Just as I think he’s not going to give me an answer, he exhales slowly and says, ‘Well, that depends entirely on you, doesn’t it?’
I clench my jaw and nod stiffly. ‘Understood.’
A fleeting look of happiness passes over his face, and then he’s back to business again. ‘I want this deal with Davies signed by the end of the year.’
Seven months. He’s giving me a little over seven months to somehow convince Imani to marry me.
‘Whatever you did to hurt the Davies girl so badly? Undo it. I don’t care how you get her on board, just make sure it gets done.’
‘I can’t force her to love me.’ If I haven’t been able to earn my own father’s love in twenty-odd years, what hope could I possibly have for a woman I’ve just met? Well,re-met, technically.Though our interaction was fleeting and it’s not like she remembers, so I suppose we are essentially starting from zero.
My father barks out a bitter-sounding laugh. ‘Who said anything about love? You just have to marry the girl.’
‘I can’t force her to do that either.’
He shrugs and it feels like the wind has been knocked out of me. My father is a cruel man. I’ve known this since the very first day I met him. But this is a new level of callousness. ‘You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.’
I open my mouth to respond but now that he’s got what he wants from me, he dismisses me with a wave of the hand and barely spares a glance in my direction. Not that I need telling twice.
Imani’s grateful smile when I agreed to her plan earlier flashes in my mind as I leave the office and I shake my head to dissolve the mental image of her.
She’s going to absolutely hate me.
There’s a car waiting outside, ready to take me home where I plan to faceplant into bed and disconnect from the world for at least twenty-four full hours. I’ve decided I’m owed at least that after the morning I’ve just had.
I open the door to the sleek black car waiting for me, and am immediately met with a loud BANG, followed by a shower of colourful confetti hitting me in the face.
I barely have time to blink before a pair of arms extend from the car and yank me inside. Thoughts of a kidnapping, as misguided as it would be given how little ransom my fatherwould cough up for me, flash through my mind and I feel a beat of panic before—
‘Congratulations!’ Teddy roars, tugging the door shut behind me once I’m inside. Never mind that I’m currently draped haphazardly across his legs and still not sitting upright. ‘Never thought we’d see the day, did we Dre?’
Andreas, sat opposite us, pretends to wipe away a single tear. ‘We’re so proud. You’re all grown up.’
‘Ha, ha,’ I deadpan, shoving myself away from Teddy so I can scoot into the empty seat beside him properly. ‘I see you two have heard the news.’
Teddy signals to the driver to start moving and leans back into his seat, a wide, Cheshire cat-esque grin splitting his face. ‘Heard the news,’ Teddy scoffs, reaching into the door compartment to pull out a bottle of champagne already missing its cork. ‘We’ve been celebrating. Here, drink up.’
He unearths a champagne flute from God knows where, shoves it in my hand, and immediately begins pouring.
‘When do we get to meet your dearly beloved?’ Andreas asks as he passes Teddy his own glass. Teddy dutifully begins topping him up.
‘Oh yes,’ Teddy says, his grin widening to truly ridiculous proportions. ‘Our dear new sister-in-law. Can’t wait to meet her. I bet she’s ecstatic. Tell us how the proposal went down.’
I glare at my brothers. ‘This isn’t funny.’
‘On the contrary,’ Andreas says in between sips of champagne. ‘This is hilarious.’
‘Incredibly,’ Teddy agrees. ‘Our baby brother is gettingmarried. To a woman he’s not said even one word to. This is peak romance if you ask me.’
Andreas nods. ‘The stuff Hallmark movies are made out of.’
I know I shouldn’t take the bait, but I’m already on edge from my meeting with our father. ‘And what would you know about romance, Teddy? How is Céline, by the way?’
Teddy’s smile drops immediately at the mention of his ex-fiancée. His eyes narrow. ‘Watch it, Ash.’
I ignore the thinly veiled threat, satisfied that I’ve got a little bit of revenge for their teasing, and instead ask, ‘How long have you both known?’
‘Just this morning,’ Teddy says.
