Gregory smiled, but it was more of a sharp and unpleasant twist of his lips simply masquerading as polite amusement. “Nathaniel, step aside.”
“No.”
Their standoff lasted exactly three more seconds before Alex appeared in the doorway behind him, breath slightly short, like he’d run the last stretch from the conference room.
“What the hell is going on?” Alex asked.
Gregory turned on him like a snake spotting new prey. “I need an audience with my future wife.”
Alex didn’t hesitate, grabbing Gregory by the elbow and peeling him away from the threshold, dragging him to the corner of the office with a force that was anything but brotherly. Nate stayed planted in front of me like a wall.
Across the room, Alex leaned in close, fury vibrating off him in a visible aura. “You think you can just show up here after all the shit you’ve pulled? Are you out of your goddamn mind?”
“I came here to talk to you, Alexander. It was just a happy accident that Charlotte is here as well.” Gregory didn’t even flinch. “However, what I came to tell you is that if this doesn’t get resolved, I’ll rain hellfire down on Chicago and I’ll drag the entire city down with you if I have to. I know all about how much you do for all those little charities of hers. I’ll put a stop to every donation. I’ll?—”
“Why?” My stomach dropped and I blurted it out before I’d even considered heeding Alex’s pointed look that saiddon’t engage.“Why are you doing this?”
Gregory turned toward me. The victorious, smug grin that spread on his lips turned my blood to ice. “Because you weresupposed to be mine. We had an arrangement. You owe me what I would’ve been entitled to if you’d kept your word, Charlotte.”
“We barely know each other,” I said, my voice trembling before I could catch it. “Why is this so important to you?”
Before he could answer, the door opened again and Trent walked in. He took one look at the scene, Nate blocking me, Alex cornering Gregory, and my white-knuckled grip on my coffee cup, and something dark slid across his face.
“Tell her, Alex,” he said, his voice completely even. “Tell her everything.”
Alex’s jaw flexed hard, but he didn’t look at me. I frowned, waiting for him to say something, but when he didn’t do it, my eyebrows rose. “Tell me what?”
No one answered for a long beat. Then Trent’s tone sharpened. “Now, Alex. Tell her the truth about Gregory. All of it.”
Alex closed his eyes briefly, like he needed a second to brace himself. Then he looked at me and on his face was all the ways he’d tried to protect me—and all the ways he’d clearly failed.
“Gregory has a history,” he said quietly. “A bad one. He’s done this before. To other women.”
My throat tightened, but I forced the question out anyway. “What do you meanthis?”
“He pursues women for what they can offer him,” Alex said. “Status. Alliances. He doesn’t care about anything other than what having you can mean for him. What the women give him access to. It’s a complete shit show that got him run out of England. If he hadn’t learned how to manipulate every legal loophole, I’ve no doubt he’d be in prison by now.”
I felt cold all over.What?
“There’s more,” Trent added coolly, stepping closer to me but looking Alex dead in the eye. “Douglas is still insisting that I interfered with the negotiations. He still wants this match, buthe knew enough to see the red flags, didn’t he? Even if he didn’t know everything. I went to speak to him earlier and he didn’t seem all that surprised when I told him about any of this.”
It was like someone had cracked the floor open beneath my feet. My father had known. He’d known Gregory had a pattern for this kind of behavior and he’d still offered me up.
Nate gently touched my arm. “Hey, it’s?—”
“Heknew?” I looked at my brother, but Nate seemed a little stunned right now too, so I turned to Alex. “Please tell me he didn’t know.”
Alex’s face was ashen, but there was a glimmer of fury in his eyes that told me the truth before he even opened his mouth. “Honestly, I don’t know exactly what he was told, but he must’ve known at least parts of it. Enough that he shouldn’t have pushed you toward this asshole without further investigation.”
My heart didn’t break, but it buckled. Dad hadn’t overlooked the danger in this situation. He’d seen it, and then he’d accepted it. On my behalf, without even giving me the chance to do it for myself. That hurt more than having Gregory take my inheritance.
Gregory who, meanwhile, didn’t deny a thing. If anything, he looked more pleased with himself, like being exposed only confirmed he was winning somehow. He adjusted his cuffs and turned back to me. “Well, now that we’re done with the moral outcry, let’s get to the point. Charlotte, you’re going to sign the paperwork. You’re going to annul that little Vegas mishap, and we’re all going to move forward.”
“I’m not annulling anything,” I said, but the conviction in my voice wavered.
Naturally, Gregory noticed. His eyes drifted to Trent just for a second before he smiled. “If you don’t, darling, I’ll take his ranch. Every acre. Every cow. Every contract. And while I’m at it, I’ll tell the world what happened with Savannah. You knowhow people love a good scandal, especially the kind that involves illegitimate babies and cheating cowboys.”
My blood froze. Nate’s mug shattered on the floor.
