AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think you're nuts.” Tiffany stared at Bastien. “No offense, but you're so much older than me. What will people think?”
“That you're marrying me for my money. It's believable. I have a lot of money.”
“I'm not a marry-for-money kind of girl. I didn't even know my ex had money until after I said, ‘I do.’ I'm more of a bum magnet.” Her cheeks turned red. “Until I met Cormac, but I can't be with him until I get rid of my ex, and that's impossible when you have a kid together.” Her expression softened. “Ava is the best thing that came out of my marriage.”
Charlotte thought it was a good omen that Tiffany hadn't stood and stomped out.
Bastien took a piece of chocolate and popped it into his mouth. “You'd have Ivy's vote.”
At the mention of Ivy, Charlotte smiled. She was head over heels in love with her. But if Tiffany said yes, then Ivy would be spending more time with Tiffany, which made her heart ache.
“I'll leave you two to get to know each other better.”
She picked up her phone, walked out of the house, and immediately dialed Emmaline. “I need to ask you a hypothetical question.”
“Is this a question related to why you're hanging out with Bastien Richmond all the time?”
She could lie to her friend, but she didn't need to. “He needs a wife to ensure he can keep custody of Ivy.”
“And you said yes?”
“Of course not. I'll only marry for love.”
“And what is he offering?”
The last they talked, he was offering a hundred grand. It was a fortune to nearly anyone but a rounding error to him. He had told her he'd spend far more if he entered a lengthy court battle. She imagined he was right.
“A hundred grand.”
“Do you have to sleep with him?”
“No,” she said with more disappointment coloring her voice than she intended.
“Girl, put away your Cinderella story fantasies. A man is offering you a hundred grand to be his pretend wife. You don't have to clean his house, do his laundry, or have his children. Most wives get far less and have to give so much more. You need the money to rebuild Because You Said Yes. You won't have to wait on the insurance; whatever they pay, you can tuck that away for a nest egg. You can be sitting pretty in no time.”
Charlotte didn't want to tell her friend that a hundred grand merely scratched the surface of what she needed. It would at least save her from losing her house.
“You're right, but Em, nowhere in all my childhood fantasies did I think I'd say yes to money instead of the man.”
“He's a looker.”
“Hollywood handsome.”
“Cricket likes him, and that's saying something. She pretends to like everyone but likes no one.”
“He's a good man.”
There was a moment of silence before Emmaline laughed. “Oh my God. You're falling in love with him.”
“I'm not,” she lied.
“You are, and that little girl is just icing on your wedding cake.”
There was no use lying. “He's amazing, Em, but he doesn't love me. This is all business; if I married him, I'd want so much more.”
She walked along the beach and found a small conch shell tumbling in the waves. If she didn't know better, she would have thought it was the one Bastien had tossed into the water. She picked it up and remembered what he had said. “Even he wants me to have whatever I need.” Bastien didn't wish for her to have everything she wanted. He asked the universe to give her everything she needed.
“What are you going to do?”
