Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

“Next week,” I said, giving her time to get ready.

“Promise?”

I nodded. “I promise.”

She left, and I went to work cleaning out my desk, making lists of projects she’d need to get to first thing after becoming acting mayor, and dodging the call from my lawyer.

30

Brooke

I’d felt miserable many times in my life. But now, I was in the pit of despair. It was bad enough that my father had confiscated my phone and made me take the week off from work. I felt like I was a teenager, and a part of me wondered why I didn’t ignore him and do what I really wanted, which was to see Mo. I didn’t because I knew Mo worried about being exposed, and the only way to keep my father quiet was to do what he asked.

A few days into my father’s grounding, I wondered if Mo had called or texted. Did he feel abandoned by me? Maybe he felt relief. He’d been resistant to a relationship with me. Maybe this was a welcome turn of circumstance.

Needing air, I went out onto the front porch. I thought about calling Tucker, but I didn’t want him to think he moved here to spend all his time listening to me cry and whine. I checked my watch, noting my father would be back from mending fences soon. He’d be hungry, but I didn’t have the energy to make him dinner. Dust kicking up on the drive made me look up. My heart leaped as the hope it was Mo bloomed. Maybe he was coming to confess his love and whisk me away.

As the vehicle drew closer, I realized it wasn’t him, and my heart went back to it’s shattered state. The SUV parked in front of the house, and Sinclair exited. Her gaze looked at me from over the car, and in it, I saw anger. I tried to think about what project I’d been working on that left her in a lurch by not showing up for work.

I stood to greet her.

She strode toward me. “You are a terrible person, Brooke Campbell!”

I swallowed, shocked at her hatred toward me. “What?”

“You’re a conniving, thieving bitch.”

I staggered back and sank into my chair.

“Was that your plan the whole time? Seduce Mo and steal his money.”

“I…I didn’t,” I stuttered.

“Oh? That’s not how he tells it. He says he married you, gave you his trust and his love, and how do you repay him? You walk away with his money, leaving him in financial ruin. How does that not make you a conniving, thieving bitch? Does your daddy know you slept with him to get his money?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. I mean, yes, I did sleep with him, but how she was characterizing the situation was all wrong. Was that how Mo saw it? He certainly could.

“Sinclair?” My father’s voice came from the side as he walked toward the house. “It is. Sinclair, how are you?”

She turned to look at him, and he stopped short when he saw her expression. “I’m pissed, Frank. Your daughter used Mo—”

Immediately his eyes darkened. “He took advantage of my little girl.”

“Did you not agree to the marriage so you could save your farm?” Sinclair challenged him.

“It was an arrangement.”

“So, you sold your daughter to—”

“It wasn’t like that,” he spat. “Mo was my friend, who seduced and ruined my daughter.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Dad. I’m not a child. He didn’t seduce me. I told you, it was me.” I was getting tired of his broken-record insistence that Mo ruined me.

Sinclair whirled on me. “So, you admit you seduced him for his money?”

“No. I mean, I did seduce him, but not for his money.”

“And yet, you got his money and then left him. Now he’s going to lose everything,” she said.