Page 7 of Deserving Maisy
But she knew that wasn’t enough to excuse his behavior toward her. Not in the least.
And here she was, a grown-ass adult, living under Jason’s thumb.
In her defense, Jason wasn’t the kind of man you defied. She’d learned that well over the years. But kidnapping a stranger to force him to marry her, just to get access to her inheritance…it was unbelievably crazy. The monthly stipend she received was generous. It went straight into Jason’s account and was more than enough for most people to live on comfortably. But now that he’d blown through his own inheritance, his greed had obviously gotten the better of him.
She hadn’t been around Jack more than an hour or two, but she already had a feeling he wouldn’t be fooled by any of her brother’s stories, not for long. It was only a matter of time before he figured out that something was very wrong. It was possible he’d get his memory back too. And when he did, he’d be gone so fast it would make her head spin.
Which was the main reason Jason wanted them married so quickly. It didn’t matter if he left…as long as they were married for at least three months, her inheritance would be released.
But in the back of her mind, Maisy knew that Jason had no intention of ever letting Jack go. If he was dead, he couldn’t go to the cops with any accusations that he’d been kidnapped and forced to marry a stranger.
“Right, so what else do I need to figure out for you?” Jason sneered.
Maisy didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want to be having this conversation, but she did need help. She wasn’t good at lying. Never had been. “What do I tell him he does for a living? He’s bound to ask. Wonder if he has any work friends he should invite to the ceremony this weekend.”
“Hmmm,” Jason mused. Then he snapped his fingers. “Bounty hunter.”
“What?”
“Bounty hunter,” he repeated. “They’re loners. He never got too close to anyone because in his profession, that wouldn’t be smart. And you were a stay-at-home-wife. It’s not like you can do much of anything, anyway.”
His barb hit its mark. Jason always complained that she did nothing but sit around the house, but it wasn’t as if she’d been given the opportunity to do anything else. Having a job meant possibly making friends, and that wouldn’t do. It would mean people asking questions about why an almost-thirty-year-old woman was still living with her older brother.
And that was a good question. Over the years, her brother had done a great job of convincing her—and others—that she was fragile. And when necessary, he used drugs to keep her from caring too much about what was going on around her. But when he’d stopped insisting she take her pills every morning, her newfound clarity came not only with suspicions about her brother, but also a glaring truth…
She was ashamed of herself.
She should’ve left long before now. Should’ve gone to the police the second she had suspicions about her sister-in-law and her parents. But she didn’t have access to her money, had no friends to help her, and while she was closeto the staff in the house, especially Paige, she refused to put them in danger by enlisting their help to escape.
And now there was Jack. Maisy knew without a doubt if she didn’t go along with the scheme her brother had come up with,Jackwould pay the price. And if she did anything right in the world, it would be to protect the innocent stranger upstairs in her bed.
Jason continued giving her answers to questions that Jack would inevitably ask. And while on the outside it looked as if Maisy was listening, her mind frantically wandered. She couldn’t pull this off for three months. There was no way.
But the ugly truth was, she only had to string Jack along until his signature was on a marriage license.
During a lull in the ridiculous stories Jason was spewing, Maisy blurted, “How would this have worked if he didn’t have amnesia?” She couldn’t stop thinking about that. It wasn’t as if people actually had shotgun weddings anymore, and if someone had kidnappedherand told her that she had to marry someone, she would’ve laughed in their face.
“I was going to give him one chance to do as I asked,” Jason told her with a straight face. “If he refused, I would’ve had to use more drastic measures to convince him.”
“Like what?” Maisy reluctantly asked when he paused.
Jason grinned. “It’s not like you needallyour fingers.”
Maisy stared at him in shock.
Her brother laughed.Laughed.
Yes, she was an idiot for giving him the benefit of the doubt for so long.
“If that didn’t work…” He shrugged. “Having the barrel ofa gun pressed against your temple goes a long way toward making someone see the benefits of signing their name on a piece of paper.”
Maisy felt sick. She couldn’t believe she was related to this man. Someone who was so ruthless and coldhearted.
“All we need is his signature on that marriage certificate. After that…” He stared at Maisy for a long moment. “You need to keep him compliant. If he suspects what’s happening, it won’t end well for him.”
Maisy swallowed hard and nodded.
“Good. Now get out. You’re making my head hurt.”
