He didn’t eat anything else, and I made a mental note to ask the staff to push dinner up. He’d be hungry soon.
“So, want to show me around? I haven’t seen a whole lot of this place.”
His hand in mine, we left the dining hall, and I gave him a tour until Brantly announced that the attorneys had arrived. It was going to be a long day and while I knew they were going to have paper work they’d want Wynn to sign agreeing to marriage, I was going to make sure he got his forty-eight hours. He would be signing, though.
We were halfway through everything when Hannah and Mark returned. Mark sat beside Wynn on the other side; Hannah grabbed one of the papers and started reading.
“Pardon?” Louis glared at her.
“Sorry, these are Hannah and Mark, my friends. They’re just invested in my well-being is all.” Wynn snatched the paper out of her hand and handed it back.
“What’s this?” Mark narrowed his eyes on one document. “A prenuptial agreement?” His gaze sliced from Wynn to me. “Are you forcing him to marry you, and that’s how you’ll help him?”
“Mark.” Wynn sighed. “It’s not what you think.”
“Oh?” He slapped the papers on the table. “Enlighten me.”
“Wynn?” Hannah was now reading them.
“You’re coming into this meeting in the middle. There are a lot of things in play.” I tried to calm down. I knew Wynn’s friends meant a lot to him, but they were disrupting everything.
“And where does marriage fall in this?” Mark sneered. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like coercion.”
Okay, fair, it absolutely was in a way, But Wynn would love this life, me, all of it. I just had to convince him.
“Mark, listen to me.” Wynn got his attention. “We are discussing all options here and that was one of them, but I didn’t agree. As you can see, literally nothing has been signed. Louis is explaining all the avenues to me.”
“You didn’t kill anyone, Wynn. Your alibi is strong, and there’s no evidence. This seems like overkill to me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and counted to ten. “Wynn and I will speak about this privately.”
“I think we’ll be speaking to Wynn privately as well,” Mark snapped.
Wynn slapped his hand on the table. “What I want right now is to be alone. You are all talking like I’m not here. Mark, I’m going to listen to every option, no matter how ridiculous itsounds, because I am not going to go to prison for something I haven’t done.” He pointed at his friend when he opened his mouth to speak. “And you know innocent people are doing time.”
“I’m sorry.” He held up his hands. “You’re right.”
“Now, I’m going upstairs. There’s a large Jacuzzi calling my name. Julian said dinner would be at six, so nobody bother me before then.”
With that he left, and I stared at him until he was out of sight.
“If you’ll excuse me. Louis, I’ll call you.” I moved swiftly to my office and away from Hannah and Mark.
On my desk was a note from Edward. It simply read: We need to talk.
He’d been out getting information on Ridgeway while I was at the castle with Wynn and his friends. Seemed he found something, and I was sure it wasn’t anything good.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Wynn
I hadmy head back and my eyes closed, the bubbles in the Jacuzzi were doing their thing, and I was trying so hard not to think about my life right now. Mark’s anger was valid; Hannah’s worry wasn’t misplaced. Julian had a darkness in him. How dark I wasn’t sure, but it was a possessive beast—to say the least, and that animal apparently had its sights set on me.
I should have been terrified. I shouldn’t have agreed to giving him two days to prove anything to me, so why had I?
Sighing, I shook off the creepy thoughts. The bubbling sounds of the jets acted like white noise, and I focused on that and not anything else…but that didn’t last. Thoughts of Julian invaded my peace, but they weren’t of his possessiveness, his demand that I stay, marry him, and be his. They were of how he kissed me, touched me, tasted and fucked me. I felt owned and wanted to be, by him, in that moment. Only when the fog cleared did the idea of being with him always scare me.
Maybe because he was taking the choice from me. I opened my eyes and stared at the opulent chandelier in the center of the bathroom, because of course there was one in here.
