AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I made him amend the agreement with Arthur so it was between me and Crew. We would have been miserable together. We’re too alike, Oliver. CEO is your birthright, as the oldest.Of courseyou want it. You were born and raised and trained to want it.”
“It’s not up to me or Crew who becomes CEO. It’s my father’s decision.”
“I know. And Arthur is giving you the chance to have it. Maybe it’s his way of admitting he made a mistake, taking it from you in the first place. If he asks for something in exchange, he can preserve his pride.”
“It shouldn’t have to be a trade.”
Scarlett laughs. “Of course it does. That’s how the world—our world—works. You were going to marry me to be CEO, right? How is this any different? It’s all about how you look at it.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“It doesn’t have to be. I’ve been the person convinced an arranged marriage will just be a business relationship. I wish I’d opened up to Crew sooner. Been less cynical from the start. If he hadn’t been so…stubborn—” She smiles. “—my life would look very different. Would be worse. You don’t have to force anything. Just be open to it and start tonight. If you brood out here all night, Quinn will feel like she has to ignore you next time you see each other. Next thing you know, you’ll be making up affairs and spying on each other through security footage.”
I frown at the random examples, then exhale. “I can’t marry her, Scarlett.”
She nods and leans down to pull her heels back on. “Okay. I tried.”
I swallow the rest of my cognac in one massive gulp. “You don’t understand. I literallycan’t.”
Scarlett frowns as she looks over at me. “What? Why?”
“I went to Vegas last weekend for Garrett Anderson’s bachelor party.”
She nods. “Yeah, I know.”
“Well, while I was there, I got married.”
Scarlett’s expression doesn’t even twitch. I’m suddenly overwhelmingly grateful she’s who Crew married. She’s the person you want when there’s a crisis. I’ve never seen her composure rattled.
She leans back and slips her heels back off. “God, I wish I could drink.”
A surprised laugh leaves me.
“Does Crew know?”
I shake my head. “No. But he knowsher. My, um, wife.”
Scarlett’s head tilts, eyebrows rising. “Knows her how?”
“Her name is Hannah Garner.”
Her lips tighten into a thin, straight line. “Dammit, Oliver.”
“She mentioned you two were…acquainted.”
“We ran into her a few times, shortly after we got married. They were…unpleasant. I don’t know exactly what happened between them, and I’ve never asked Crew. At the company party that year, Hannah told me Crew was cheating. Described their liaisons rather graphically.”
I’m surprised Hannah was at a Kensington Consolidated party, that she attended society events on her trips here. Hundreds of people are invited, but it’s still an exclusive list.
“She was lying,” I tell her. “He’s never cheated on you.”
Scarlett half-smiles. “I know.”
“I believe she regrets it, if it makes any difference. But if I’d known she’d said that to you, I never would have touched her. Let alone married her.”
Scarlett’s lips twist wryly. “You aren’t the first guy to get distracted by a pretty face, Oliver.”
I scoff, staring at my empty glass. “I didn’t marry her just because she got my dick hard, Scarlett. I was drunk, and don’t remember most of it. But there was something… I don’t know. She was different than any other woman I’d met.”
