My mouth drops open at his statement. “You had my sister kidnapped and then promised to rescue her if I married you! How is that not a lie?”
Forge’s implacable expression hardens to stone. “De Vere is full of shit. I didn’t have a fucking thing to do with your sister’s kidnapping. You can think I’m the scum of the goddamned earth, but there are lines I refuse to cross. Hurting an innocent for my own gain is one of them.”
I jerk my arm, trying to pull it from his grasp, but it’s immovable. “What about me? I don’t count as an innocent you hurt for your own gain?”
Forge releases his grip on me like I’ve suddenly burst into flames. “Did you, or did you not, bargain with me to secure your sister’s freedom?”
I cross my arms over my chest and grit my teeth. “You already had a plan to get her back before I did! The timing is bullshit, Forge. Tell me you didn’t know she’d been kidnapped when I told you. Tell me you didn’t already have a rescue plan in place. I dare you to lie to my fucking face.”
For long moments, I don’t think he’ll reply, but he finally does.
“I knew she’d been kidnapped before I left for Monte Carlo.”
My jaw drops further at his admission. “See? You lied to me!”
“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell you what I knew, and you didn’t ask.”
“That’s not fair. It’s a lie of omission. You can split hairs all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that you tricked me into marrying you.”
His nostrils flare as he takes a step toward me. “There was no trick. You agreed to a no-questions-asked deal. I told you I would benefit from it. You didn’t ask how or why or when. Did you?”
“I was desperate!” I shout, and my screech echoes off the tile bathroom walls. “I would’ve done anything to save her.”
“That’s right. Anything. You just fucking said it, so stop pretending that I made you do something you weren’t willing to do.”
“Only if you promise me that you didn’t have a fucking thing to do with Summer being taken.” I jab him in the chest with a finger as his gaze smolders with anger.
Forge wraps a hand around my finger and gives it a squeeze. “I swear on the grave of the man who was the closest thing to a father I’ve ever known—I didn’t have a goddamned thing to do with your sister’s kidnapping. I might not be a good guy, but I’m not the fucking devil you want me to be either.”
“Then who did it?” I demand as he releases his grip on me and steps back. “And don’t even think about lying to me. I will tell the whole fucking world my side of the story if you do.”
Forge’s jaw tenses, and I wonder if my threat carries any weight, or if it’s just an annoyance he’ll swat away like a fly. Without meeting my gaze, he replies.
“Your father has enemies.”
The word throbs in my head like a heartbeat. Father. Father. Father. My stomach threatens to revolt.
“I don’t have a father,” I tell him as I rush out of the bathroom, wanting to run away from this discussion that I demanded happen.
“You weren’t the immaculate conception, Indy. You have a father,” Forge says as I march toward another door that I assume hides a closet.
I’m right, and it’s full of men’s clothes. I reach for the first T-shirt I spot and whip off the robe to pull it over my head. My hand brushes the cut on my side, and thankfully, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Once I’m covered, I stomp out of the closet and go back to the bathroom to find my shorts from yesterday.
Forge stands in the bedroom, watching me come and go, but I don’t face him again until I’m fully dressed and the T-shirt is knotted at one hip, like I’m making some kind of fashion statement instead of dressing out of desperation.
“Did you hear what I said?” he asks.
“My mother said he was dead. Why the fuck should I believe you instead?” I turn for the door, but Forge reaches out again to grasp my wrist.
“Did it ever occur to you that she might have lied?”
I spin around to face him. “What reason would she have?”
His flinty gray eyes study my face. I have no idea what he’s looking for, but I know what I’m not getting out of him. Answers.
“I don’t have a father. There’s nothing you can do to make me believe you. I don’t want to hear it.” I tug my arm back and head for the door.
“Your father is the one who told me your sister had been kidnapped. He thinks the kidnappers thought they had you.”
I freeze in place. No. No. No. That’s not possible. While I rage against Forge’s statement in my head, he continues.
“Did you ever give Summer one of your IDs? Did she ever tell you that she uses your name to get into poker games?”
My mouth drops open. No. Fucking. Way.
“She wouldn’t.”
“She has. She did. That’s why they thought she was you.”
I lift a hand to my mouth to cover my shock. As much as I want to scream that he’s lying . . . I know my sister. It sounds exactly like something she would do. When she was sixteen, she swiped my ID to get into clubs and thought I wouldn’t find out. And she never fucking grew up because Alanna and I have coddled her.
I look down at the chipped pink polish on my big toe as I try to process all of this.
“You’re telling me that my sister pretended she was me and got kidnapped by an enemy of some guy who claims to be my father.” It comes out as a statement, not a question, because I already believe him.
“Yes.”
My stomach tumbles like someone tossed it in the spin cycle with the laundry. I turn around slowly and face Forge.
“And this guy just happened to come to you for help?” My voice shakes as I ask the question, because I know I won’t like the answer.
“I’m a businessman. People come to me with requests.”
“That doesn’t tell me a goddamned thing.”
Forge’s gaze narrows on me. “Why should I tell you the truth now when you’re planning on walking out that door in seconds regardless?”
My shoulders hike up around my ears. “I don’t know. So you can fucking sleep at night or look yourself in the mirror?”
“I sleep just fine.”
With my jaw tensing, I take a step toward him. “I’m done playing your game, Forge. I’m out.”
“I’ll make it worth your while to stay.”
I blink twice, like it’s somehow going to help me decide if he just said what I think he did. “You are not seriously trying to negotiate with me right now.”
“I need something from you, and you want something from me. So, yes. This is a negotiation.”
I shake my head and spin around to grab the door handle. “I’m not interested.”
“Would you be interested for a hundred million dollars?”
My hand stills on the knob, and I blink at the wooden panel over and over. Surely, I didn’t hear him right.
“What did you say?” I whisper.
“One hundred million dollars. I’ll deposit it into your bank account in thirty days, and all you have to do is not file for divorce.”
My fingers tingle. As much as my pride wants me to tell him to go to hell, a hundred million dollars is a lot of fucking money . . . and it turns out my pride can be bought.
Never accept the first offer. Play the man, not the game.
Slowly, I turn around and cross my arms over my chest. The T-shirt droops off one shoulder as I stare at the naked man before me.
“We didn’t sign a prenup. If I divorce you, I’ll get a hell of a lot more than a hundred million.”
“We’ve been married for twenty-four hours. No judge is going to give you half of anything. Take the hundred million. It’ll be the easiest money you’ve ever earned.”
Fuck. He’s probably right. A billionaire wouldn’t get married without a prenup, regardless of some potential upside that I still don’t understand, if it could cost him half of everything. That would be stupid, and Forge is anything but. Besides, I don’
t want half his businesses. I want enough cold, hard cash never to have to worry about money for the rest of my life.
I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin. “Fine. But I want two hundred million, and not a penny less.”
16
Forge
It takes everything I have not to smile. She’s fucking magnificent, not to mention opportunistic and ruthless. I approve.
“One fifty,” I counter.
“One seventy-five,” she shoots back.
“Deal.” I step forward and hold out my hand.
Indy’s attention drops to my dick, which is also wide awake and rising to attention. Her gaze darts back to my face.
It’s a good dick day. What can I say?
“Do you always shake on deals over”—she waves her hand toward my cock—“that situation?”
I don’t know how it’s possible, but I lose control of my lips and they curve into a smile. I shouldn’t be surprised. This is what she does to me every damn time I’m around her . . . at least, when I’m not baring my teeth to chase someone else away from what’s mine.
I wait another beat with my hand outstretched. “Rarely is anyone staring at my dick while they’re shaking my hand.”
“So you think.” She forces her attention back to my face, then slides her hand into mine and squeezes it. “I bet there are plenty of people who’ve been dick-struck by the Kraken. But don’t worry, I’ll get over it. In thirty days, it’ll just be one more dick in a long line of dicks I get to experience over the rest of my life.”
My grip tightens around her hand as my smirk fades away, and I yank her closer to me. Indy tries to pull away, but I’m not letting her go yet. Not until she and I are very clear on the claw-like jealousy that grabbed hold of me.
“I’m only going to say this once. Regardless of the circumstances, you’re my wife, and I don’t share. Remember that, or I promise you won’t enjoy the consequences.”
Her blue eyes, now back to normal, widen at my quiet, low words.
“Am I understood?”
“Your hard-on is jabbing into me as you stake your claim on your property. I hear you, Forge. And just so I’m clear—I don’t share either. You touch another woman, and I’ll make sure the Kraken doesn’t live to tell the tale. Not because I’m jealous, though.” She pauses to clarify. “But because I don’t need you making me look like a poor, cheated-on wife before this is all over. I do have a reputation to uphold.”
“Fine. I agree.”
She jerks her hand out of mine and steps back. “There’s one more thing we need to agree on.”
“What?”
“Our story. What we’re going to tell people. How this started. How it ended.”
I study her for a beat before I start with the truth. “I saw you. You fascinated me. I wanted you. You married me because of my . . .” I glance down at my dick. “Charm.”
Indy’s nostrils flare, and I know she wants to argue, but she doesn’t. Probably because she’s saving up to strike another blow.
“Fair enough, as long as we agree that publicly, everyone will know that I’m the one who ended it.”
I narrow my gaze on her, inexplicably annoyed that I have to talk about how this is ending.
Why the fuck do I care? It was always going to end. There was never any other option. I just hadn’t thought about it, and now that I’m getting to know her . . . it’s not a subject I want to discuss.
“We’ll deal with it when the time comes, in a manner that won’t reflect badly on either of us,” I tell her in my most bored businesslike tone.
She lifts her stubborn-as-hell chin. “Fine, but I’m still the one ending it.”
My phone vibrates on the nightstand, saving me from having to respond.
“I believe that’s our cue to meet our guests.”
“What guests?” Panic widens Indy’s eyes.
“I invited your mother and sister to brunch. I’m glad we’ve got our story straight. Keep it vague for Alanna. She doesn’t need to know all the details.”
17
India
I don’t like taking orders from him, especially when he’s naked and I’m clothed. My concentration has been shot to shit, and I can’t stop sneaking peeks at his dick.
Seriously, it should be illegal for a man to be that well-endowed and for a penis to be so attractive. It’s like a lodestone, and I keep losing my train of thought because of the throbbing ache between my legs reminding me exactly how we spent last night.
From now on, I have to keep my legs closed and forget what he’s able to do to my body.
I take back what I thought earlier. It was the drugs. There’s no way he’s really that good at giving orgasms, I tell myself. But then another part of my brain is already volunteering to put it to the test as soon as possible, just to rule out the possibility.
“Do you agree?” Forge says my name, and there’s a hint of a smile in his tone, like he’s reading my mind again.
“Agree?” I ask, having lost the thread of conversation.
“Eyes up here.”
I try to ignore the smirk on his face when I look up. “Put the damn thing away then if you don’t want me to get distracted by it. It would be like me stripping naked and doing jumping jacks, and then yelling at you when you can’t stop watching my tits bounce.”
His smile widens. “I’m willing to try it, just to prove you wrong.”
Wait, did he just wink? Asshole.
“Not happening. And yes, I agree. I’ll tell Alanna whatever will keep her from asking too many questions and still let her leave with warm fuzzies, instead of knowing that I sold myself to the devil to save Summer when you were already bringing her back.”
All levity flees the room at my words.
“You agreed to no questions asked,” Forge says, and I cut him off with a middle finger.
“Just wait until you have to make a deal when you’re desperate enough to agree to no questions asked terms.”
With that, I use my incredible powers of avoidance, and I step around my massive naked husband and head for the door.
“And put some fucking clothes on before you scare everyone with that beast.”
I slam the door behind me, blocking out the laughter that chases me into the hall.
* * *
“We rode in a helicopter! Never in my life did I expect to take a helicopter when a boat would do just as well.”
Alanna’s voice is full of awe and excitement as I hug her, and I let a little of the bitterness that still festers slide away.
“It picked us up right down at the quay,” she says, “and everyone probably assumed we were famous.”
“How was the ride?” I ask.
“Amazing, and he promised to take us on a tour and circle all of Ibiza on our way back.”
I release her from the hug. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”
Her expression turns serious as she looks from me to the sprawling white villa behind me. “Now, are you going to tell me how the hell you ended up married to Jericho Forge when you left on a jet with Bastien de Vere?”
As soon as she says Bastien’s name, I whip around to make sure no one overheard it. “Let’s not talk about him. He’s what you’d call persona non grata here.”
One of Alanna’s silver brows goes up. “I was right. Forge is the jealous type, and when he saw you with Bastien, he realized he wasn’t going to let that spoiled trust-fund brat have you, so he swept in to claim you for himself, and then rescued your baby sister because he couldn’t possibly let the situation stand and cause you duress.” Alanna sounds like she just rattled off the plot to one of the romance novels she devours by the stack every afternoon.
“Yes. Exactly. How did you guess?” I say, my tone bright and cheery.
Her expression turns skeptical as hell. “You expect me to believe that?”
“How about we all pretend that your story is the truth, and someday, a long, long time from now, when I’m a very wealthy divorc�
�e, I’ll tell you what actually happened.”
“I don’t like that plan, and from what I’ve gathered in the last eighteen hours, I have to assume this is somehow Summer’s fault.”
No one could ever accuse Alanna of being slow or dumb, so I should have expected that she would have already interrogated Summer and formed her own conclusions.
I meet Alanna’s familiar gaze and give her as much honesty as I can. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the details, but you know I’ll tell you more when I can.”
She nods in understanding as my sister wanders back from where she dipped a foot in the pool. We both spear her with sharp looks.
“What? What did I do?”
A deep voice replies to her question, much to my surprise.
“Let’s start with you impersonating your sister to get into underground poker games. That won’t be happening again, will it, Ms. Baptiste?” Forge stops in front of the long table set for brunch on the patio, and I watch my sister’s face.
“Please tell me you didn’t.”
“Jesus, great way to make brunch super awkward right out of the gate, brother dearest.” Summer’s tone is heavy on the sarcasm.
“Summer!” Alanna’s tone is sharp with worry. “You told me you were working as an intern at fashion shows.”
My sister tosses her blond hair over her shoulder in one of her signature defensive moves. “It’s not like Indy didn’t break every goddamned rule in the world to get into poker games when she was first starting out.”
I raise my finger, but Forge speaks first.
“This isn’t about Indy. She can do whatever the hell she wants. This is about you, pretending to be someone you’re not, and putting yourself in situations that make your mother and sister worry. You won’t be doing that again, will you, Summer?” Forge faces my sister, and not a single hint of his rigid posture invites argument.
Summer pops her hip and drops a hand on it. “Indy, are you seriously going to let him talk to me like that?”
I pretend to consider it for a moment before nodding like a bobblehead doll. “Yep, sure am. He’s right. You fucked up. And what’s more—you were pretending to be me when you cheated and got caught. Did you even think for one second how that would reflect on my reputation that you were trading on to get into the game?”
Luck of the Devil Page 6