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“I’ve already told you everything. What does it matter anyway?” The irritation that took over her expression barely hid what lay beneath the surface—hurt, betrayal, and anger. “It’s not like we’re getting married because we love each other, right?”
“It matters because Jared has been doing everything in his fucking power to take down my business.” I flexed my hands, giving the muscles a stretch.
Her brows raised. “I didn’t know that.”
“I don’t believe you. Have you been feeding him information?”
Something akin to shock rippled across her face. “You don’t believe me?”
“No. I don’t. It’s incredibly convenient, Charlotte. The man who has been stealing clients left and right and feeding them lie upon lie is linked to you, whether he’s your ex or your boyfriend or whatever,” I rasped, taking another step toward her until I was towering over her small frame. She didn’t dare take a step back. “You’ve come into my life and managed to turn my whole goddamn world upside down.”
“I have nothing to do with him.” Her chin jutted out as she steeled her jaw, doing her best to look strong as she looked up at me. “I hate him more than you could ever understand. We weren’t engaged, you know that. You know what he did to me. But if you want to take his word over your wife’s?—”
“You’re not my wife,” I snapped. Something broke a little inside of me as the words slipped past my lips. “And though you may be on paper after today, don’t think that means anything.”
Her eyes went glossy, her lips pursed together as she sucked in a breath. “So exactly the same as you were wanting it to be twenty minutes ago?”
She was just pushing my buttons now. The temptation to say that hadn’t been what I wanted twenty minutes ago was nearly overwhelming as I took a step back, taking in the full sight of her in her gown for a split second before turning away. “Just because I hesitated?—”
“Don’t. It’s pointless now.”
I watched her fidget with the horseshoe around her neck in the mirror. All I’d originally wanted was for today to go well for her sake, for her dad’s sake, but with everything that had come out I was finding it hard to still want that. It was easier to loathe her, to see her as this evil in my life who only wanted me for my money and my family’s business.
I leaned onto the wooden desk, watching her intently in the mirror behind it. If this was how it was going to be, I had free reign to be as heartless as I wanted to. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you that we need to readjust the terms of you obtaining forty-nine percent of the horse breeding side.”
Her mouth popped open. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I didn’t realize how important it was to my father. We’ll need to come up with a lower figure.”
“Like forty-eight percent?”
“Think more along the lines of single digits, Lots.”
She crossed the room in a second, holding up the bottom of her dress with one hand as her face contorted in anger. “You fucking selfish asshole,” she seethed. Her hand wrapped around my bicep, tugging me and turning me to face her. “This whole thing, all of it, it’s just a joke to you, isn’t it,? This is my future you’re messing with. You can’t just go back on what we agreed on, you promised me!”
“Is it really as bad as what you’ve done?” I asked, my voice surprisingly level for the amount of irritation boiling my blood.
Big blue eyes looked up at me, her lower lip quivering, and for a second, I almost wanted to kiss it. “You don’t give a shit about me, do you? All you care about is becoming CEO. I’m just a pawn, that’s all I ever was.”
You’re not just a pawn. You were everything. I steeled my jaw.
She shook her head in disbelief and dropped her hold on me, taking a step toward the door. “You are fucking horrible, Hunter Harris. You’re lucky I care more about breaking my father’s heart than my own.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means we walk down the goddamn aisle,” she rasped. “You marry me. You made your bed, you lie in it. But after today, we’re fucking over. No more sex, no more romance, nothing. We’ll divorce in a year like we planned. A beautiful, perfect, loveless marriage.”
I hated that my chest ached at the thought, hated that there was a part of me that wanted her despite it all. I couldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her, and yet, I’d grown far too fond of her.
I stepped past her and toward the door, resigning myself to my fate. “Fine,” I said. “Just what I wanted.” Slamming the door behind me, I left her to gather herself and made my way toward the ceremony hall, plastering the fakest, love-bombed smile I could muster on my face, and greeting the guests as they took their seats.
We’d get married.
We’d hate each other.
We’d divorce.
Chapter 30
