Page 24 of Say I Do

Should have ordered something stronger.

“So what’s this lunch about?” my mom asked. “Your father told me to be here, but I thought it would just be the three of us.” She looked around. “Where is he, by the way?”

My chest squeezed. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she’d been lied to. Sooner than later, she would figure out the truth. She always did. For now, I wanted things to go smoothly.

“Well, Harlow and I—”

Harlow choked on his drink. I stared at him, but he didn’t move. His hand wrapped around the glass harder until I was sure he would break the damn thing and send glass flying everywhere. I turned to follow his line of sight until I saw what he’d been staring at.

Denji Hayashi. His father.Father must have sent him to make sure we were behaving. Great.If I was paranoid, my father was on another level. He accounted for everything and made contingency plans for every possible failure. The man was nuts.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Harlow hissed.

“Who?” my mother asked, her high-lighted hair whipped around her face as she searched.

I stood up quickly as Harlow rose to his feet. The look in his eyes seemed like he was about to do something insane. I moved closer, grabbed his elbow, and chuckled.

“Nothing, Mom. It’s fine. Denji, how are you?”

He smiled at me. “Excellent. Harlow.”

Harlow looked like he wanted to jump over the table. I squeezed him harder.

“This is my mother, Gabriela. Mom, this is Denji, Harlow’s father. Why don’t you two talk? We’ll be right back.”

I dragged Harlow out of the dining room before anyone could protest. Once we were in the bathroom, I threw the lock and shoved him against the wall. His neck was red, his fists clenched at his sides.

“You have to hold it together,” I growled. “Do you know how many people are out there just watching us?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he bit out. “That asshole—”

“You do not get to do a damn thing right now,” I snapped. “Do you understand me?” When he continued to stare off into space, I slapped him. Harlow’s eyes trained on me, his eyes wide. “I need you focused.”

Something sharp poked into my stomach. I glanced down to find a knife right against my skin. When I looked up again, Harlow’s eyes had gone dead.

“Take your hands off me,” he said, his voice flat. “Or I’ll slice you open.”

“I don’t recommend it,” I bit back and leaned into the tip of his blade. Sharp pain blossomed over my flesh, but I ignored it. “Do you know what happens if one of us fucks up the contract?”

“I don’t care,” he snapped.

“We disappear. Not stuck in some family home out of view of the press. No, we die.”

“That’s not what it says,” Harlow whispered as his brows knitted.

“You think I’m joking? We’re playing a dangerous fucking game between two powerful fucking men. At the end of the day, they’re willing to gamble both our lives. So we need to go out, act like we’re in love, and work through this until the day we can divorce and move on. Got it?” When his lips didn’t move, I grabbed his cheeks and squeezed. “Fucking answer me.”

The rage on his face started to fizzle. I released his cheeks. Harlow’s tongue darted out and swiped against his bottom lip. I tracked the movement until I met his gaze again. The knife slowly left my stomach, and I was able to drag in a breath. Harlow shoved me away from him.

“Fine. I’ll do whatever I have to do, but I am going to make everyone’s lives hell during it.”

I shook my head. “Grow up. I get that you’re young, but all of us have to do shit we don’t want to do. That’s life.” I pushed my fingers through my hair. “We’d better get back.”

Harlow was quiet as we exited the bathroom. Too quiet. I glanced over my shoulder as he walked behind me. A shiver shot through me. He was entirely too relaxed. I felt like he was up to something.

Probably plotting my death so he can get away from me.

I reminded myself to keep my gun at my side. Especially when we were alone in the penthouse. Harlow was entirely too fast with a knife and too skilled in his movements to underestimate him.

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