Contract Marriage to My Father's Greatest Enemy For Revenge

MI

orth, and I'm the daught

icker than water but mi

*

ancial District like a blade of black glass, sha

atched the people who walked past me-lawyers in expensive suits, bankers with their p

cause I was a soldier march

all marble and chrome and cold, impersonal efficiency-a space designed t

he front desk looked up

I have an appointm

orth. The name meant something here. It meant enemy and danger. He picked up

floor. Someone

tire way. The security guard. The receptionist. The two men i

into Easton territory. A la

close to being a lamb. I was so

cond floor, and a woman with sharp featur

ollow me." She sa

lked and pretended not to stare, until we reached a door at the end of the

he announced, and

pped

fice was nothing

er chairs, no portraits of ances

indows that offered a view of the entire city, and a desk that looked

his elbows, a pen in his hand, his dark hair slightly

d, and his cold gray eyes

s voice was low, measured, u

t myself relax into it. I kept my back straight,

needed to say. But now, sitting across from him, feeling the weight

ousn

ed he was going to make me start. He was going to make me lay out my car

and my voice was ste

But something in his eyes flickere

they have...their money, their dignity, their lives, and

other." I paused, and I felt the familiar ache in my chest, the old w

pt me and he didn't ask questions. He just listen

words, with confessions, with ever

" I said. "To a man named Harold

hav

ept my voice flat. I wouldn't let it shake. "My father

d wo

ds. I came here for action.

Ainsworth and everything he's built. I know his weaknesses. I know where the

o you want

want his name. I want to watch him lose everything he

his face wore a mask of calm calculation. He was weighing me

ally. "To burn my bridges, to risk my reputa

pany will

s in his eyes. "You think you're the first person to come to me with a plan to

se you. I'm trying t

re, you tell me you're willing to betray your family, you offer me access to secrets t

othing to do

what

ate my father. I hate my father. We have a common enemy an

ning and spinning. I couldn't read him. I couldn't tell if I was winning or l

to accept your

idn't show it. I kept my

s

cisions based on emotion. Go home, Ms. Ainsworth. Think about what you're really willing to do. Because if we go down

uet is in two nights," I said. "My father is expecting to announce my engageme

is head. "Is t

s a

didn't reach his eyes. "You're more

t them land like a sla

"But I'm choosing

't look back. I didn't let myself wonder if I