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He grabs my arm, which automatically makes me jerk back. Bishop glares at me and tries to grab my arm again. "You and I need to talk."
My very short fuse blows when he grips my wrist, I struggle with him, grimacing. When I wrench myself free, his eyes narrow into slits. "I need to talk to you now," he growls.
"Fuck off."
I'm turning on my heel to keep walking when he stops me with his words.
"I'll tell Pearl that you are planning to sell her family land if you don't pay me not to."
My steps slow. I hesitate, scowling, and look back at him. "I’ll sue you so fast you’ll wish you’d never heard of me."
He grins. "You're fucked if Pearl finds out about your plan. From what I can figure, Pearl was probably a target for you before you even started dating."
I give him a blank look. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do. I think you're willing to pay me a cool five million dollars to cover up the truth, too."
My eyes narrow to slits. "You signed an NDA to protect me against just such a thing.”
He spreads his hands. "And now I'm telling you that if you don't agree to pay me, I'll go to Pearl's Aunt Delta and tell her the whole plan."
I curl my lip. "That shows how little you know about Pearl. She would rather die than pay blackmail to you." I spit on the ground. "You don't deserve her. Just leave her and her family alone."
Bishop's face contorts. "You're going to be sorry about this, River."
Shaking my head and giving him the middle finger, I start toward the market once more. "Fuck off and die, Bishop," I call over my shoulder.
But inside, a voice screams at me.
I'm definitely out of time to come clean with Pearl about her family's lands.
Thirty-Eight
Pearl
I'm sitting in the living area of my new cabin. I'm surrounded by luxury everywhere I look: a white leather couch, a cashmere throw blanket over my feet, a water feature gurgling faintly in the background., I'm surrounded by vibrant flowers and plants. You would think that I would be rolling around in it, luxuriating in the details that River chose for our home.
But instead, I am staring at a box that contains a pregnancy test. It's unopened and sitting on the dark wood coffee table, seeming to stare right back at me.
I try to tell myself that it doesn't matter what the test says. Either way is fine with me. Things with River are going well enough. But soon enough, we will reach a natural conclusion.
I don't want to marry River. I mean, I love him, but his reason for proposing is all wrong.
Perhaps I will take this test today and the results will tell me that I'm pregnant. It will be everything I have wanted for the last few months.
And yet...
It's going to spell the end of the road for me and River. So even though I should be vibrating with excitement over peeing on a stick, I'm not.
I exhale a big breath that I didn't know I'd been holding and crack my neck. Somehow, I cannot bring myself to do it right this second.
I get up off the couch and carry the test back to the bathroom, hiding it in the chic new mirrored medicine cabinet. Just as I stow it away, a knock comes on the door.
It's obviously not my fake fiancé, because he has the code to the new keypad beside the door. I check the security camera screen and see my Aunt Delta standing outside the door. Her expression is pinched.
What on earth is that expression? My stomach flip-flops when I wonder if it has to do with the IRS calling. Could my aunt have received bad news?
Swinging the door open, I greet her. "Hey, hey. Look who it is."
