Page 27 of Ruthless Financier
Fuck. Married people wear rings. Georgie and Michael had rings, and she also wore his jersey number on a baseball necklace. They were in love and happy. I met her gaze and lowered my head. I’d never be like her. I coughed and said with a snap of my fingers, “It’s been ordered.”
I’d buy one online tonight and get one day delivery, or have it sent to his beach house.
Ridley asked, “Indigo?”
More questions. My spine tingled, but I squared my shoulders, ready to take on the world, and took charge. “Right. I married Jacob because we’re alike and on paper we make sense.”
“And you married him for money?” Ridley asked.
Pins and needles took the place of my skin, all over my body.
“Shh. You just admitted he was handsome. And let’s be honest, he’s cuter beside her.” Nicole settled in her seat and took a bite of her food. I couldn’t breathe, but then Nicole finished eating and said, “Stop pretending you’re all hard and only care about the billions, Indigo. You’re home, with us, and we know you have a heart.”
That was true. It was also my greatest weakness. What if I was like our mom and started to depend on Jacob so much, I fell apart without him? My heart sped up. And what happened if we did have children and I couldn’t help my daughter pick out a dress for the eighth-grade dance?
A quick memory flashed in my eyes of trying on dresses in a changing room of a store and my mother running out on me. Georgie had told me to change, and I put the dress on hold until our father showed up and collected us in the mall food court. He’d bought my dress that day, and then we all went out and found my mom, who’d been wandering the streets, crying her eyes out.
If I ever did anything like that, I’d be mortified.
My throat tickled from the lack of oxygen and I blinked. My family had been the only people who knew everything about me. They’d all been there that day. I slowly unwound and said, “I married Jacob, because when he kisses me, he makes me forget I have to be hard and mean to the world.”
Georgie elbowed me playfully and said, “Now that’s great. I’m happy for you.”
Georgie had always been like my annoying second mom. I’d hated that I needed her. But now I loved her. I turned toward her. She easily smiled now as I said, “Thanks, Georgie.”
The men’s laughter echoed up the stairs. Georgie said, “Better go save Jacob from more talk about the playoffs if you’re planning a quick escape, in your usual style.”
I hugged everyone at the table and lingered with Mary. I wish I could protect my cousin more, but I let her go.
Then I slowly descended the stairs and poked my head into the huge TV area and called out, “Jacob, we should get going.”
“Right. See you later.” He shook hands, put his beer in the recycle bin, and then came upstairs and shook hands with my sisters.
A few minutes later, we headed back to the car and I ignored how my body was hopped up, like I was intoxicated, though I’d not had a drink at all.
On the street, we walked beside each other and Jacob said, “So your cousin Joseph codes for Highhall.”
My mind raced to make the connection. His recent trust acquisition snapped into my mind while he opened my door for me. “Yes … You own that, too.”
He closed my door and once he’d climbed into the driver’s seat, he said, “Well his hearing is in the morning, and he’ll have the best legal team money can buy.”
I hadn’t realized the court date was so soon. We’d been too late to hear the details, but Jacob asked the right questions.
I tilted my head as he headed out and asked, “Why do you care enough to ask?”
“They are your family. So it’s like having one of my own, which honestly felt surreal.” He drove toward my condo and I was on edge as he said, “And besides, if my mother had had family like all of you, she might never have married my dad. Or been alone, with nowhere to go, when she took me and ran, like Mary did. Your cousin, defending his sister … I always wanted to help my mom that way, but never could.”
I blinked. My family was solid, and I knew they loved me. I said, “Yet you ended up living with your father.”
“He ignored me for the most part, as long as I didn’t do anything to stand out. I studied him closely, though.” He shrugged and met my gaze in the mirror for a second. “But I always wished I’d been born with a strong family.”
We neared my condo building in Shadyside. It was a cork factory once, but now it was a luxury residential building. I directed him to the guest parking spots as I said, “I can’t believe I thought you were ruthless.”
“I am.”
No. Maybe on paper, yes. But Jacob … he was a good man underneath his calculations, and one day he intended to settle into a family life. Part of me missed being a girl, knowing that my dad watched out for me. And while I love my sisters, it’s not the same thing as that trusting belief of youth.
Jacob’s nearness made me ache for him, like he could provide shelter for me. But I wasn’t a fool. His future didn’t include me. I shook my head as he turned off the engine. “No. You’d not have that heart of yours if you were.”
