Page 121 of A Vicious Love

“Baby,” Marcel said softly.

Emmie shook her head. “Sienna was helping me plan it.”

“We can still do it,” Harrison said.

“I don’t want to.” Her voice broke again.

Harrison looked toward me. That was the mistake. Because something hard entered his eyes.

“Maybe I should take the merger.” He said, still staring at me.

“What?”

Harrison lifted one shoulder, casual in the way only a Crow could be casual while throwing a match into fuel.

“I’ll marry her.” Harrison held my gaze. “Sienna wants someone to speak to her. I can manage a conversation without acting like a bastard.”

My blood changed temperature.

“Harris,” Marcel warned.

“I already like her. Emmie keeps her friend. Damius gets the Bellemere bloodline settled. Sienna stays in Harlan. Everybody wins.”

My hand tightened around the glass hard enough that it cracked.

Again.

Fucking glass.

Always too fragile.

Harrison watched the fracture spread beneath my palm. His mouth curved. Bait. He wanted the reaction. He got one.

“You go near her,” I said quietly, “and I’ll put you through Marcel’s terrace doors.”

Harrison looked toward the glass doors. “They’re imported.”

“Stop.” Emmie wiped her face.

Marcel’s gaze moved between us. “Both of you.”

Harrison leaned back.

Satisfied.

The bastard.

He had made his point. I hated that he had one.

Emmie pulled herself straighter in Marcel’s lap, though she remained curled against his chest. His arm tightened around her waist.

“She’s being presented with Weston this weekend,” Emmie’s eyes filled with tears. “I got the invitation today. It was sent as a friendship arrangement.”

A friendship arrangement.

Harlan dynasty rubbish. An event invitation designed to place a woman beside a man without calling it courtship yet. Plausible deniability. Good manners. Family optics. The first step toward rearranging Sienna’s life before she knew anyone had touched the board.

“Harlan is hosting some ridiculous harbour luncheon,” Emmie continued. “Weston has been asked to attend as her companion. Her family thinks it will look less abrupt if people see them together before anything becomes formal.”