The Favor

“Travis wouldn’t have warned me away from you if he didn’t believe the relationship was real.”

“But he’ll be suspicious when he hears how quickly we got married, especially because it will suit him to think this isn’t the real deal.” Dane tapped his fingers on the top of the sofa. “I’ll hire a crew to help you pack your things so that you’ll be ready to move in this weekend. Then the pressure is off you. All right?”

I gave him a stiff nod and rolled back my shoulders. Shit, everything seemed to be suddenly moving at hyper-speed, and I was struggling to emotionally keep up.

“Wishing you hadn’t gotten yourself into this situation, Vienna?”

I narrowed my eyes at the amusement in his tone. “How did you handle the situation with my ex?”

“The one who tried to blackmail you?”

“Yes. You were delightfully vague when I originally asked.”

He twisted his mouth. “You really want to know?”

“Yes, I do.”

His gaze intense on mine, he stood and crossed to me, stopping on the boundary of my personal space. “I gave him the beating of his fucking life, and I didn’t stop until he told me the location of every copy of that video he made. I erased them all, and I ensured he understood that if he were to bother you ever again in any capacity, the beating he’d just received would be nothing compared to what I’d then do to him.”

I felt my lips part. “You … really?”

His brow lifted. “You’re shocked?”

Well, yeah. I wasn’t surprised that he was capable of such violence, just that he’d been bothered enough by what happened to actually want to hand my ex his ass. Plus … “I wouldn’t have thought you’d chance that he’d try to have you arrested.”

“He wouldn’t have done that for fear that he’d be reported for making the video and trying to blackmail you. And if he had called the police, it wouldn’t have gotten him anywhere—I’d have had an airtight alibi.”

Oh, I didn’t doubt it. The ruthless shit always had his bases covered.

He checked his watch. “We’ll need to leave for the conference soon.”

“First, I’ll need to tell my family that you proposed.”

His brows knitted together. “It can’t wait until later?”

“I wouldn’t have waited if this were real. I would have wanted to share my excitement with them.”

“All right. Get it done.”

“They’re going to ask if we’ve set a date for the wedding. So will anyone who sees this ring.”

“We’ll just say we haven’t finalized anything yet.”

I nabbed my phone from my purse, intending to tell Simon first. I bit my lip, a little nervous of how he’d take the news. He liked Dane, so it would probably be fine. The alters would warn me if there was a problem.

I snapped a picture of the ring and texted it to Simon, adding the comment: Look what Dane slipped on my finger while I was sleeping—he won’t let me take it off.

Simon called me mere seconds later, excited and full of questions. I put him on speakerphone so that he could pass on his congratulations to Dane, who thanked him and assured him that, yes, he did in fact know he was a lucky man. It took everything I had not to snort.

After I sent the same message to Melinda, Dane and I then had pretty much the same phone conversation with her and Wyatt. The process was then repeated with Ashley, who was at work so kept it short. I also passed the news on to Hanna, who squealed over the phone.

I then posted the picture on both mine and Dane’s personal social media accounts—it was part of my job to manage his. I didn’t wait to read people’s comments. I simply returned my phone to my purse. “There. Done. It won’t be long before your family starts calling to either complain or pass on their congratulations.”

Blowing out a long breath, I rubbed my chest. My heart felt heavy. My family and friends were so happy for me, so supportive and excited … and I was lying through my wisdom teeth. They didn’t deserve the deception. It made me feel like one sorry piece of shit, but I kept the guilt from showing on my face, not wanting to—

“You’ve no reason to feel guilty, Vienna.”

But I did need to be concerned that I was in the presence of a fucking warlock.

“If your family knew all the details, if they understood why you owed me a favor and why you had to lie to them, they’d get it. But they can’t know. No one can.”

“I know. And they probably would understand. That doesn’t make me feel any better about deceiving them.” But I didn’t expect him to get that. It was abundantly clear that he felt no such guilt for fooling his own family.