Page 1 of Their Diamond Ring Ruse

CHAPTER ONE

THIS ROOM HAD not changed in twenty years. From the books to the trinkets to the globe bar standing in the corner, everything was exactly as it had always been. And it made her feel like running.

Lily Barnes-Shah stood across the room from her brother, Devan. They’d used to love this room. Her father’s office. Even though they’d never been allowed to play in here, somehow they always had. The dark wood furniture, massive carved desk and heavy drapes had provided endless hiding places for their epic hide and seek games. Her father would eventually find them and usher them out with a stern warning and a barely hidden smile.

Now it felt like a creepy monument.

And remembering that smile that had made her love her strict father so much brought mostly anger. As did her brother. Once her best friend, now she barely recognised the calculating man he’d become.

Her father Samar—Sam, as he’d been known—had passed away from a sudden heart attack a mere two months ago. Just weeks from his sixty-sixth birthday. Everything had changed for Lily that day. Her desperation had grown steadily since, and the one person she’d thought she could trust to help her was proving how little he cared.

It was a deep cut to her already aching heart.

Shah International had been passed down from their grandfather to their father, and now to Devan. And since he had joined their father in business she and Devan had grown steadily apart. All he focussed on was his work at the family company that dealt with everything from import and export and distribution to a series of chain store brands. Her father had got what he’d always wanted—his heir following in his footsteps—and she lost her best friend. Her brother.

‘Dad planned all this years ago. You were fine with it then, so why is it a problem now?’ Devan asked from behind the desk.

The drapes behind him were opened wide but the doors to the terrace were shut, and the hedge beyond was so tall that she couldn’t see the blue San Francisco sky. God, he looked so much like their father. It took everything in her not to look away. They had the same golden-brown skin, dark brown eyes, thick black hair. He was the patriarch of the family now. His word was law.

‘I was never fine with it, but what could I do? I was nineteen and studying abroad. I obeyed Dad, but still I begged, for five years!’

Lily had always wanted to please their father—had done everything she could to make him proud. He’d been a traditional man, and had expected obedience, but this arrangement was beyond what she could endure.

‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. The fact that Dad promised me he would find a way out. Well, Dad is dead now, Dev, so it’s up to you. Only you can put a stop to this.’

That conversation with her father had been on repeat in her head. Yes, he was the one who had put her in this position, but he had given her hope that he would try to free her of the arrangement after he had seen how controlling Lincoln was. He’d promised her he would find a different way, and he’d never gone back on his promises.

Well, not unless a heart attack that no one had seen coming made him.

‘Your engagement...’

Her temper flared. How could Devan try to dress up this madness as an ‘engagement’. She hadn’t been asked. Hadn’t said yes. This was being forced upon her. She wanted him to call it what it was. After all, she was the one being treated like a commodity.

‘Arranged marriage,’ she said through clenched teeth.

‘Your engagement protects us both.’

It grated on her nerves that Devan, who knew her better than anyone, could ignore the way she felt. That he could see how angry she was and not care. It hurt. How had they gone from friends to this?

‘It protects an investment. I thought my brother would want to protect me,’ Lily said softly, the words slipping out before she had the chance to stop them.

She had hoped so hard that Devan might want to help her. But she could see now that the boy who had doted on her was gone.

‘Lily, I am. This is what’s best for us. Yes, Shah International is doing well, and is ours, but Arum Corp... Dad only owned thirty percent of that, and Arthur owned fifty—which was fine when Arthur was alive, and still fine when he died and Lincoln took over...’

‘But not now that Dad’s gone?’

Arthur Harrison had been her father’s best friend. Both had come from old money. They had socialised in the same circles, gone to the same schools, and studied at the same Ivy League universities. They’d been more like brothers than friends and had remained so over many years. So when Arthur had approached Sam with the idea that they go into business together, it had been a no brainer.

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