AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fine,” she says shortly, standing up. “I’ll talk to my father.”
I stand, too, and it feels like a hundred pounds have fallen off my shoulders. “Thank you.”
“I can’t promise anything,” she states. “He likes you, and he’s never even met Aiden.”
“I can arrange a meeting. I can introduce them myself and try to smooth the transition.”
She’s so fucking mad at me, there may as well be frost on her skin. “Fantastic.”
She walks me to the door despite how angry she is with me, and now that I’m feeling less trapped, I turn back to her. “I’m sorry this didn’t go the way you wanted it to. I truly hope Aiden makes you happy.”
Her eyes narrow. “I wouldn’t pick out a ring for Brynn just yet, Killian. Like I said, there’s no guarantee I can get us out of this. My father has the last word, and he wants a Blue Blood for a son-in-law. Aiden isn’t one.”
“Yet. There’s a pretty good case to make him one. I’m the obstacle that’s stood in his way, but now…”
She smiles grimly. “Yeah. Aiden found a way to get everything he wanted. Surprise surprise.”
My business is concluded here so I’m about to turn to leave, but something stops me. Her tone, how angry she is—at Aiden, at me, at Brynn. I understand her reluctance to marry the guy, given his methods of coercion, but I’m uneasy about the fact that she may feel like she’s the only one who loses if I get my way.
Either way, she’s getting a husband she may not be happy with, so why should she put in any effort to let me live happily ever after with someone else? I’m the one who fucked up her picture-perfect life. If she has to suffer, maybe it would give her a small measure of satisfaction to make sure I suffer, too.
It also seems like she’s still committed to blaming Brynn for my actions, and that’s the kind of thing a person does when they’re still hanging on to the wrongdoer. I’m the one backing out of the deal, but she keeps bringing it back to Brynn. Maybe she thinks if Brynn fell out of the picture, I’d fall back in line. Sure, I’d be sad for a while, but I’d give in to my life with her eventually, right?
I know there’s a conniving side to Sloane, too—not that I blame her. She’s been dealt a certain hand, and she has been raised a certain way. When her father has encountered things in the way of what he wanted in life, he has been known to make them move, and she’s learned what she lived.
It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Sloane could pretend to make her best effort to get me out of this deal, then marry me just to spite all of us. Aiden would be pissed, Brynn would be heartbroken, and I’d be her worst fucking nightmare, but maybe I haven’t been clear enough about that.
“Do you remember the night we met?” I ask her.
My question comes out of nowhere, so of course she’s a bit thrown. “Yeah.”
“Me too. Sophomore year. The Zeta date party, right?”
She almost smiles. “Yeah. The first one of fall semester.”
I nod. “We were on a yacht. I was there with that other Zeta. What was her name?”
Her smile disappears again. “Melanie.”
“Right. Melanie. But she got sick, had to disembark before we even left. I was gonna leave with her—not out of attachment to her or anything, just seems like if your date’s gonna leave, you should, too.”
“But I told you to stay,” Sloane says, leaning in the doorway.
I nod, leaning in the doorway too, planting my hand behind her so I can look down at her.
She licks her lips and looks up at me, some of the coolness in her gaze melting a bit at the memory of when she picked me.
Well, when she poisoned my date to free me up and then picked me.
“I knew why Melanie got sick, Sloane. Truth is, I kinda liked for you it. You went after what you wanted. I respected that.” I lean closer, sliding my hand around her slim throat.
She stiffens, but she doesn’t fight me.
“But let me be very fucking clear that I do not feel the same way now. And if any misfortune befalls Brynn, I will hold you personally responsible. Even if it’s not your fault. Even if there is no conceivable way it could be your fault. So you’d better hope she doesn’t get so much as a fucking hangnail, because if anything goes wrong for her, and if I end up marrying you, I will spend every day of our life together making you wish you could time travel just once in your life, back to that day on that yacht. I will make you wish you’d never tainted Melanie’s drink, and you’d never been touched or kissed or fucking enchanted by me. I will make you wish you’d never fucking met me. Do you understand me, Sloane?”
I feel her swallow, and then she nods.
“Good.” I release her. “Aiden likes you now. I don’t. Make your peace with him and pull your daddy’s little princess shit with your father. Do whatever you have to do to get us out of this engagement, and I’ll do the same. I promise you, it’s in your best interest as well as mine.”
