Page 6 of Sweet Wicked Vows
“Since when do you work for Frederic Dade?” I said, calmerthan I felt.
“Since I helped him when his brother-in-law refused.” Frederic’s emotionless voice sent a shudder through my spine the second he opened the office door. “Apologies for my tardiness.”
Black hair, blue unflinching eyes, and an aura that rivaled an iceberg.
Bile scorched the back of my throat as nerves rattled from the bottom of my feet up to the top of my head. “What are you doing here?”
Frederic stepped into the room, straightening his black tie. “Offering you a lifeline.”
“As I was already telling yourassociatehere, I am not interested in anything you have to offer,” I said with a fierceness that shocked me. “Now, it’s impolite to remain somewhere you are both unwanted.”
“My offer—” Frederic ignored me. “—is a simple one. Marriage for the year you are CEO. In exchange for providing you with the tools and one-to-one help on how to do what Lexington expects from you, all I ask is for you to enter into a working partnership at the end of the year.”
“What do you mean a working partnership?”
“Your European clients and general monopoly of the continent,” he said bluntly. “After the year, before Flynn takes over, our companies will no longer be competitors but rather allies. Something your father has never been willing to consider.”
I needed to leave the room. Dad was only down the hall. If he knew what was happening, he’d have a heart attack on the spot. “Then what the hell makes you think I am going to consider it?”
Frederic picked a piece of invisible lint from his sleeve. “No one believes you can do this, Ms. Reynolds. You are a journalist by trade. Lexington is sick and in crisis mode. He cannot putFlynn in charge yet, and he has little other choice than you. My offer will provide you with the ability to actually pull off the impossible.”
“By marrying you?” I blurted, unable to hide the disdain in my voice.
He shook his head. “Not me. Lucky for the both of us, my divorce has still not been finalized.”
“Then who?”
“Mon frère,Jaxon. Marriages start worse ways, Ms. Reynolds. Utilize this opportunity to have the help you will need for one year, that’s all, and for a small exchange. Simple as that.”
Simple as that.
“Don’t you want to make your dad proud?” Stefan said. “Don’t you want him to be able to leave this world peacefully without having to worry that his life’s work isn’t going to turn to rubble because you couldn’t handle it for a year?”
Fuck.
Fucking fuck.
My dad gave me everything in life. He never pushed me into anything, and I knew that making me CEO for a year was hurting him as much as it hurt me. Surely after everything he did for me, I could do this one thing to make him happy?
No.
I couldn’t marry for such a calculated reason. It was absurd.
I needed to get out of the office quickly.
“This isn’t about you,” Frederic drawled. “This is about your father and showing him that you can handle yourself.”
“You say that like marriage is something small,” I bit back. “Marriage is meant to mean something, to me at least.”
“It’s only a piece of paper.” Frederic shrugged. “Be warned, my offer is a one-time thing, Ms. Reynolds. If you refuse and plummet your father’s company into the ground, the Reynolds name will be a laughingstock.Youwill always be rememberedas the woman who destroyed her dying father’s legacy, and unfortunately, you’ll be completely on your own. Can you handle that?”
Bastard.
Teeth skimmed my bottom lip. “For one year?”
Frederic nodded. “One year, and then you get a divorce, go back to your life and pretend the whole thing never happened.”
Between losing my dad in slow motion, Laurence walking away, and Flynn being no help to me, I knew that I was going to struggle to survive the year.