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“It’ll end up violating. My parents arranged with the Donaldsons because the family business is about to go under. The Donaldsons agreed to invest with them in exchange for my hand. If they don’t get what they want, then they’ll take the company. What am I going to do, Alex?” I knew I would become a shell of myself the moment I entered into a marriage with the Donaldsons.
“Too bad there wasn’t a way to make you unappealing to them.” Alex lifted her shoulder at her offhand comment.
“Hold on. I hadn’t thought of that. What would make them not want me anymore?” Alex might have been on to something.
“I don’t know. What would make any guy want to drop their girl?” she asked.
“Cheating,” I said. “But it’s not like they assume I’m a virgin or that this is a love match. We haven’t even officially announced our engagement.”
“Unless it’s public that you’re in a relationship with the guys right now. Wouldn’t that humiliate them to where they would want to disassociate with you?”
“No. I don’t want to drag either Caleb or Andrew into this. Plus, their PR people are geniuses. They’ll find a way to make it seem like it’s something else.” I absently tapped my finger against my lips.
What else would turn a guy off?
“It’s not like you’re dying or you’re pregnant or anything.”
I looked at Alex. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “That’s brilliant. Maybe that could work.”
Alex’s nose scrunched. “Wait. What do you mean? You can’t go off and get pregnant.”
I grinned. “No, but maybe I can have Blake pee on a stick for me, and I can pretend I am. Those arrogant assholes wouldn’t want a baby that isn’t theirs. If I say it was an accident and don’t know who the father is, then maybe they won’tpursue me any further.”
“Tori, stop. Listen to yourself. You are going down a dark and terrible rabbit hole. You can’t do this. There is no way Caleb and Andrew would be on board with you saying you got pregnant from a total stranger. Have you even told them about this arranged marriage?”
I hung my head and mumbled. “No. I want to, but every time I decide to bring it up, they do something so sweet. I don’t want to ruin the moment.”
“You can’t keep lying to them or your parents. Each lie just becomes harder and harder to dig yourself out from under. Trust me. It will never end well.”
“But I don’t need to tell the guys anything. They already have enough to worry about. There’s nothing they can do to help the situation, and I don’t want to push them into a spotlight they didn’t ask for. There’s still the possibility they could get sued if the Donaldsons found out about them. I can’t do that to them.”
“Tori,” Alex said softly. “You’re not helping the situation or trusting your relationship with the guys enough if you think this is the right choice.”
I opened my mouth to refute.
She held out a hand. “No, a relationship should be based on honesty. Trust me when I tell you that if you break it and they find out, you could lose them for forever.”
“I can’t hurt them with the potential repercussions. The less they know, the better. That way, if someone does find out, they won’t implicate themselves in any of it. Besides, it’s not like my parents would come here at any point to see if it’s all true. Once I tell them, everything will be resolved, and then I’ll be free.” The more I thought about this, the better the idea sounded.
“This is a bad idea.” Alex was like the angel on my shoulder, and my rampaging thoughts were the devil. “We can think of something else.” Alex’s voice took on a panicked edge. Her expression tore at my heart. I knew she was worried for me, and I knew it was for a good reason. Thomas and Declan had kept it a secret from her that they were engaged to me, and it broke them up when the truth came out. They’d worked it out in the end, but it was bad. I know Alex was only trying to stop the same fate from happening to me.
My phone vibrated on the desk, effectively ending our conversation. When I glanced at the screen, my mother’s name was at the top of it. I caught Alex’s gaze. “It’s like it was meant to be. Look who’s calling.”
Alex raced around the desk and grabbed my phone from me. Her finger slammed on the reject button.
“What the hell, Alex? What did you do that for? I could have shared my ridiculous pregnancy story and ended this whole farce of an arranged marriage. I have to believe my mother calling right after I came up with an idea was a sign from the universe telling me to do it.”
Alex’s eyes pleaded with me to listen to her. “Tori, please don’t do it. Think it through. This could end very badly, and I don’t want to see anyone get hurt over this lie.”
Maybe she was right about giving it a little more thought. If I was going to spin that lie, I needed to think of any loophole they might use and have a convincing argument against it.
“Tori?” Her voice was full of concern. I must have stayed silent long enough for her to wonder what was going on in my mind.
I sighed. “You’re right. I’ll try to think of something better, but if nothing else comes to mind, then I’m doing it. I’ll tell her I got pregnant by a one-night stand.” My gaze dropped to my phone as it rang in again. “It’s her. I need to take it.”
Alex stood but didn’t leave the room.
Having a good idea of what she was anxious about, I said softly, “I promise I won’t say anything to her right now.”
