Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“I know you don’t want to be married to me, but I think I speak for both of our parents when I say that it does have to happen,” Roman said.
“You don’t like me,” Alex said. “I embarrass you.”
“You’re … different, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”
“Please, you always look angry. I get it, I’m not like those beautiful women that are passed around your families.”
Roman tapped his thigh. “It’s not an escort service. They don’t get passed around. Marriages form strong alliances. They build power and wealth.”
“And they forget about love. Women don’t need to feel that, right?”
“Love is never brought into the equation.”
“Have a lot of successful marriages?” she asked.
“Yes. We have zero divorce.”
“Just unhappy marriages for the women?”
“You’re infuriating.”
“And I don’t want to be married to you, Roman. I don’t like you. I know you’re probably sleeping with a gazillion women, and this life isn’t for me.” There she had said it. After spending the day with Stuart and being back home, she had come to the decision she was going to ask for an annulment.
This wasn’t going to work. It was doomed to fail right from the start.
“I know what you want, Alex, and to be honest, I don’t know if I can give it to you. What I can do is offer a compromise.”
“Don’t you want to be free?” she asked.
“No one has ever asked for a divorce or even started proceedings.”
“We won’t be getting a divorce.” Did she have to point that out to him as well?
“You are determined to make a mockery of me, of everything our family built?” Roman asked.
“I want to set us both free.”
“And how many lives are you willing to take to get it?”
“There will be no lives lost.”
He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “You heard Liam. A future of peace. The moment you request an annulment, peace will be a thing of the past. It will be the fairy tale that mothers tell their children in the hope of helping them fall to sleep at night. War will rage, and no one, not us, or Liam, can guarantee who will win. We all have enemies. Your father’s are now ours, and our enemies are now your father’s. We are united by blood. By marriage. Take that away, and all that will remain is war.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not, Alex. Do you think I entered this marriage lightly? I did not. I know what is expected of me. One day, men and women will look toward me, not my father. I will be the Boss of the Greco outfit. It will be up to me to decide who lives and who dies. This unity is as fragile as fine china. If you want to end this marriage, then fine, but I hope you’re willing to deal with the consequences and their deaths. Yours, your father’s, Millie’s, Stuart’s, all those children’s. Anyone you loved, or have ever loved, strangers, could all end up dead because you want to be free. It’s not a cost I am willing to make.”
****
Roman stood with Antonio, Marlo, and Cash in Liam’s backyard. His father and Liam were discussing Alex’s future.
Running a hand down his face, he glanced up toward her bedroom window, and sure enough, he saw the woman who was driving him fucking crazy staring right back at him.
“Did you convince her?” Antonio asked.
“I have no idea.”
“What’s the plan?” Cash asked.
“Simple, I’ve got to make her fall in love with me. I have to bind this marriage, and then, I’ve got to get her pregnant.” His father had been clear. In fact, after his little exposé of what their annulled marriage would look like, his father had pulled him aside and warned him that his time was running out.
Roman didn’t have the first clue of how he was going to make his wife fall in love with him. He didn’t know anything about her, and the few little bits of detail he did know was everything he’d learned in the past few days.
“And what about our part in your plan?” Marlo asked. “Do you still want us to continue … pursuing her until you’re satisfied she’s a slut?”
“Yes,” Roman said.
“Don’t you think that is going to be a little counter-intuitive?” Cash asked. “Getting all three of us to get in her pants? To fuck her?”
“The moment she caves, I will have all the proof I need,” Roman said.
“The moment you fuck her, according to you, you’ll have the proof you need,” Marlo said.
“If you don’t want the job, then I can find someone else.”
Antonio groaned. “It’s not that we don’t want the job.”
“We know what it means if we succeed,” this came from Cash.
“If you see an opportunity to pursue her, go for it. I’m not going to stop you. The moment I know the truth, I can deal with it. It will put me and my father back in fucking control over this situation, and we don’t have to take orders for Smith. That’s the goal. Until then, I’ve got some work to do.”