Page 83 of Marrying the Gardener
“We love you.”
Zakery says, “Loads.”
Kyran rolls his eyes, leaning against Zakery’s shoulder as he says, “You’re our big brother. I’ve only got three of those, so you’re pretty important, you know?”
My chest tightens.
“Three?” Zakery says. “I’m your big brother, too.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kyran drawls. “I thought you disowned me.”
“Guys.” Viktor pinches the bridge of his nose. “Please. We’ve got work to do.”
Zakery draws a heart in the air with his fingers, meets my eyes, and mouths,You’re my favorite, while Viktor begins delegating, “Kyran, we need a landing page, a newsletter. Zakery, logos, banners. Maelin, can I count on you to keep him focused…and not crying over his sketches?”
She salutes. “On it.”
“I don’t cry,” Zakery protests, dropping his hands and folding his arms. “I wail. There’s a difference.”
Viktor rolls his eyes down to his phone, smiling. “I’ll get Crisis over here. She can handle emails. Kaleb, you make the calls. We have seven days, right?”
“I asked for a week. And I took her phone. So…yeah. Seven days, max.”
He nods, chuckling. “Seven days to usurp a business…”
Filling my lungs, I say, “More than enough time.”
Swinging his arm around my shoulders and drawing me into my home, Viktor says, “Yep. At least for the Bachelor brothers it is.”
Chapter 27
?
My fiancé, the gardener.
Crimson
It has been the hardest week of my life. I’m anxious, and I fear I’ve not done a very good job of trusting Kaleb. Over the past—harrowing—seven days, I’ve explained the situation to my staff, learned that Kaleb broke his NDA almost immediately to put Ava at ease, and started charting my escape plan—in grotesque detail.
If whatever Kaleb’s doing isn’t feasible or involves taking advantage of the only men who have ever been good to me, I’m ready to change my name and flee to Alaska. I’ll become a lone salmon hunter. Live in an igloo, maybe. Commune with the polar bears. Mourn the sun in winter. Bask in it endlessly during the summer.
I’ll find a way to survive in a place far away from my father and his neverending influence, where I don’t have to rely on anyone or anything but nature. I’ll homestead. It’ll be fine. I’ve looked up how to make soap.
I’m certain that’s all there is to it.
If I can’t become a business owner, I’ll become a trad wife…even though I won’t have a husband. The trad wife way, as far as I can tell, is avibe, not a legit station.
I’ll be fine. If all of this blows up, I’ll befine.
Taking a deep breath, I park my car in front of the Bachelor mansion and look up at the palace laid before me. My stomach swirls, threatening nausea. A mere half hour ago, Kaleb texted Ava to ask me to come here. Even though I’ve told him countlesstimes that I don’t want to solve my problems with the Bachelors’ money.
If that’s what’s going on here, it doesn’t matter.
I have a backup plan.
Alaska. Igloos. Polar bears. Trad life.
It’ll be…fine.
