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I was expecting him to give me a response, not throw the question back at me. Why does he think I would leave now? Last night I told him I loved him, and I meant it. I know he feels the same even though he won’t say it. He loves me but…does he not want to be near me if we can’t have sex because it’s my time of the month? I’m so damn confused, and the awful abdominal cramps don’t help me to think clearly.
“Do you want me to leave?” I ask Lochlan softly.
“You can do whatever you want while I’m gone, Sophie.”
Wow. He’s using my real name as if he’s pissed off at me. And I guess he might be disappointed with me, disappointed that I’m not going to have his baby, at least not this month, and we can’t have sex.
“Where are you going?”
“I have a meeting in LA early in the morning. I’m going today to prepare with my attorney.”
I wait for him to return from the closet again to answer me even though I really need to go get a tampon. “Your attorney? What’s the meeting for?”
Bent over with his palms flat on the mattress he says, “I’m being sued by all the families of the people who died or were hurt in my casino. Now that I’ve settled down and married you, I look like less of a philandering dick. They’re finally ready to negotiate a settlement I can actually live with rather than taking every penny I have along with every business, every property I own.”
“What does us getting married have to do with the settlement?” I remark before it occurs to me. “Is that why you were in such a rush to marry Madison, to marry me after she ran away? To save your money from…from a lawsuit?”
“Yes. It was my attorney’s idea.”
“Your attorney’s…” I trail off, unable to speak because of my burning throat and eyes.
Lochlan didn’t want to marry me. I knew all along that I was just a pawn to be used for my dad and him. But I thought he had started to care about me. Nope. He just needed to look like a besotted husband.
“With a new wife and a baby on the way the lawyers wouldn’t leave me broke and homeless, would they?” he asks.
So, he didn’t really want to have a family with me. He just wanted me swollen and pregnant in public to gain more sympathy?
Oh, my fucking god.
Lochlan doesn’t deserve any sympathy from the families who lost their loved ones.
Does my dad know why he was in a hurry for me to marry him? My father wanted Lochlan’s contacts and Lochlan needed a wife.
If my father knew…well, this isn’t something I can ask him over the phone. I want to see his face when I ask if he knew the real reason Lochlan insisted on marrying me.
When I reach for the door, Lochlan grumbles behind me, “I knew you would leave me.”
“I’m not, that’s not…” I start, but I’m too angry at him for using me to reassure him right now. Why should I when everything, our entire marriage, was a fake show I didn’t know I was starring in? Deep down, even if Lochlan loves me, he’s still a selfish dick.
“You deserve to lose everything,” I tell him on the way out the door. I also take a little joy in telling him over my shoulder, “And by the way, don’t count on getting a penny from my father either. He changed his mind about making you his heir.”
“He what?” Lochlan exclaims before I slam the bedroom door behind me to escape to my own. I need to do something to work off my frustration before my hormones make me attack my bastard husband.
“You’re slow today, Soph,” Betsy calls out from the other side of the tennis court. The sixty-year-old woman still has more endurance than an eighteen-year-old. Me. She has more endurance than me.
“I’m slow because I’m in pain!” I yell back at her. And it’s not just the abdominal pain I’m referring to. My heart aches. My entire body is in agony, all the way down to my soul.
“Why don’t you call it good for today?” Lena asks from the other side of the fence. “Go lie down and we’ll get you some pain meds and a heating pad.”
“Fine,” I cave, dropping my racquet right then and there on the court because going back to bed sounds good. “Sorry you came all the way out here,” I tell Betsy.
“It’s fine. Lochlan makes it worth my time,” she says with a smile as we head off the court. I grit my teeth at the reminder of my rich husband who married me to stay rich. “Hope you feel better.”
“Thanks,” I reply with as much pep as I can muster at the moment.
On the way back to the house with Lena and Toni, I can’t decide if I want to see Lochlan or not yet.
I hate that he’s leaving, and that we had an argument. But I’m crushed that he had an ulterior motive for marrying me this entire time that he didn’t tell me about. Crushed that he cares more about his money than me.
