Page 56 of The Secret Fiancée
He’d convince himself he used the inside information to fuel their rivalry, when more often than not, he just cleared the path for her, opening up opportunities and eliminating competition, so the only one she ever had to compete with was him. Sierra has sabotaged him to the point of getting arrested multiple times, and every single time, he had her released and all chargesdropped before any of us could even act. Xavier Kingston is madly in love with my sister, and I’m not sure he even realizes it.
“Combining his real estate empire with ours would result in us jointly becoming the biggest real estate firm the world has ever seen,” Grandma says when Sierra doesn’t immediately reply. “It’ll be the biggest merger we’ve ever done as a family.”
Sierra puts down the cookie she was holding — something I’ve never seen her do before. “Absolutely not,” she says, her eyes flashing with surprisingly genuine hatred. “I’m not marrying Xavier. Just disown me, Grandma. I’ll move out tomorrow. I can get my bags packed today.”
“You will,” Val says, her voice soft. “You’ll marry him.”
“Over my dead body,” Sierra snaps.
“Well,” Grandma says, sighing. “As it turns out, it may well be over mine.”
A chill runs down my spine as Grandma grabs a set of papers from the kitchen counter and slides them toward Sierra. “I know you’re not ready, sweetheart,” she says. “I’ve waited for as long as I could, because I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my little girl. But Sierra, my time is up.”
My sister’s hands shake as she unfolds the documents, her face blanching. Her gaze cuts to grandma’s, and tears gather in her eyes. “Colon cancer?” she says, her voice breaking.
“I accompanied her to the doctor this morning,” Val murmurs. “She brought me with her because she didn’t think any of us would believe her otherwise. It’s true, Sierra.”
Grandma’s gaze moves around the room, a sweet smile on her face. The way she looks at us, like she’s trying to commit us all to memory, fucking guts me. “How long have you known?” I ask.
“About a year. I’m old, Lex. I’ve accepted that my time has come, and I don’t want to spend the few months I have leftbecoming even sicker and frailer from chemotherapy. It’s okay, truly.”
Except, it isn’t. Our grandmother is the only parent figure we have left. A plane crash took our parents, and a heart attack took away Grandpa. Now cancer will take Grandma from us.
“I know you think you hate him,” Grandma tells Sierra. “But he’ll love you like you deserve to be loved, Sierra. Xavier will protect you, and he’ll continue to be by your side when I’m no longer able to. I know you don’t want to marry him, but sweetheart… this is my last wish.”
Forty-Six
Lex
I push off my desk with a sigh and walk out of my office, eager for a glimpse of my wife but unsure what excuse to use to see her. Ever since I learned about my grandmother’s illness, I’ve been uneasy. Nothing soothes me like my wife can, and being so far apart today is making me miserable.
I’m absentminded as I make coffee for myself and Raya, startling the entire secretarial team once again. Every time I walk into the pantry to make my own coffee instead of asking the robots for it, they rush over to assist, endlessly irritating me. It took three weeks of me refusing their help for them to stop asking, and each time, I wish I could explain that I’m just a husband wanting to make coffee for my wife. No one knows exactly how she likes her coffee, and I know she feels too embarrassed to ask our robots for an oat milk and honeycomb cappuccino with a dash of cinnamon sugar. I’m on autopilot as I reach for the fresh honeycombs I had flown in from New Zealand this morning, just for Raya, hoping to put a smile on her face.
My lips tug up at the edges when I faintly hear the sound of her voice, only to turn the corner and find Adam handing her a coffee cup from her favorite coffeeshop, a few blocks down. She smiles at him, and something dark twists in my stomach when I notice the way her gorgeous brown eyes light up as she takes a sip.
He shakes his head at something she says and leans in to brush something off her arm. My heart aches as I watch the way he dances around my wife, the way he looks at her. The bond between them seems unshakeable, and it fucking guts me. She still hasn’t told him about us, and I can pretty much guess why that is — she doesn’t want him to know she’s no longer single. If I can’t love her the way she wants me to, will she turn to him?
I grit my teeth and walk up to them, placing the coffee I made right next to Adam’s coffee on Raya’s desk. “Mr. Windsor,” Amy says, her eyes widening.
I can tell that Raya’s team is flustered by my continuous involvement, but so far they’ve written it off as the behavior of a doting husband trying to ensure everything is on track with his wife’s gift. They just don’t quite realize that the woman I’m doting on is one of them.
I smile at the team as I inconspicuously pick up Adam’s coffee and raise it to my lips so Raya’s lipstick stain aligns perfectly.Goddamn. It isn’t a fresh honeycomb, but it’s honey flavored. That fucker knows my wife’s favorites, and I fucking hate that. “Just checking in on the progress you’ve made,” I bullshit, smiling as Adam throws me an irritated look, his gaze moving between the cup in my hands and my face.
It isn’t until I catch Raya’s worried look that I realize I just drank something I didn’t watch someone make, and I did it without a second thought. I glance at the cup and smile to myself. When I look back at my wife, she’s smiling too, a hint of pride in her gaze. She has no idea what it means to me tohave her quiet support, how much I’ve come to rely on her. Raya doesn’t understand that drinking her coffee feltsafe, and no one has made me feel that way in years.
Adam leans in to whisper something in her ear, and she shakes her head as she lifts the cup I brought her, taking a sip. She smiles to herself, and that smile… it’s mine, but it’s directed athim.
“Raya,” I say, my tone harsh as I push off the side of her desk. “Come give me a full overview of the team’s progress in five minutes.”
“Oh, I can do that,” Adam says, and I pause, turning back to face him, my annoyance rising even further when I notice the way my wife has her hand wrapped around his arm as she shakes her head.
“Of course, Mr. Windsor,” she says, before I can even say anything. She smiles at me politely, not realizing how much that professionalism of hers is getting on my nerves. I want her to lose her composure the way she makes me lose mine.
“Five minutes,” I remind her.
I’m fucking seething as I walk back into my office, my mind replaying the way she smiled at him, the way her eyes lit up for him. My anger only increases as minute after minute passes, a knock finally sounding on my door ten minutes later.
Raya walks in with a tablet in her hand, and I lean back in my seat. “Close the door.”