Page 14 of Covenant

Your husband.

This isn’t happening. It’s not even that I’m being forced to marry a man. But that it’sMatthias.I can’t even stand to be in the same room as him for longer than an hour. How the fuck am I supposed to marry the guy?

“But I’m not gay.”

Matthias’s teeth grind slightly. “And I’m not particularly into you either, Wy, but this is how it is. It’s what we asked for…”

“I’m not being homophobic,” I snarl. “But the fact is that I’m straight. I’m not attracted to you. How the fuck do you expect me to play the part of a doting husband?”

For the first time, there’s a glimmer of a smile on Matthias’s lips. It’s not pleasant. It’s cruel. Taunting. Inviting trouble. “I suggest you look into acting classes.”

Before I can bite back at him, Mr. Flanders speaks. “This is what you agreed to, Mr. Malone. You got your request filled and now you need to pay up.”

I can’t let it go. If I do, I’m going to walk out of that door an engaged man. Engaged to my enemy, of all fucking people. “And what if I don’t?”

Matthias’s eye twitches as Mr. Flanders’s eyebrows rise. “You don’t want to know. That much I can tell you. It won’t end well for you, or your brother.”

That makes my stomach clench.

Are they threatening us?

Of course they are, I think. They want us to follow through. I have to do this.

“Fuck this,” I murmur, the wind taken from my sails. He’s right. I don’t have a choice. I made my decision the minute my request was placed under that brick.

I have to do this. There’s no other choice. No one has ever gone against The Firm’s wishes and lived to tell the tale.

“Do you work for them?” I ask, my gaze swiveling from Mr. Flanders to Matthias.

“I do not,” Matthias says just as Mr. Flanders snorts.

“Of course I do. I’m here, aren’t I? Do you think I’d sit through traffic to be here if I didn’t.”

My hand cards through my hair, and I know I look a mess in my worn shirt, buttons missing, my hair standing on end. But I don’t care because I thought my life was bad enough losing everything a year ago, and now I’m supposed to marry the man I hate.

The man who is currently sitting before me and looking something other than disturbed that we’re to be wed. This man is going to be my husband.

I can’t believe it.

I can’t believe this is happening to me.

I really thought I’d be smuggling drugs up my butt.

Suddenly that seems preferable.

“Can we continue?” Mr. Flanders asks dryly and I bite my tongue to let him carry on. There’s no reason to argue. There’s nothing I can do to change this. He’s right. I asked for this. I’m stuck in this bargain with a man I can’t stand.

I may not be interested in men, but it doesn’t matter. The Firm doesn’t care. They just want to call in the favor and I have to deliver.

I let my gaze slide up to Matthias as we slowly initial and sign the paperwork digitally until it’s finally done. Mr. Flanders collects the iPads and tucks them in his suitcase.

“Right then. We’re all set. And I still have time to make lunch.”

And with that he’s gone.

4

WYATT

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