Page 8 of Seduced by Her Billionaire Fake Fiancé

“Damn you,” she stared out of the window at the ocean beneath them, wishing for an escape chute, or some other way to get off the plane. She toyed with her mother’s ring, which fit her perfectly, spinning it around as she tried to channel some of her mother’s legendary control. “You planned this all along, didn’t you? I was an idiot to think you’d ever go for the original deal.’

“I’ve simply tweaked it slightly. You were originally offering me forty nine percent.”

“Yes, exactly! It’smycompany.”

“Do you want to do this or not?” He demanded. “It is not too late to back out. I am sure the Santoros will still be waiting in the wings.”

She ground her teeth, glaring at him. “You’re horrible.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“Do you seriously have no heart?” She replied, dipping her head forward and rubbing her eyes.

“That is not relevant.”

She made a barking sound, rejecting that. “I beg your pardon,” she muttered. “But it’s relevant to me.”

“This is not a real engagement. We are not friends. This is business, and we both know how to play hardball in corporate dealings.”

“But it’s more than business to me.”

“Which is why you’ll agree to this. You’re vulnerable. Learn which cards you hold and play the game accordingly.”

Her stomach tightened into a thousand knots. “This isn’t a game to me!”

“Listen,” he spoke quietly, drawing her attention back to his face, which she was irritated to discover she could still find attractive even when he was busy being his most bastardly self. “I would have settled for fifty, but I don’t operate in a vacuum. This is a family business and in order to release the funds in a timely fashion, I need my siblings to sign off. They’ll only do that if you agree to these terms.”

“Even though they think we’re engaged?” She demanded, sure he hadn’t even bothered trying to convince them otherwise.

“That’s why they’re not insisting that I push for more,” he assured her.

She swore under her breath, stood up and paced the length of the plane. When she turned to face him, her eyes were flinty, but her heart was aching. “I will never forgive you for this.”

He lifted both brows. “That seems like a difficult place from which to begin our engagement.”

“Fake engagement,” she reminded him.

“Let alone our working relationship.”

She swore again. “I will work with you,” she muttered. “Because it’s best for the business. But I’ll never forget how you treated me when my back was to the wall.”

“This is not a charity,bella.”

“I’m aware of that.”

He stood up, all six and a half feet of him, muscled and broad-shouldered and impeccably dressed in a navy-blue suit that showed off the depth of his swarthy complexion. “You came to me knowing who I am and what I do. You know I play hardball. That I fight dirty. It’s why you knew your proposal would likely succeed. I am a man who likes to win, at all costs.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as she digested the unpleasant truth of that.

“I thought we could win together.”

“And we will. You will continue to retain a large share of the business.”

“But not a controlling share.”

“And your role as CEO, meaning functionally, many of the decisions are yours.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, but with your family as controlling shareholders, true or false, you can veto just about anything I put into place that you don’t agree with.”

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