Page 2 of The Marriage Mistake

But I had a goal. I was here for a reason.

If I hadn’t exhausted all other options, I would’ve gotten up and walked away. Instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out a leather document holder. I unzipped it, pulled out the documents it contained, and placed them on the table between us. They slid easily on the polished surface as I pushed them toward the man across from me.

Thankfully, my fingers didn’t tremble, but my breaths were shallow as they tried to fill my constricted lungs.

Jack’s blue eyes flicked down to the papers and back to me. Like I was a threat, and he didn’t want to take his eyes off me for more than a second.

Exhilaration was a new feeling—one I hadn’t believed I was capable of. I tasted death in his glare, and it made the world seem sharper. Brighter. For the first time since I’d heard of my estranged father’s death—and the inheritance he’d written into his will for me—I felt something other than dull practicality and a kind of grim determination.

Right now there was heat pumping through my veins. I tasted the tang of risk in the air, and it wasn’t sending me running like it usually did.

“What’s this?” he bit off, staring at the pages I’d pushed toward him.

“This is a contract my lawyer prepared earlier,” I said, fighting to appear calm. “My father recently passed, and I was surprised to hear he’d left me an inheritance worth a million dollars.”

“Congrats,” he sneered, then blinked, catching himself. “And I’m sorry.”

“He was a horrible man, and even in death he’s attempting to control me,” I replied. Jack frowned but said nothing, so I continued, “The will has certain…conditions.”

The man across from me leaned back, and in his gaze I saw the shadow of his grandmother. He was cut from the same cloth: intelligent, shrewd, and ruthless. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled in warning, but I took a breath and strengthened my resolve.

I was also intelligent, and I could learn to be ruthless if I needed to.

My father had been an awful, petty, vindictive man, and his will was the last dagger he’d stabbed into my heart from beyond the grave. I would not let him win. I would take the inheritance and use it to shape my life in the way I chose.

Steeling myself, I lifted my chin. “In order to collect the inheritance, I need to be married by the time I’m thirty.”

“And I’m the lucky guy who gets to make you a wealthy woman?” Jack’s brow arched as his lips shaped themselves into a bitter curve.

I pushed the documents on the table a little closer to him and gave him a small, sharp smile. “You’re the lucky guy who gets a hundred thousand dollars for the trouble of marrying me for a very short amount of time.”

His gaze finally dropped from mine, and I took a deep breath. I hadn’t realized just how much pressure his glare had exerted on me. He frowned as he read the contract, full lips pursing, long fingers coming up to stroke his jaw. Then he flicked his hand, dismissing the idea. “No.”

Hmm. Not what I’d expected. But judging by his grandmother’s estate, the family wasn’t wanting for money. Still…

“I read that your grandmother threatened to withhold your inheritance if you don’t go through with the marriages she arranges.” It was in a few of the more salacious articles I’d read when I was preparing to come here.

Jack shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t need handouts.”

I believed him, but after he spoke, his jaw clenched. That, combined with the vehemence with which he’d spoken about his daughter, gave me the ammunition I needed. I was familiar with the manipulations of a wealthy parent; I knew what his grandmother had used to turn the screws on him.

“She’s also threatening to withhold your child’s inheritance, isn’t she?”

His head snapped up, gaze blazing as it met mine. “Where did you hear that?”

I drew in another breath, trying to control the thundering of my heart. It was startling to be glared at like that. To be the center of his focus, his fury. Fire lit inside me, sending heat through my limbs, pooling in the pit of my belly. It was easy to see how Jack Mars operated. He was handsome and confident. The face of Marswood Security, which he ran with his brothers. His personality was a force of nature, and he was used to being submitted to. This was not a man who fell in love easily, but I was sure he didn’t want for women. Even now, I felt attracted to him. Even when I knew he was angry with me. Hated me. When I knew that sex would only complicate things and thus had to be off the table.

What was I even thinking? Sex had never been on the table to begin with.

If I’d had any other option at all, I never would’ve signed up for an arranged marriage. I wouldn’t have spent the countless hours researching the Mars family and deciding which man was my likeliest match. I wouldn’t have carefully tailored my application to ensure I ended up in this seat, across from this man.

But I was here, and I would see this through. I would get my inheritance, and I would use it to change my life for the better. My father didn’t get to twist the knife when he was dead and buried in the cold ground. I would rip that knife out and finally allow myself to heal with the comfort his money would provide.

“I didn’t hear it anywhere,” I replied when I was very sure I could keep my voice steady. Now was not a time to show weakness; this was a lesson I’d learned young. My hands were folded in my lap, and my face was utterly neutral. I had a lot of practice maintaining the illusion of cool. “You confirmed that your grandmother had leverage on you, and the only time you’ve come alive in this conversation is when your child is mentioned. I put two and two together and made four.”

“You need to leave.”

Normally, I would’ve. But I couldn’t make myself get up and walk away. There was a million-dollar payout sitting on the table between us. I owed it to myself to fight for it, even though it came from the father who’d never seen me as more than a burden.