Page 127 of Trust Me

I shrug without shame. “She’s valuable … for business. We still don’t know what Dean is up to or who he’s working with. She can help with that.”

“Then this marriage is strictly for convenience's sake?”

I tighten my fists at my sides. “Convenience my ass. This is about retribution,” I reply, feeling irritated by this line of questioning.

“Was retribution the reason you flew back east and had staff at a certain boarding school fired? Or why you have a team of lawyers suing said school?”

I slide my hands into my pockets. “They deserve it.” A muscle in my jaw ticks from the thought of Eve’s former school.

“Multiple educators there will likely never work in education again thanks to you.”

“And that’ll be too soon,” I reply without a shred of guilt.Fuck them.

A slight grin makes its way across my father’s face, but he quickly stifles it. “This is for business, huh? Care to clue me in since I’m the CEO?”

“I’m handling it.”

“Is that why your wife thinks you hate her?”

I turn to see my mother leaning against the door, arms folded. Her eyes are shooting daggers my way.

What the hell did I do?

“No, she doesn’t.”

My mother huffs as she strolls into the room. “That’s what she just told me.”

My heart clenches in my chest. Hate.

That couldn’t be furthest from the truth.

“You must’ve been mistaken.”

“My ears work just fine.”

My mother eyes me up and down. As she does so, my father, seemingly unable to keep his hands off of her if they’re in the same room, pulls her against his chest.

These two.

I roll my eyes. Their constant displays of affection aren’t anything new. But oddly, it makes me think of Riley. Does she honestly believe I hate her?

“Is that all right with you, Kyle?”

I blink and look back at my mother. “What did you say?”

“Eve has taken a liking to Stasi. They both have. And Eve asked Riley if she could spend the night.”

I missed that entire conversation. My thoughts were too centered on my wife.

My fucking wife.

The fact that the thought alone doesn’t cause the uncomfortable tightening in my chest should send up a red flag. Yet, it does the opposite.

“What did Riley say?”

Instead of answering me, my mother looks back at my father. They share one of those fucking annoying looks that communicates something only they understand.

“She said she didn’t want to inconvenience us. But it’s no problem. With you and Ken out of the house, Andreas in L.A., and Theirs …” She trails off, her voice getting slightly heavier at the mention of my younger brother. Thiers in the military, like our Uncle Carter. I know my mother hates it. “I kind of miss having all of you kids in the house at once.”