Zoe
I barely remember what I told my grandmother. I’d muttered something about how it was probably a mistake, and I’d promised to call and straighten it out in the morning.
Thankfully, my grandmother had been so shocked seeing the amount that was owed that she hadn’t read the bill in any detail. The secret of my marriage was safe.
My head spun. How could this have happened? I’d paid the two hundred thousand we owed. Where did this additional eighty-three thousand dollars come from, and how could I find so much money in eleven days?
You could ask Ryder.
As soon as that thought suggested itself, I shook it away. I’d made my deal. I’d asked for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and college tuition. With the money, I’d paid the city, and I’d hired a contractor to make some much-needed repairs on the house. New roof and waterproofing in the basement. Necessary structural stuff.
There was just the tuition money left, but it had been earmarked for college. Would Ryder be willing to give me that money right away?
I didn’t know. Yes, we’d formed a bond in the last month. But just this evening, he’d been raging against people who went back on their word. And here I was, about to do the same thing.
He’d help if you asked him.
Maybe he would, and maybe he wouldn’t. We came from different worlds. Women wanted him for his money, and he was wary about being used. And I’d be doing the same thing, wouldn’t I?
You could try trusting him.
I didn’t want Ryder for his money. Yes, I wasn’t going to lie and pretend that money wasn’t nice, but that wasn’t why I’d fallen in love with him.
I’d fallen in love with Ryder because of his thoughtfulness. When I was tired, Ryder was there to pour me a glass of wine and give me a back massage. When I was sick, Ryder hovered at my side, fetching me soup and tissues and cough syrup without grumbling.
Asking him for money was a risk. A big risk. Possibly a marriage-ending risk.
But it was a risk I had to take.
21
Ryder
When I’d pushed the council for a vote, I’d been confident we had enough supporters to get Drake Towers approved.
The morning before the vote, I sat down with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table and opened the Toronto Star, and things fell apart. On the front page, there was a picture of the proposed Drake Towers project, with a headline that blared a damning message.
THERE’S NO PARK!
I hastily read the article. The Star had managed to get their hands on pictures of the plan that Steve Sinclair had created. The ones I’d rejected. And when they’d seen the pitiful park proposal, they had jumped to conclusions.
Except no one outside of the small team working on Drake Towers had even seen those plans. No one even knew what Steve had proposed. Who had leaked the plans to the paper?
Then I read a passage in the article, and my heart stopped.
Mr. Brad Wexley, chair of the ‘Concerned Citizens Against Drake Towers’ group, provided us the plans of the Drake Towers park plan. “I got them from a source close to Ryder Drake himself,” he said. “It’s such a shame, really. When Ryder Drake promised the mayor that their design would include a park, we had hoped that his words were in good faith. But as this plan demonstrates, his words were a lie. This isn’t a park. This is a sidewalk.”
A source close to Ryder Drake himself.
Someone Brad Wexley knew.
Someone who hadn’t wanted Drake Towers built. Someone who had stood up in front of city hall and had argued for a park and a playground.
Zoe.
My mind raced to the damning conclusion. She’d never visited me at work before, but she had last night. She’d told me to think of naughty fantasies; she’d suggested sex. And when I got up to wash up after we’d made love, she’d been left alone in my office.
She’d held her phone in her hand. At the time, I’d thought she looked upset. Now, I realized that she wasn’t upset. She was afraid of being caught taking photos of the plans.
My heart ached and my vision blurred. My body slanted backward, and I stared down at the paper, unseeing, my coffee growing cold beside me.
Last night, when I’d come back home and seen her curled up in our bed, fast asleep, my heart had stuttered, and my throat had grown dry. Looking at her, I’d felt my emotions swell, and I’d wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go.
Last night, I discovered that I'd fallen in love with her.
This morning, I realized what a fool I’d been.
My wife had been playing me all along, from the day we’d met. She was friends with Brad Wexley. Everything had been part of a plan to stop Drake Towers from being built. I should have known that from the start.
I’d deliberately blinded myself to the truth.
And because of my foolishness, my project was going to fail.
22
Ryder
Zoe came downstairs fifteen minutes later, and by then, my rage had hardened into an icy steel.
“You’re up early,” she commented as she poured herself a cup of coffee. I might have been imagining it, but her tone was strained, and she refused to meet my gaze.
Had today been a normal day, we’d have both sat at the kitchen table and eaten breakfast together. She didn’t sit though. She hung by the coffee maker, her shoulders stiff. Maybe she was waiting for me to reply. I didn’t care.
A long pause followed, then Zoe turned, and I caught a proper look at her for the first time. There were dark circles around her eyes, and she looked tired and stressed. Satisfaction warred with concern inside me, and I forced the concern back. Zoe had made her own bed.
“Ryder?” Her voice was hesitant. “Listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“What an understatement.” I spoke for the first time since she’d entered the room. “Don’t bother confessing, Zoe. I already know what you did. And whatever explanation you have, I don’t want to hear it.” I pushed the paper toward her.
Her eyes flickered over the headline, then she gasped. Bitterness filled me. My wife was a very good actress.
“How?” she started to ask, but I’d had enough. I didn’t want to hear her pretend; I didn’t want to listen to her lies. I just wanted her gone.
I wanted nothing to do with her.
“Zoe.” I held up my hand. “You fooled me once. But please, try not to insult my intelligence with some sob story about how Brad forced you to do this.” I laughed humorlessly. I’d been such a fool. “It was all a ploy, wasn’t it? Showing up to the party, kissing me. Pretending your house was at risk. I was so convinced, so taken in by you that I didn’t even investigate your story.” I shook my head.
“Ryder,” Zoe whispered, a tremble in her voice. “I didn’t do this.”
“Shut up, Zoe,” I snapped and regretted it instantly when her face paled. I shut my eyes so I didn’t have to see her face. “Brad Wexley wants to win at all costs, and evidently, so do you.”
“Brad wants to win at all costs?” There was an angry tremor in her voice. “You of all people should recognize that feeling, Ryder. After all, you’re exactly the same.”
“Except I’m not capable of using sex to get what I want, and you are, aren’t you, Zoe?” I ran my hands through my hair. “God, I can’t believe I fell for that bullshit. Tell me your fantasies, Ryder, and I’ll make them come true. I should have known it was too good to be true.”
Her eyes swam with tears. “Ryder,” she tried one more time, “please. I haven’t seen Brad in months, not since before we got married. You have to believe me…” She brushed her tears away with the back of her hand, causing her mascara to streak. She didn’t notice.
I couldn’t look at her. “Just go, Zoe. You got two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and you made a fool out of me. What else do you want?”
She was quiet for a long time. Finally, she raised her tear-filled eyes at me and swallowed hard. “I love you, Ryder.”
/> I couldn’t take it. Yesterday, I would have given everything to hear her say those words. I brushed past her. “I want you gone by the time I get out of the shower,” I said flatly, my voice cold as I headed upstairs, willing myself not to turn back and look at Zoe.
Nothing had been real, I repeated to myself, clinging to my anger like a beloved blanket.
When I came back downstairs, she was gone.
All that was left of my marriage were the two rings she’d left behind on the table. One yellow diamond engagement ring, and a solid gold wedding band.
And a jagged, gaping gash in my heart.
23
Zoe
I spent most of the next twenty-four hours in tears, hiding in my room at my grandmother’s house. Failure pressed down on me, the weight unable to bear. I’d entered a marriage of convenience with Ryder Drake in order to save our house, and I’d failed. I’d warned myself to remain self-sufficient, and I’d failed. I’d told myself it would be the height of folly to fall in love with Ryder, and I’d done it anyway.
And worse, I’d told him. Even when he stood there hurling word after cruel word in my direction, all I could think of was how much I loved him.
I’d been better off alone. The weight of the debt had pressed down on me, but it had been a dull, suffocating kind of pain. Not this sharp, searing agony.
Before Ryder, I’d been able to function. Now, I was a wreck.
“Zoe, honey.” My grandmother stood in the doorway of my room, worry etched in sharp lines on her face. “I brought you some hot chocolate.”
At those words, so familiar to me from my childhood, fresh tears threatened. Hot chocolate was my grandmother’s solution to everything. Kids teased me at school for my worn-out clothing? A welcoming cup of hot chocolate waited. When I fell during soccer and scraped my knee, a mug of the steaming treat was my reward for being brave.
I reached for the drink, and my grandmother entered the room and sat next to me on the bed, pulling my head on her shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it, dear?”
Not really. “Ryder and I broke up.”
“I guessed as much.” Her gaze dropped to my left hand. My bare left hand. “What happened?”
I’d hidden the truth for so long. Not just the truth about my marriage. I’d concealed the amount of money we owed and the desperation of our situation, and I’d counted on my grandmother’s confusion with finances to keep her in the dark.
For the first time, I regretted my decision. Yes, my grandmother wasn’t good with numbers, but I shouldn’t have used that as a reason to lie to her. Because of my desire to spare her from the truth, the news that she was going to lose her house was going to come entirely as a shock. In nine days, the city was going to take her house away, and she’d had no time to prepare herself for it.
So I told her everything. The entire truth. The property tax balance. The city’s final ultimatum. The money that Ryder had given me in exchange for my cooperation. And the last insult, the extra eighty-three thousand dollars, which a bored-sounding clerk in the tax office had told me was a penalty for late payment. “They’re going to auction the house,” I gulped.
“And we need to leave in nine days.”
I shot her a surprised look, and her lips twisted in a wry smile. “Numbers might scare me, Zoe, but I can read,” she said, a mild rebuke in her tone.
“I’m sorry.” My voice was subdued. “I thought I could scrimp and save and pay it off before this happened.”
Her fingers stroked my hair. “Is that what you and Ryder fought about? Money?”
“No. There was an article in the paper about his project, and he thought I’d leaked the details to the media.” Even saying those words caused a pang in my heart. We’d been getting so close, but it had all been built on a false foundation. He didn’t trust me at all. He thought I was Brad’s mole. Brad, who I hadn’t even seen for the last six weeks.
That wasn’t the only thing that upset me. When I’d seen the pictures in the paper, I’d felt doubly betrayed. Ryder had promised the city a park after my impassioned speech, and I’d been so naive that I’d believed him. But the plans leaked to the Star told a very different story. The supposed park was no wider than the average city sidewalk. A mere strip of grass. No playground equipment, no benches, nothing. It was all a farce.
“Oh dear.” My grandmother sounded distressed as she absorbed my words. She liked Ryder.
“Yeah. Sucks, right?”
“Drink your hot chocolate.”
My lips twitched despite my misery. “Yes, grandma,” I said meekly.
“And we’ll make plans tomorrow.” She smiled at me. “I’ve lived in this house all my life. A change might be… nice.”
She was lying to make me feel better, and I loved her for it. And she was right. I couldn’t afford to crumble and wilt. Tomorrow, I’d pull myself together, beg my old employers for a job, and start scouring the internet for a place to live.
Tomorrow.
Today, my heart was still heavy, and my head ached from all the tears I’d shed.
Love really sucked.
24
Ryder
All I could see in my mind’s eye was Zoe’s tear-streaked face. All I could hear was her soft whisper. Ryder, I love you.
I might as well not have gone into work; I was so distracted. But I had to. The Star article had been timed to maximize the impact of the revelation before tomorrow’s city council vote. Every Councilor who had supported us would be getting phone calls and emails from their constituents. I had to act to counter that.
Paige was already at her desk when I got in. “I have bad news,” she said bluntly, as soon as she saw me.
I moved to her coffee station to pour myself another cup. “I’ve already seen the Star.” My voice was bitter. “Can you schedule a meeting with Laurel, Steve, and Manny? We’ve got to come up with a plan of attack.”
“That’s just it.” She took a deep breath. “I wasn’t talking about the Star article. Steve came in after hours last night and cleared out his desk. He left this.” She handed me a sealed envelope. “It was addressed to you.”
I took it from her, tore it open and scanned the contents. “A letter of resignation,” I said aloud. “Effective immediately.”
A horrible suspicion filled me that I’d jumped to conclusions and made a terrible mistake. The timing of Steve’s resignation couldn’t be a coincidence. And Brad Wexley was very effective at recruiting allies. At the town hall meeting, I thought he was in cahoots with Bianca Russo. Steve Sinclair had been disgruntled ever since I insisted he take the park and playground seriously. If Wexley had approached Steve, would he have given him a copy of the old plans, knowing that their disclosure would embarrass Drake & Partners?
I had an uneasy feeling that the answer was yes. Sneaking out in the middle of the night, resigning without giving proper notice? These were not the actions of an innocent man.
“Find out who hired Steve,” I snapped at Paige.
“I’m on it.”
“And get Manny and Laurel here.”
“They’re on their way up.” Her phone rang, and she picked it up. “Ryder Drake’s office,” she said. “Can I help you?”
I watched her face tense as she listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying. “Yes, Ms. Russo,” she said, “I’ll put you through to Mr. Drake right away.”
I massaged my temples. This was undoubtedly about the Star article. I needed my A-game for this conversation with Bianca Russo, and after this morning, I definitely didn’t have it. “I’ll take it in my office,” I muttered moodily to Paige.
Fuck me. I wanted to wake up right now in my bed, Zoe curled up next to me, her breathing soft and even. I wanted nothing more for all of this to be a nightmare.
But if it was a nightmare, there was no sign of it ending.
“Bianca.” I sat in my chair and leaned back, trying and failing to forget that last night, I’d bent Zoe over my desk,
spanking her and fingering her until she’d come with a loud, uncontrolled moan. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the Star article.”
“I have.” Her voice was crisp. “I also know you’re not a fool, Ryder, and I know you want to see Drake Towers built.”
“I do.” Where was this conversation leading?
“The plan that was in the Star this morning, is that your actual proposal?”
Bianca had never been stupid. Her question was right on point. “No, of course not.”
“I know you think I’m on the fence about your project,” she said candidly. “I’m not. The construction will be in my ward. The developers will need to hire workers. All the millionaires who will eventually take up residence in Drake Towers will need grocery stores, restaurants, dry-cleaning, dog-walking, whatever. I know the project will create employment for my constituents. I’d be foolish to disregard that.” She paused. “The same way you’d be foolish to do anything other than to deliver exactly what you promised. A park and a playground.”
There it was. The velvet glove. If I played fair, then so would Bianca. “I appreciate that you called,” I said carefully. “And I’m grateful for your guidance.”
“That’s not why I called,” she said.
It wasn’t? “Oh?” I couldn’t hide the note of surprise from my voice.
“No. I called because I was browsing through some paperwork on my desk and came across something interesting.” She paused meaningfully. “Did you know your wife’s grandmother’s house is being seized by the city for non-payment of taxes next week?” There was a rebuke in her voice. “I have to say, I’m surprised, Ryder. I’d expected you to take care of your own.”
“What?” My heart thudded in my chest. “There really was a property tax issue?”
Temporary Wife : A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance Page 9