Page 96 of Hired Husband

“Mom? What are you doing here?” I started pushing to my feet, worry snaking its way around my insides. “Is everything okay?”

“I need a word with you,” she said, sending Zara a small apologetic smile before lifting her gaze back to mine. “In private. If possible.”

Zara inclined her chin and rose from the grass, glancing back at me. “We’ll finish this later.”

I nodded, but as soon as she was out of earshot, I folded my arms and braced myself for whatever bad news my mother had flown all the way here to convey. “Has something happened?”

“It’s too late for anything to be done about the rumor that David has proposed to you,” she said softly, her brow furrowed in resignation, disappointment, and concern. “I tried, but the Mahers are already descending on Cairo for all the parties that must take place. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

All the air whooshed out of my lungs, but I’d known this was coming. Even so, my eyes slid shut and it felt like the universe had just rubber stamped my future with a big fat rejection of any chance of happiness. “Okay.”

“David still has to ask your father’s permission in front of both families, Jasmine,” Mom said gently. “Perhaps we can talk to him before the event. There’s still⁠—”

“No, there’s no hope, Mom.” I reopened my eyes. “Dad will say yes because this was partly his idea and he feels responsible for the Mahers. I’ll be ready.”

Without another word, I stepped around her and raced into the house as fast as my feet could carry me, brushing past Nanna on my way in. Surprisingly, she remained completely silent and that, more than anything else, confirmed that I truly had doomed myself.

Nanna always had so much to say, so if even she didn’t have an opinion or advice to offer, it could only mean one thing. My fate had been sealed.

Before the year was out, I would be married to a man I would never love, expected to have his children, and to spend the rest of my life being faithful to him, and the man I did love, the one I was doing this for, had disappeared.

Isaac Thayer was gone and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it now.

CHAPTER 39

ISAAC

“Are you still an idiot?” Ryan asked as he walked into my office. “Or have you finally booked a flight back?”

I glanced up from my laptop. “Good morning to you too.”

He shook his arm and took a quick look at his watch when it slid out from under his sleeve. “There’s only five minutes of morning left.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “Good almost-afternoon, then. What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing.” He crossed the office to drop into the chair in front of my desk. “I just wanted to find out if you’re going back yet, because you should.”

I stared at him for a long beat, then scoffed and shook my head. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Will you just leave it alone? Please?”

I only tacked on the plea as a last-ditch effort to get him off my back. For the last week, ever since I’d gotten home, he kept telling me that being here was a mistake. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was trying to get rid of me, but I did know better.

All my siblings knew Joseph and I had gotten the contract and Ryan’s way of encouraging me to take it was a little more direct than the others. He fixed me with a look that said he was never going to drop it, then leaned forward and looked me right in the eyes. “You have to go back, Isaac. Only an idiot would turn down that job and you’ve never been one. Why start now?”

I groaned. “I’m not being an idiot. It’s just not as simple as you seem to think.”

“It is,” he insisted. “Colin offered to go back with you to help smooth things over with Basel, so what are you waiting for?”

“An embossed invitation from the universe,” I said dryly, then dropped my arms and motioned to my laptop. “Some of us have work to do and I need to get back to it.”

He sighed and made himself comfortable in the chair, sitting back and hooking an ankle over his knee. “I’ll leave you to it. As soon as you tell me the work you’re going to do is for Basel’s complex.”

My door opened again and Jane peeked in, perking up when she saw Ryan already there. She pushed it all the way open and walked in, leaving it for Colin to close after he’d followed her. Exasperation rolled through me in a heavy, black wave as I stared at them. Jane sat in the chair beside the one Ryan was in while Colin took the third seat.

“Alright, Isaac,” Jane said, her expression gentle but determined. “I’ve been doing my best all week to shake you into your senses, but you’re still here, so what can we do?”

“Alex’s jet is on standby,” Colin said. “You and I can be wheels-up in an hour.”

I glanced between them, frustrated as fuck, but knowing they meant well. “Can everybody please just let this go?”