Unexpected Gift: An Enemies to Lovers Fake Marriage Romance (The Billionaire's Secret Book 6) by R. S. Elliot

Author:R. S. Elliot [Elliot, R. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Sawyer

I found Marcus walking through the gravel path of the hedge maze at the back of the house, barely visible in the evening light but for the glow of the cigarette in his mouth.

He must have heard my footsteps approaching, but he didn’t turn to face me until I was nearly on top of him.

“I haven’t smoked one of these in nine years,” he said, and when he sighed, a silver cloud pushed up and into the sky. “Being here always brings out the worst in me. Don’t tell Ophelia,” he added in a conspiratorial voice he hadn’t earned. “She’ll tell my wife and then I’ll really be in trouble.”

“If you’re having such a hard time,” I said darkly, “you should probably just go home.”

He grinned at me, unoffended and … tired. “I had to see if you’d jump through my old man’s hoops one last time. If you’d answered my calls, I’d have told you it wasn’t worth it.” He waved a hand, dismissing the house, the grounds, everything. “None of this is worth it.”

“This,” I hissed, pointing a finger at the house that he so obviously despised, “is my mother’s home. That’s worth something.”

Marcus looked at me for a long time. “Is that why you married her?” he asked, and his gaze slid past me, back toward the house. I followed his look and realized that I could see Amelia in the dining room through the massive windows. She was smiling at Ophelia, bathed in the golden light of the chandelier.

“I thought,” Marcus said reluctantly, “I thought you were doing it to please Dad.”

I turned back to him, my jaw clenched painfully. “Is that so?”

“It’s all you’ve ever done.”

I bristled, but hadn’t I just admitted that exact thing to Harrison yesterday? Had that been yesterday? It felt like years had passed already. “He was a good man. Why shouldn’t his approval be something to strive for?”

“He was just a man,” Marcus said simply. He dragged at his cigarette, the glow expanding to catch in his eyes, then dying again. “A flawed man with flawed ideals. He thought that if we all did exactly what he told us to do, we’d live happily. But your children, your grandchildren, aren’t supposed to be your puppets.” He shook his head, tapping some loose ash into the gravel. “You’ve always been so independent, Sawyer. From everyone but him. I really hoped you’d realize what he was when you heard what he left you in that stupid will, and what you’d have to compromise to get it. Not because I want any of this. But because you could finally be free.”

“Don’t pretend to know me,” I spat. “If you were so worried about me, you could have told me this at any time. But you didn’t. You left, and you didn’t come back.”

Marcus toed the gravel at his feet, sighing again. He looked older than he had at the reading. Maybe he’d even aged since the start of this conversation.

“You’re right. I didn’t want to have to deal with him.

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