Page 28 of Dex

“What do you mean she’s chosen me?”I growl.How could she?“I barely had a nice word to say to her.”

I didn’t lead her on.She’s gorgeous and has curves in all the right places, but I like my women to be lean and athletic.There’s no way she could have mistaken anything I said to her for flirting.

“You must have sent out some signals.”

“Yeah, keep-the-fuck-away-from-me signals.”

“They evidently worked like a charm,” my father says, deadpan.

I scowl, looking up at the ceiling, wondering how the hell the heiress has interpretated so much so wrongly.

The old man gives me a wry smile.“She seemed to think you were pleasant.She likes you.I don’t know what you did—”

“I didn’t do anything.Trust me.I have friends with benefits—”

“And you can keep them.Have as much sex as you like on the side with whomever you want—”

I put my hand up, not needing to hear this from my father of all people.“I don’t need complications like a marriage in my life, especially not an arranged marriage.”

If I were ever to have the misfortune to marry, I wouldn’t be fucking around on the side, like he did.

If, I were toevermarry, it would be because it would mean something.Becauseshewould mean something to me.But this concept is something the old man wouldn’t have a clue about.And, since I have zero plans to ever marry, it’s a moot point.

“Don’t think of it as a marriage,” my father says.“Strike that word from your vocabulary, if you’re struggling to come to terms with it.This is purely a business arrangement.”

“Why a marriage, then?Why go to all that hassle instead of just merging or having a hostile takeover?”

“Forming an alliance benefits both of us.Arminio, her father, and I have discussed this at length.A marriage of convenience is the best solution.The company shareholders are getting skittish, an alliance with a powerful American family would do much to alleviate their concerns.For us, we get access to the telecoms market in Latin America.We get to see how it works, without starting a new business ourselves.We get access to their research, their systems, their products, their marketing.We get to see what works before we decide to go it alone.”

Forming an alliance.He makes it sound like a cold and clinical process.Something that is a formality.A marriage should surely be more than that?Not that I’ve ever considered it.

“No,” I say, determined not to let him dangle any carrot he might be thinking, in front of me.

“She picked you, Dex.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Besides, Rio likes her.I can’t do this to him.Even if it’s just an alliance on paper.

“You don’t have to love her.”

I let out a bitter laugh.“Of course, love is not a requisite for marriage.You, of all people, would know that.”

“I loved your mother,” he says in a low voice.It’s rare for him to mention her.I feel like I’ve hit a nerve and any memory of her hits me like a punch to my solar plexus, momentarily winding me.I can’t speak.I can’t think.

“You don’t have to do anything,” he continues.“You don’t have to consummate the marriage.You just need to marry her and stay married for a year.Live in separate bedrooms.Don’t talk to one another if you don’t want to, but you must put on a convincing show to the public.Only immediate family on both sides can know the truth.”

I swipe my hand through my hair.I’m not doing this, but I am curious.“Why me?”

“You can ask her later.”

I sit upright, because this man clearly has his agenda which he’s following.“There will be no “later.”I didn’t make any moves towards her and I’m not interested.”

All I can think about is Rio and how he couldn’t take his eyes off the heiress.About how he’s had that photo of her in his apartment all this time.I haven’t seen him yet, but I’m meeting him for drinks later.We all need to analyze what happened last night.

Sometimes, I wish all of us, the Knights and the Italian Knights, could just be one big family.Sometimes it seems that we’re more similar than different, and only rage separates us.Their existence drove our mother to the edge.Their existence took her from us.

But they have what we lost—a mother.Rio mentioned once that he was going to Italy to see her.That his mother lives there now that the boys are all grown up.I haven’t really pushed him for much information, because talking about his mother makes me think of mine.And there are days when I can’t bear to do that.

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