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“Don’t hit out at me, Evie. You know it’s my father who is pulling the strings. All I’m doing here is passing on his message.”
“Doing his dirty work you mean.”
Patrick flinched.
“Think what you will. It doesn’t change the outcome…only you can do that.”
There was only one option available and that was to go through with the wedding. But could I change the deal? Could I do it on my terms?
I inhaled deeply and met Patrick’s gaze. “I’ll marry you on one condition.”
“My father was specific, Evie,” Patrick replied, sounding tired, as though he’d had enough of everything.
He certainly wasn’t the only one and I couldn’t help the brief twinge of sympathy I felt for him. But then I remembered how he’d treated me, especially the time he took what he wanted.
It could have been worse though . . .
“I’ll go through with the wedding as long as Stryker is given back to his father. A clean slate. Stryker and his father owe your family nothing. From the minute we say ‘I do’, your father and his friends never have any contact with Stryker or his family again. Ever. He’s left alone to have a life.”
Patrick stared at me with surprise. He should have expected me to counter his deal, but he hadn’t. It wouldn’t surprise me if his father had expected me to, though.
“Let me make a call.” Patrick stood and moved out of hearing.
Oliver, the man with Patrick stared at me, and when I caught his eye, he looked through me. He was big. Not as large as Stryker, who was over six feet tall, but his dress shirt showed the muscular definition in his arms and torso. For some reason I didn’t feel threatened, which confused me considering that I now had a better understanding of the business that the Fitzwilliam’s ran.
“It’s a deal,” Patrick announced but wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Make your call to your parents.”
Something wasn’t right.
“What did your father say?”
“Yes.”
“Can I trust him?”
His eyes flicked to mine before he turned to watch across the pond. “You don’t really have much choice.”
He was right, and I didn’t trust his father. I wasn’t even sure I trusted Patrick.
With hands that were unsteady, I took my cell from my pocket and called my parents.
Chapter 20 ~ Stryker
THE MINUTE THE DOOR to the hotel suite closed, I dropped my bag and just stood and looked out of the floor to ceiling windows that lined the outer wall.
Married.
I was hurt and eaten up with jealousy that she was with another man. I wanted my anger to fuel me. Not on this occasion though. I didn’t have it in me because the hurt went too deep. I tried to believe what the guards had told me was pure fiction, but I didn’t think it was. She was going to marry Patrick tomorrow and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Stuck in Chicago with guards at every damn turn, and she was back in New York with him.
If only I could talk to her. Hear her tell me that everything between us meant nothing. Even as though words ran through my mind, I knew they weren’t true. She’d wanted me just as much as I wanted her, which I never thought would be possible.
Clenching my fists, I turned to the desk where the phone rang and rang. It stopped and started up again. I wanted to knock the thing off the desk, but on the third round I grabbed the annoying thing.
“What?” I growled.
“Stryker? It’s Carter. You alone in there?”
