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My mother sniffed and got up from her chair. “Welcome to the family.”
She rounded the table and enveloped Maddie in one of her hugs. Maddie returned the embrace, and her eyes found mine. She looked like a fish out of water.
I stood up from my seat abruptly and grabbed the empty wine bottle. “I will go and get another.”
I didn’t wait for anyone to say anything; I just bolted. I made it to the kitchen before I let out a shaky breath.
I held onto the sides of the counter for support. I was struggling to keep my mind straight. Everything felt heavy.
At the beginning of this, I hadn’t felt anything. Now, this crushing guilt weighed on my heart. There was even a part of me that felt like I was cheating on Sarah, which was ridiculous, right?
“So are you going to tell me what’s going on or are we just going to continue to pretend like you are in love with that woman that is sitting at our dinner table?”
I whirled around and faced my sister. “What do you mean?”
She gave me a deadpanned look. “Come now, Marcus. I am not stupid. You are clearly not in love with this girl. I can see it in your eyes. You may have given her the ring which, by your standards, is huge, but it means nothing. Your eyes aren’t lighting up. In fact, you look more troubled than you do happy. So spill it.”
I knew I needed to keep everything a secret. That was the plan. Only Maddie and I needed to know what was going on, but that was before all of these problems fell on my heart.
So I pulled her out the back door and told her everything. I left no detail out and no emotion unnamed. By the time I was done, I felt a little freer. Some of the weight had lifted off my chest.
“Wow,” was all she managed to say to me. I couldn’t blame her. “So what exactly is in it for her then? You’re getting Ash off your back, but what does Maddison win?”
I shrugged. “It has to do with some business deal she is trying to make here. But I don’t care because it doesn’t directly affect me.”
My sister nodded. “So how long do you need to keep this charade up?”
“We will get an annulment after the wedding, so it will be like the marriage had never existed.”
Danny stared at me like I had gone crazy and maybe I had gone crazy. This whole plan had been agreed to on a desperate whim to protect myself. But all it had done so far was make things complicated.
“I hope you know what you are doing, M, because this could blow up in your face if you aren’t careful.”
“Yeah,” I agreed slowly.
This plan was already blowing up in my face, but I was a man of my word. I would see it through.
