Page 20 of Righteous Deceit

I spit the whiskey back into my glass. “Do we?”

“How do you not see it?”

I slide my glass onto the coffee table. “You’re my late husband’sson.”

“So? Everyone knew you and my father were a business arrangement.”

“Absolutely not.”

He slams his glass down on the table. “Alessia, I will not adhere to his ridiculous demands. I’m not going to go on a quest for love.”

“Then you won’t ever regain controlling power of the Lincoln Corporation.”

His lips turn downward, and he shakes his head. “Unlessyouremarry or die.”

“Are you threatening me?”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “No.”

“I needn’t remind you of who you are speaking to.” I stand to leave.

“Alessia,” he whispers. “I’m sorry. I would never… I didn’t mean that. We’re friends. You know I didn’t mean it.”

He’s right. While Callum Lincoln rejected me the moment I came into Charles’s life, and Caleb Lincoln refused to acknowledge my existence, CJ and I have always gotten along well enough to count him as a friend.

He looks up at me. “Please. Don’t leave.”

“Get me another whiskey, and I might consider staying.”

He smiles gratefully, standing almost immediately to retrieve a new glass.

I sit down when he passes it over.

“Your father and I weren’t in love, CJ.”

“Exactly.” He sits next to me this time, his face pleading with me to understand. “You know better than anyone how fucking ridiculous the conditions of his estate are.”

He’s angry but attempts to hide it under a thin layer of desperation.

“CJ,” I start, but he cuts me off.

“I gave him my life. I gave this business my life.”

“That was his concern.”

He sits back. “What?”

“Your father and I weren’t in love, but wewerefriends. He trusted me. He confided in me. He’s been worried about you foryears. The world has more to offer you than this.” I gesture around the room. “Travel and experience and friendship andfamily,” I emphasize. “And love.”

“Shouldn’t you take your own advice?”

“What?”

“You’re no different than me, Alessia. You’ve devoted your life to the outfit. Now that you’re free from the marriage orchestrated for business purposes, are you set out to see what the world can offer you? Are you searching for true love?”

I swallow the contents of my glass in one deep swallow, leaning back in my chair enough to grab the whiskey bottle and refill my glass. “You’re a real asshole, you know that right?”

He smirks.

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