Page 12 of High Stakes

“Yes, because I’ve always wanted my future mother-in-law to plan my wedding for me.”

So, she’s going to be stubborn, I see.

“It will give her something to focus on besides the fact that her son is dying.”

Bellamy’s lip trembles, and she reaches for her water glass. “Of course, forgive me. I wasn’t thinking of it like that.”

I lean in and tuck a hand under her chin. “There is nothing to forgive you for, Bellamy. But you like helping people. I thought looking at it from that perspective might make it easier for you to let her take some of it on. Can we set a date tonight?”

She puts the glass down and toys with the cloth napkin in front of her. “I need to look at my calendar and see what has to be rearranged. You need to understand that I’ve been free to do as I please for years. I’ve made commitments and connections. You’re sweeping in and asking me to break those and give up my freedom. This will not be an easy transition for me.”

Her childish desire for freedom is going to cause friction between us. I’m taking over a dynasty that is rife with conflict and danger. As my wife, she’ll be expected to be by my side to remain safe. There will be no gallivanting around the world the way she’s been doing these past few years. I’ve secretly followed her social media, and she loves to visit new places. Because of that, I’ve planned a long honeymoon. But when it’s over, she must be content to travel when I do.

The other part she doesn’t understand is that there are factions within my family organization who don’t think our alliance with the Harpers is a good one. Her family works in a gray area that combines politics and crime and some are worried they’ll choose to screw us over to climb the political ladder. But if I marry Bellamy soon, I can stave off any uprising against it.

“I will do my best to make the transition comfortable. But you will become my wife in the next ninety days.”

“Why can’t we just go to the courthouse and get it over with?” she asks dryly.

The server interrupts us to confirm the order I placed ahead of time. I’m quick to send him away so we can return to our conversation.

“You know that’s not how things are done in our world. You said it yourself; the politics of our union requires a lot of moving parts, and the wedding is one of those pieces.”

“God, forbid you don’t get to parade your new property around in front of all your uncles,” she mutters.

I narrow my gaze. “I don’t view you that way, and I never will. But the show of it all is important. You’re not blind to these things.”

She shoves her wine glass away, and I wrap my fingers around her slender wrist. She’s wearing a silver charm bracelet with four diamond charms. Each one is in the shape of one of the four suits of cards.

“I didn’t take you for the type to wear tourist-trash jewelry,” I say with a raised eyebrow.

Her hand jerks away as if I’ve scalded her, knocking her wine glass over in the process.

“It’s not tourist trash, and I won’t sit here and take your condescending insults Tobias Hunt,” she hisses as she leaps up.

Well, fuck. This is not how I wanted tonight to go.

She’s heading for the door before I even get up from my seat. “Stop. I wasn’t trying to offend you. Clearly, the bracelet has more meaning to you than I realized. My apologies. Now come sit back down. We have things to discuss.”

I put a hand on her elbow as I speak, stopping her from fleeing.

Her shoulders sag, and she allows me to lead her back to the table.

“It’s nothing,” she mutters, twisting the bracelet on her wrist as she sits. It’s more than nothing, but I don’t push.

The staff are immediately on the spill, and our table is reset within moments.

When our food arrives, I try to make small talk, but my comment about her taste in jewelry has shut her down, and I desperately want to understand the meaning of the trinket.

I am not mean by nature, but I can be merciless when needed. And tonight, I’m just cruel enough to drag our meal out through three courses. She needs to get used to my ways, and tonight is the perfect time for her to start.

Halfway through our steaks, her shoulders relax some, and she gives me more than single word answers to my questions about her travels and friendships. I’m not cruel enough to tell her that most of those friendships are going to fall by the wayside after we’re married. She’s smart enough to figure that out. But she is to be my right hand, and I can’t risk unknown friends getting in the way of our business.

“Owen isn’t answering my calls. With our wedding approaching, I need to coordinate with him for my people to take over your security.”

“Why haven’t you kept in touch with him all these years?”

I set my steak knife aside and meet her gaze. “How do you know I haven’t?”

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