An agitated sigh fell from her lips. “Not really.”
“If I were you, Ms. Mikael.” I was careful to maintain a kind distance while taking a step forward. Silky threads fell over her face when she slightly turned. “I wouldn’t come to me for help on fixing Starlight’s reputation.” My fingers slanted not enough to touch her skin but tocrackle the space between us with electric energy. “I’d need me to figure out what the fuck was going on in that company.”
“That is only, of course, if you had nothing to do with it.” Softness vanished and there emerged an ugly red monster who knocked sense back into me.
Dropping my hand, I reeled back.
Remember your plan.
She looked with a hardened glance.
“No one will give you your power back.”
“Thanks for telling me the obvious.”
Tongue pushed against my left cheek. “You have to snatch it back. The only way possible foryouis with my help.”
“How?”
“Marryingme,Adelaide.”
Adelaide stared at me like I was the last person she’d ever want to be tied to. Her colour blue wasn’t blue enough, yet too blue to colour in the black and white spaces in my mind.
“You’re insane.”
“Am I?” Orchestrated hymns of cacophonous melodies burst from the voids of my heart. “Because getting married automatically gives you power. You’ll get your position back and figure out who’s impersonating you.”
“Do you believe it wasn’t me?” She stuttered.
“I believe it wasn’t you.”BecauseI know it’s not you.
It was easy peeling away the covers of her composure, being as soft and pliable as she was. “Marriage isn’t the answer.”
“Marrying me isn’t, that’s what you mean.”
Osama walked to stand between our accelerated tension. “I’ll apologise for the way he sounds. But he has a point. Anuptial agreement between Starlight and Moonshine will divert the public’s attention to you guys. Christian doesn’t date, so people will catch onto you two like leeches, and Starlight’s board members will drool at the possibility of a permanent partnership.”
She met my gaze, a question of the past lingered in the opulent tones of her cornea.
“When we announce our engagement, I’ll announce being Moonshine’s CEO all along,” I cleared my throat, not missing how her questions washed away with turbulent waves.
“It’ll be breaking news,” Osama added. “You want them to focus on someone else’s life attached to yours, if that man is Moonshine’s CEO, he’s untouchable.”
“Then I’ll marry you,” she said to Osama.
“Absolutely not,” I snapped.
Her gaze ricocheted in my chest.
An arched brow. “There’s no need to announce you’re CEO, when I could marry Osama and the plan would work the same.”
Too fucking smart for her own good.
“I said no.”
“But I don’t want to marryyou.”
“Then good luck.”
