“Fuck that bastard. And Dad? Why did he think he had to bribe the inspector? We did everything aboveboard.”
“But we might not have gotten the approval to build on that land. Maybe he thought he was helping.”
Seb raked his hands through his hair.
“You see why I want nothing to do with her. I don’t want to be married to her. And I want her business even less. She has been haunting me for years, and now you want me to work with her. Fuck no.”
Sebastian sighed. “I see what you mean. But you have to, unfortunately.”
“Come on, Seb.”
He shrugged. “They’re really good. Their work is amazing. I was actually thinking of buying them outright and taking them in-house.”
“Oh, hell no!”
“We can’t let them go, Ty. Talent like that is rare. We’re lucky I found them in their infancy. They don’t know it yet, but their business is going to grow, and they’re going to be sought after.”
My brother didn’t want to drop them. Whatever you can say about Seb, he had an eye for spotting great people to work with. It’s the reason why our company grew exponentially over the years. That and our take-no-prisoners approach when it came to our competitors.
“You’re not going to budge, are you?” I said.
Seb shook his head. “You’re going to find a way to work with your wife.”
Chapter 6
Saffron
It will not be so bad. There will be a man you like there, trust me.
That’s what my father said after I protested several times against the marriage auction. I thought he meant I would find someone I liked there, not that he would force my childhood crush into marrying me. After Tyler told me about the blackmail, I went to my father to ask him for an explanation. Dad had been ecstatic. He had already received the funds as soon as I was hitched.
“See, I told you it would work out,” he said when I arrived at his townhouse. He strolled into the foyer where I was, his shirt unbuttoned, exposing the gray and white hair peppered on his scrawny chest. His gray hair was tousled, and he was barefoot. I did not want to think about why he was disheveled in the afternoon and made a concerted effort to dart my gaze to my surroundings. The townhouse was a rental that looked more like a hotel with its inoffensive gray and white styling. A new place I had never been before. Even the girlfriend who was old enough to be my older sister was new. She was the one to open the door and had looked at me suspiciously before belatedly realizing I was her boyfriend’s daughter.
“Tyler? Tyler is who you meant when you said I should trust you?”
He scratched his chest, smiling like a Cheshire cat. “I told you everything is going to work out, didn’t I?”
“I don’t want him. Cancel it. I want a divorce or an annulment. Anything. I want nothing to do with him.”
Dad closed the distance, towering over me. Tall and skinny, he has always used his height to dominate people, his only child included. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it worked. At that moment, though, I stood my ground and stared right back at him.
“You know, I was just telling Collina that I have given my daughter the husband of her dreams, and you know what she said to me? She said you’re too spoiled to appreciate a wonderful present. And, my god, was she right!”
“I don’t care. I want an annulment.”
“Too late. Your husband has already sent me the money. It came through this morning.”
“Send it back.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Do you know what it took to make him agree? I had to use every tool in my arsenal to trap that son of a bitch. I used my ace. The information I had against him that I could have used on a better day, and I used it for you!” He jabbed his finger in my face. “And you come to my home after I saved us both from ruin, and you spit in my face. You cried when I sent you to Olga. Now you cry as well after I get you what you wanted!”
“Information? What information?”
“The material I had been gathering. He’s not as clean as he claims to be, your husband. He got his business through unscrupulous methods. Bribing officials to get building permits. Working with the mafia. Do you know how much time someone can serve if they are caught in a RICO case?” He scoffed. “He squirmed when I showed him the documents.”
Bile rose in my throat. “So you did blackmail him. How can you be so cruel?”
“I used my ace card to save you, and all you care about is him!” I took a step back, shocked by his anger. “Get out of my face,” he snarled.
