Page 7 of The Reason I Married Him
I blink.
I stare.
Laughter bubbles up out of me. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious,” she says. “It would work out perfectly. You can make a trade, the farmland for their hand in marriage.”
“Laurel.” I reach across the table and take her hand in mine. “You are my favorite person in the world, and we promised eachother to always be honest, especially when one is showing signs of insanity. Well, this is one of those moments. You’re insane.”
“Am I, though?” she asks. “I was going over the will, and you technically only have to be married for a year. You strike up an agreement with one of the sisters—pending one of them is single—offer them the farmland for free in exchange for one year of marriage so you can secure the cabin in your name, make sure all of the paperwork has gone through, and then divorce. What’s a year of someone’s time, really?”
“Uh, a fucking year. Twelve months. Three hundred?—”
“I’m well aware of how many days are in a year,” Laurel says. “Think about it, Wyatt. You don’t care about that land, and something tells me they do. And I’m going to guess they’ll care a whole lot more if you show up and try to take control of the portion that’s yours.”
“Wow.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Law school has truly made you diabolical.”
She chuckles. “It’s part of my job to look at every angle, and this is your best bet. You said you want that cabin. You even told me once that you weren’t sure if you loved Cadance or the cabin more. Are you really going to give it up to Wallace?” She leans in closer and says, “He flicked his rat tail at me.”
I feel my nostrils flare. “Fucking disgusting.”
“I wanted to snip it right off.”
“I’ve spent many hours awake at night envisioning how it would feel to cut it myself.”
“So are you going to let him take the cabin and destroy the thing that matters the most to you? Or will you continue to sleep on my couch and wallow about the love you lost?”
“When you put it like that . . .”
She brings her glass of lemonade to her lips. “Want me to help you pack? Possibly plan out the wedding? Write up aprenup? When you divorce, she takes all of the land and you take the cabin? I’m at your disposal. You just tell me what you need.”
“This is insane,” I say. “I have to think about it.”
“Don’t think about it too long. Wallace is one ring purchase away from taking the cabin right from your grasp.”
Chapter One
AUBREE
“No, stop. Stop hitting him. Please, Dad. Please stop hitting him,” I cry out, catching the grateful look on Ryland’s face when our dad pauses for a moment and then slowly turns his head toward me.
“Do you want me to hit you instead?” The evil in his eyes should scare me at this point, but it doesn’t. It just reminds me of how dead I am inside.
“Don’t touch her,” Ryland shouts and charges toward my dad, but he’s smacked down before he can even get close.
Ryland lies on the floor.Is he unconscious?As Dad walks toward me, I move back toward the corner of the house, my legs quaking under me. With every step, where he draws closer and closer, my stomach churns.
Where’s Cassidy?
She would end this.
She always ends this.
When I bump into the wall, I squeeze my eyes shut, ready for his hand. When I don’t feel it, I look up at his maniacal smile.
“You’re a worthless bitch. You offer nothing to this family other than another mouth to feed.” He shakes his head. “Maybe I should just end you. No one willeverwant you.” His muttered words of, “Ugly bitch,” finish his tirade.His standard.
And then with that, he turns back to Ryland, raises his fist and Ryland’s ear-piercing scream echoes through the house . . .
