Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
"Truly's graduation. I figured we'd all be going and wanted to hammer out the details for the plane." He doesn't know. It appears she has not only a disdain for me but also for her parents as well.
"I'm not going," I tell him.
"What?" It clearly has never been a secret that Truly always held a place in my heart. How else would they have known to use it against me?
"Things have come up. I'm sure you can manage on your own."
"She's your wife." He has the audacity to sound offended.
"And?"
The line goes quiet.
If Truly honestly wants nothing to do with her parents, good riddance to them. They mean nothing to me. I no longer have to play nice. But I'm not going to show my hand yet. I want her father to think that maybe over the years my interest in Truly has wavered and she isn't so important to me anymore. Let him start to believe that he might not hold a trump card any longer.
“You should be there.”
“No one has wanted me there before,” I point out.
“But it’s time.” I can hear the uncertainty in his voice.
“When you return to the States, you can drop her off at our home.”
"Blake—"
"I have to go. I'm already late for a meeting," I lie, not wanting to continue this conversation with him.
"Okay, but—"
"You can email me," I say before ending the call. I stare at my computer screen watching Truly. I tab it down, knowing I’ll drive myself insane watching her, so I let myself fall into work. I’ll be alerted if she leaves to go anywhere.
I don’t come up for air until Emily reminds me of my dinner meeting. I change in my bathroom and head down; my driver is already waiting for me.
When we pull up to the Pearl Plaza, I'm surprised but then realize that the building is across the street from Lauren’s law office. I spot her sitting at the bar. As always, her head is down, her full attention on her phone as she clicks away furiously.
"Evening," I say, slipping into the chair next to hers.
"Sorry, just another second." I order a whiskey neat while she finishes up. "Sorry," she says again, putting her phone down. "Are you cool with only drinks, or do you want to eat?"
"This is fine," I tell her.
I have known Lauren for years. She is one of the best lawyers in the country. You can’t push her around just because you have a big wallet. Everyone wants her to be their lawyer, and they've all got money. It lets her sift through who she will and won't take on as clients.
"Are you excited?" she asks. "Your wife will be home soon."
"She is home."
"Oh." Her brows rise.
"Things have changed," I tell her before getting into all the details. I had Lauren look over the contract years ago about me taking over and being the CEO of XXX.
I absorbed my own company into it as well but made sure I had controlling shares. That all of this was wrapped around Truly. Not wanting her family's name to be run through the mud, I cleaned up everyone's mess to make sure she was safe. I had planned things so differently in my head, but what Adams told me about Truly had me shifting my plans.
"I never liked this from the start," she says for the millionth time. "But I knew your obsession with Truly and that you wouldn’t be satisfied until you knew she was protected." Her expression softens. "But now I'm wondering if you're thinking that everyone not only lied to you but to Truly too."
I rub my temples. "Yes, I have been pondering it."
“I’m going to go back over the contracts. Maybe I should speak to your wife too, but I think you need to speak with her first.”
“I know.”
“Avoiding it doesn’t change whatever it is she’s going to tell you.”
I nod, picking up my whiskey and shooting it back. “What if she tells me she never wanted any of this? That they forced her?”
I should have spoken to her. I trusted what her parents had said, that Truly wanted to at least finish out college and have an independent life before settling down. So I gave her freedom, or as much as I could bear.
I thought she still had her crush on me. That it would grow from there when she returned. But she might not have wanted this marriage at all.
"Or what if she tells you that she wanted it or that she never wanted to go to college? Or maybe she did want to go but thought you'd be in contact with her because, with the pieces you've told me about what she said in your office the other day, she sounds like she feels abandoned."
"Fuck," I mutter. "And I went and did it again. Not returning to our home, or at least not when she was aware.”