans in now, voice low.“But you didn’t fool me.”

My pulse spikes.

“I’ll fix things,” Oscar says smoothly.“I’ll use my lawyers, my leverage, my contacts.I’ll make sure Paul Knight relinquishes control of the company without destroying your father, of course.I’ll even keep his name clean.Fabricating financials won’t get him in trouble.We’ll bury it, say it was an accounting error.Blame it on an external audit firm.”He shrugs.“Knight Enterprises won’t want that scandal made public either.”

A long pause.

I say nothing.

And then he drops the final blow on my neck like a guillotine.“But in return, you’ll be my wife.Not just on paper.Not just for the press.”He leans closer, eyes glittering.My eyes settle on his thick, stubby fingers, and I bite back the bile which claws up my throat.“You’ll share my home.My name.My bed.You’ll bear my children.”

Something cracks in my chest.“No,” I whisper, shaking my head as my insides hollow out.

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