Page 2 of Their Diamond Ring Ruse

They had started with a single bakery—a test to see how well they could work together—but they had grown it into a supermarket, then a chain, and following that the company had moved into goods production.

Sam had agreed to a lesser share in the company for a few reasons, but primarily because going into business with friends was something he’d usually advised against, and a smaller shareholding would lessen his risk. It had been Arthur’s first enterprise started from scratch, and there had been no telling how well it would do or if it would succeed at all.

To preserve their friendship, they had agreed to make a buy-back of shares possible if the partnership didn’t work out. And, in a plan to protect the business they were starting, once they’d attracted other shareholders they’d agreed to a clause that said any shareholder could be voted off the board and their shares bought back should he in any way bring the business into disrepute.

So thirty percent had suited Sam at the beginning. After all, his main priority had always been Shah International...until Arum grew into the giant it had become.

Lily had loved Arthur. Just like her father, he’d been a shrewd businessman. Formidable in the boardroom, but loving when it came to his family. Which was why his son Lincoln had been such a surprise.

‘Lincoln is the majority shareholder, Lil,’ said Devan. ‘We need you to marry him as planned and keep him happy. Keep him on good terms with us. He isn’t his father. If I start buying back shares, it’s going to sour the relationship. And you know he will find some way to implement that clause even if he has to fabricate a reason. We can’t give him a chance to own eighty percent. What will happen to Arum then?’

‘I don’t want to marry him, Dev. I never did.’ Lily felt nauseous. Beyond desperate now.

‘I’m sorry, Lily. More than anyone, you and I know what Linc is like.’

How could they not? The three of them had grown up around each other. Devan had always been the responsible one. The leader of their group. When she was young, Lily had assumed it was simply because he was the eldest, and had thought it completely unfair. She’d wanted to be the leader, and thankfully Devan had always indulged her. She’d been a ball of energy. Making friends with everyone they’d met, alw

ays up for a game, but Lincoln... He had always been cold. Calculating. Spoilt and entitled. And it had only grown worse as they grew older.

When Sam and Arthur had joked about Lily and Lincoln getting married she had seen the look in his eyes. She knew the match wouldn’t be because he wanted her—it would be because by tying himself to Lily, he would have complete control when the business fell to him and Devan. She would become a pawn he could use to control her brother.

After Arthur had died, Sam had approached Lincoln to talk seriously about the possibility of a marriage. Because as much as he’d known Lincoln would benefit, her father had also known Lily and Devan would too. Devan had already shown a strategic mind, and Sam knew that with Lily binding the families together he would be able to leverage things to his benefit. Lincoln would be less likely to attempt to push out a member of his family.

Lily remembered well the day her father had told her of the marriage he wanted to arrange. The shudder that had run through her body. In that moment she had known how awful life with Lincoln would be.

‘Yeah, foolish me for thinking you would want to spare your sister that,’ she said now.

Unable to look at her brother any longer, she turned towards a shelf packed with books. Foolish was exactly what she felt, and she couldn’t bear the thought of Devan seeing the hurt that would be written on her face.

Devan’s voice softened. ‘I don’t want to force this on you, but it is what it is.’

She refused to look at him, and there was steel in her tone when she replied. ‘So that’s it? The company is more important than me?’

‘Lily...’ It was a reprimand.

Screw this.

Enough of trying to be polite. Trying to ask for help. She didn’t need it. She had made something of herself without Devan—she didn’t need him now.

‘Don’t Lily me, Dev. That’s exactly how it is. You say Shah International is doing well? You and I both know that’s an understatement. That company makes this family more money than it knows what to do with. So what if Lincoln tries to push you out of Arum? You’d barely feel the pinch. But all you all want is more, and you don’t care that I am the one who will have to pay the price.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ her brother said quietly. ‘You have never wanted anything to do with the company.’

That was true. She had no interest in working in a glass tower every day. The corporate life had never appealed to her. Which was fine, because all that expectation had fallen on Devan, who had welcomed it.

Instead, her father had indulged her in her dream. He had paid for her to attend pastry school in France, and she had managed to earn a business degree while doing so. She had used both to start her patisserie on Fisherman’s Wharf and now, at only twenty-four, she was running one of the most popular eateries in San Francisco.

That didn’t mean she knew nothing of the family company.

She huffed a laugh. ‘What happened to us, Dev? The old you would never have said that, because it isn’t true, but this new version of you...this one looking down his nose at me...? I don’t know him, and I don’t care for him.’

Lily stalked towards the desk, where he was still seated.

‘You’re right, I didn’t want to work in the company. And looking at what you’ve become, why would I? But I still know what it’s worth. You need to see that you’re so hung up on that thirty percent of Arum that you won’t even consider the wealth you already have with Shah, even if it costs you your blood.’

‘So if you don’t get your way you’re threatening to cut all ties with me? Throw me to the wolves?’ he asked.

Lily took a deep breath. Just the thought of letting go of her brother cracked her soul. The fact that their relationship had become so contentious was a constant ache in her gut. All they had was each other. After their father’s funeral, their mother had announced that she couldn’t live in the big house in Presidio Heights with all the memories it contained. But she couldn’t let it go either. So she’d decided to travel. The last Lily had heard from Victoria Barnes-Shah, she’d been somewhere in Italy.

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