Page 34 of Wretched Heart
“He has a point, Maddie,” Reid tries more gently, but Mace and I are already locked in a staring contest. He sighs. “And while you two sort it out, I’ll go and ask Connie to organize some refreshments.”
I narrow my eyes at Mace. “I don’t need an attorney”
“Explain your reasoning, Mace,” Hunter says slowly. “Don’t just bark orders at her.”
Mace doesn’t break eye contact with me. “If you don’t have appropriate advice now, you could later claim that you signed it under duress,” he begins. “Like, I don’t know, you were traumatized after being abducted by Hunter when we crashed your wedding.”
“I’m not going to do that. We’ve agreed–”
“Wehaven’t agreed to anything,” Mace says, flicking a look to Hunter. “There are enough variables as it is, don’t add another one.” His chin juts out, daring me to argue some more. “Just do as you’re fucking told.”
My damn eye twitches as my scowl moves from Mace to Hunter. I’m waiting for him to step in again, but the bastard actually smiles at me. “Now, if Mace had spoken to my wife like that, we might be having words,” he says. “But until you take proper legal advice, we don’t know if we can or should get married. Do we?”
I fold my arms across my chest. “The pair of you can go fuck–” I’m half-way through my tirade when refreshmentsarrive. “Hey, Connie. That cake looks delicious,” I say to cover myself. I give her my brightest smile as she places a tray in the center of the conference table. Reid is behind her with another tray of drinks.
Connie isn’t fooled. “Are the boys giving you a hard time?”
“So far, they haven’t done anything else,” I say as if they’re not in the room. “Mace is being rude, and Hunter isn’t defending me. I’m starting to think it’s Reid I should be marrying.”
There’s an awkward silence as my joke falls flat.
“You didn’t hear that, Connie,” Hunter says.
“Hear what?” Connie replies, setting out the refreshments before grabbing the trays and heading for the door. “Just give me a shout if you need anything else.”
“What is it with all the secrecy, Hunter?” I ask. I’ve picked up enough to know it’s their older brother they’re worried about, but I don’t understand why. And it’s making me nervous. “Surely, Ash will have to be told eventually.”
“And I’ll tell him, but only when it’s too late for him to stop the wedding,” he replies, getting to his feet.
Goosebumps prick my skin. What if Ash isn’t too late to stop things? This might be just another deal to Griffin Corps, but it’s everything to me. If the Griffins walk away, I’ll be ruined in a completely different way to how Hunter could ruin me. My life wouldn’t be worth living if I have to go back home. I wouldn’t want to live. And I’m certain Hugo wouldn’t want his disgraced sister to live either.
Hunter must see the color draining from my face and he heads for my desk. As he draws nearer, the world quietens. “Connie won’t say anything,” he says softly. “I just didn’t want anyone else being forced to withhold information from Ash too.”
I grip the edge of my desk, the desk meant for Ash when he returns from his business trip. I can feel the shadow he casts as if he’s already here. My throat bobs up and down. “Should I be scared of him?”
“If you can charm Mace, you can charm Ash too,” he says, and we both ignore Mace’s mutter from the other side of the room. “I’m the one who should be scared.”
My eyes widen further. “Of your brother?”
He holds out his hand for me to take. “Mostly,” he says, a wry smile on his lips as he looks at me pointedly.
The four of us spend the rest of the afternoon poring over the information I’d collated. I give an overview of each of the mill’s suppliers, customers and subcontractors including their history with us, and what I know of their dealings with other companies. Mace has his laptop, and mines for more information in his own particular way. We’re searching for that one tenuous link that connects my company to the Emersons, the Griffins, or anything else to explain why Barrett set his sights on the mill.
We manage to come up with a short-list of businesses that bear closer inspection, but there’s no eureka moment.
“Why would Barrett want to marry me?” I ask, only vaguely aware I’ve spoken the question out loud.
Hunter’s gaze roams my body, making it obvious what he sees as the attraction. But I never saw Barrett look at me that way, not even on our wedding day.
“Is there anything in your conversations that felt odd? Like he was probing you for information?” asks Reid.
“We became engaged over a video call, with his mother and my brother in attendance. That was the first time we’d ever met,” I mumble. I don’t like admitting how twisted the arrangement was. It makes what I’m doing with Hunter seem romantic by comparison. “And I met him in personexactly once before our wedding. We were never alone, and I was never party to any of the negotiations. I didn’t even pick my wedding dress.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Hunter says softly. “It was a monstrosity.”
“Befitting, given the man I was supposed to marry,” I say, but find myself returning his smile. It’s telling that the memories that spring to mind of that disastrous day are the ones that feature Hunter. His actions had confused, or downright terrified me at the time, but now… I’m happy to relive those moments in the hotel together, even the one where Hunter came storming into the bathroom because I needed to use the toilet.
Mace closes his laptop with a loud snap to get our attention. “None of this helps us.”
