Page 74 of Dex

It lands like a thunderclap, hard hitting and loud.My own father has never called me that.Not even by accident.Not even when pretending at playing happy families.And now this man who owes me nothing, gives it to me freely.

I’m feeling too emotional to say a word, so I nod, hoping I don’t turn into a mess.This is so unlike me.Falling apart, trying hard not to.

It’s the flight, it’s being here, being fed, and ...the thought of tomorrow and all that will bring.

He lets out a quiet laugh.Then his tone shifts to something gentle, but grounded.“Dexter, there is something I need you to know.This marriage is a financial solution, an alliance, a merger of two families, but my daughter is the most precious thing in the world to us.She is the best part of this family.”

He looks me straight in the eye.“I don’t need you to be perfect.I just need you to take care of her.Protect her.Be good to her.”

Be good to her.

The words hit me like a wrecking ball.I’m not here to be good.I’m here because I made a deal with a devil.I’m here because this arrangement gives me leverage.And a million dollars a month, of money I don’t really need, but hey, if I can have it, why not.

I’m here because I want to piss off the man who never cherished my mother, or protected her or was good to her.He said he loved her, but I doubt he loved her the way she should have been loved.He cheated on her, after all.

I’m not here because of Daniela.Or love.

And yet.

Being here in her garden, her father’s words linger in the quiet, and something shifts inside me.

Guilt, maybe.Or regret.Or the slow, creeping realization that this family is the kind I never had, and now that I’ve stepped into their warmth and love, it’s something my heart seems to want.

“I’ll do my best,” I say finally, struggling to steady my voice.It’s a truth encased in the silky glove of a lie.Now that I’m here, I’m starting to see how big a deal this is to Daniela.Going to a new country where she knows hardly anyone.It can’t be easy for her.Moving to New York, leaving her country, her friends, her family.Moving in with me, a stranger.

Living together, putting on a façade, for a whole year.

Except it won’t be a whole year.

Daniela has a lot to give up.A lot to lose, even if she’s doing this for altruistic reasons, her life will be interrupted.Her life, as she knows it, will be put on hold.Mine will be disrupted, but to a much lesser extent.

“Daniela is stubborn, fiercely loyal and she has a heart that is too big for her own good,” her father adds.

“I’ve noticed,” I say quietly.

He nods, then sips his drink.“Just take care of her, Dexter.This year won’t be easy for her, and we want her to be happy.Having met you, my wife and I feel she’s in good hands.You are a good man, Dexter.”He touches his chest.“I can tell.”

Then he pats my shoulder again, firm and approving, before heading back inside, leaving me alone beneath the stars, staring at a garden that smells like home and feels like a promise I never meant to make.

Chapter 18

DANI

Dexter seems so much more relaxed now that he’s had dinner.My mother fusses over everyone.She overfeeds, over hugs, over cares and she overdid it with Dexter.

Maybe “overdid” isn’t the right word.She wasn’t putting on an act.My mother loved Dexter the moment he got out of the car.I could see it in the way she hugged him and held him.Like she wanted this to be true.For him to be a man I chose, a man I’m deeply in love with and want to spend the rest of my life with.

But the reality is such a stark contrast.

We don’t know one another.We had a great time at the hotel, finding out about one another, but we aren’t in love.We aren’t even “in like”.

We’re simply making the best of a tricky situation, and we’ll be married for one year exactly.

To benefit both our families in some financial capacity.

When he stepped out of the car he looked unsure.I detected something alien in him.Uncertainty, even.But during the meal, he looked so relaxed, and the brothers were all talking, in a way they weren’t on the night I first met them.

If nothing else comes from our being together, I would want for Dexter to feel loved and needed, to feel like part of a family, and my mother is the best person to make someone feel that way.

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