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“The bad news pays better.” He rubs his face with one hand and stops me before I can snap at him. “Here’s the problem. Camille is still married to her ex, and unfortunately Illinois law needs the consent of both parties to make this whole thing go smoothly. I assume that he isn’t going to sign the paperwork?”
“No,” I say through my teeth and remember my fist cracking against the Italian fuck’s face. “Assume he’s not.”
“Right, well, Camille can still move forward with the divorce, but it’s going to take at least eighteen months.”
My eyes widen. “Eighteenmonths? You have to be fucking kidding me.”
“I know, and I wish this wasn’t the case, but the laws are pretty clear on this one. Now, if she were to cite domestic abuse—”
“She won’t,” I say, my tone flat. “Even though she has every right to make that claim, she never would.”
“Mob wife until the end.” Gareth’s smile is sad. “That leaves the long way then.”
I stand up and pace across the room. The floor creaks under my weight and I want to smash my fist through the mirror. The dull pound of music bleeds through the door, and I suddenly wish I were back home with Camille right now sitting in our room together, anywhere but in this club dealing with this nonsense.
“There has to be something you can do.”
“Well,” he says, tilting his head side to side. “I might be able to grease the wheels a bit, but it won’t save us that much time. Maybe I can shave off a couple months, if we’re lucky.”
“That’s not good enough. I need her and I need hernow.”
Gareth studies me with a curious expression. “Why the urgency?”
“Because she’s Italian. The only way she’ll be safe with me is if we’re married. Once she’s my wife, it won’t matter who she is or where she’s from, she’ll be the lord’s wife. My men might hate her, but they won’t be stupid enough to touch her.”
“And the lord’s fiancée isn’t good enough?”
I dig my fingers into the back of my chair. “No. It isn’t.” And yet I wonder if maybe I’m exaggerating the danger—if maybe Gareth is right and fiancée would be all the protection she needs.
But the idea of having her—but not making her all mine—that’s too much to bear.
If I’m going to put my ring on her finger, I will make her my wife.
Yet I don’t know where this possessive need to have her comes from.
None of this is real, this engagement is a sham, and I still need to take all of her.
“Sorry to tell you, but it’ll have to be.” His smile is apologetic as he puffs on his cigar. “For now, at least. If you want to marry her sooner, you could always kill her ex-husband.” He grins at me like he’s joking, but I stare back at him, not smiling.
“I will gladly end that fucker’s life. Murder is certainly not off the table.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Well, if you get caught, give me a call.”
“Find a loophole, Gareth. Find a way for me to make her my wife tomorrow. Find mesomething.”
He ashes his cigar and considers me for a moment. “Evander, if this is just about making sure your family will accept her, do you really need to make itlegal? Go through with the ceremony. Sign the papers. Do everything except, you know, actually file with the state. The moment her divorce goes through, you can get the legalities squared away, but what does a guy like you give a shit about the law? Besides, by the time she’s officially back on the market, I bet your little problem will be long gone. This way, you won’t have to worry about a messy separation when it’s said and done.”
I grind my jaw and throw back my drink. Gareth’s got a point—my whole life exists outside of the law. Why the hell do I care now?
But I do care.
For some reason, the idea of making her my wife without making it legally binding drives me absolutely insane. I hate the idea of putting my ring on her finger, calling her my wife, treating her as my woman, but not actually being legally bound to her.
And if anyone in the family found out the truth, they’d cut my throat for it. My men will put up with a lot, but they won’t accept a lie of that size.
I need that contract, that damn piece of paper, even if it doesn’t reallymeananything.
But there’s nothing else I can do for now, and I’m not going to wait around and hope Gareth figures something out.
