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1
CHRISTIAN
I groan as I glance out the window.
The crew dashes across the tarmac, getting the private jet ready for takeoff.
In a few minutes, I’ll be leaving Georgia.
My phone starts ringing as I kick my feet up and lean back against the seat.
Ruben’s name flashes, and I accept the call. “I’m on the plane now.”
“Great.” Ruben sighs as something shatters in the background. “I swear, these people act more like destructive children each day. I know you don’t want to come home and get married, boss, but I’ll be glad to have you back.”
“Just remind them who's in charge in my absence.” I close my eyes for a moment. “You know, Georgia was supposed to be a vacation for me. Some time away before I have to marry a woman I never laid my eyes on.”
Ruben's been my closest friend for years. He's one of the few people I can be open and honest with.
And though he might be new to the concept of being my right hand, and he might complain, as soon as he gets off the phone, he is going to handle it.
He’s tough but fair, and he’s knocked out more than one man for disrespecting him.
“I’m sorry the wedding needed to be moved up. But with more names leaked, we can’t chance it.”
“I know, I just wish I could have stayed in Georgia a little longer. Leaving Billie’s resort opening is shitty, even if she understands.”
On the other hand, going away means I don’t have to endure their constant displays of happiness and love, envious of a life I will never have.
It’s the kind of happiness I don’t deserve or want.
This arrangement is going to work much better for my life, even if it means the end of an era.
“You could always go back after the wedding,” Ruben says, the noise in the background growing softer as a door closes somewhere close to him.
I’m starting to think moving us back to Tennessee was a mistake.
“If we were still in Colombia, I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of marriage.” I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, running a hand down my face. “At least there, I didn’t have to worry about the authorities breathing down my neck.”
And I wouldn’t be forced to form a family, to put someone else's life at risk by being associated with me.
“That’s why you're coming home, boss. So you can get married, and we can stop worrying about our enemies leaking information about us and getting our people arrested.”
“And the cost is marrying a woman I don’t even know. Then I get the joy of spending my life with her.”
Ruben chuckles. “It’s going to be fine. You’re doing this for the right reasons, even if you might wish it didn’t have to happen.”
“I do wish that. This is a shot in the dark. I’m hoping that a marriage will be enough to protect my people, but I don’t really know.”
And that is why I keep hesitating.
If I was one hundred percent sure this marriage would protect my people, I wouldn’t bat an eye at it. Hell, I'd be hitched already.
But there is something else to consider. “Besides, what about the woman on the other end of this? I have to set expectations with her from the beginning. She is going to expect a husband who might grow to love her. I’m not capable of that. All feelings do is ruin you.”
“Come on, man. I know you. We both know that this is not the life you would have chosen for yourself. So, maybe this is the change you need.”
A door slams and Ruben groans. “Camila just took off. Said she was going to meet you at the airport when you landed.”
