Darius felt a twist in his gut. Like...guilt? No. He rushed to justify his actions. All right, so Spencer had encouraged him and paid for his schooling. Using stolen money from his Ponzi sc
heme!
“Yes, a good kid,” Howard continued gruffly. “But stubborn, with all that stiff-necked Greek pride. Always had to do everything yourself. Letty was the only one you really let help you with anything. And even then, you always thought you had to be in charge. You never recognized her strength.”
“Your point?” Darius said coldly.
He heard the other man take a deep breath.
“Take good care of my daughter,” he said quietly. “Both Letty and my grandchild. I know you will. That’s the only reason I’m letting them go.”
The line abruptly cut off.
“What did he say?” Letty’s miserable face came into view.
“He said...” Darius stared down in amazement at the phone in his hand.
He ground his teeth. Damn the old man. Taking the high road. He must be playing the long game. Trusting that Letty would wear him down after their wedding and make him relent. Make him forgive.
But Darius would never forgive. He’d die before he let that man worm his way back into their lives.
“Tell me what he said,” Letty pleaded.
He turned to her with an ironic smile. “He gave our marriage his blessing.”
Her shoulders slumped.
“That’s what he said to me, too,” she whispered.
So his theory was correct. Clever bastard, he thought grudgingly. He really knew how to pull his daughter’s heartstrings.
But Howard Spencer had finally met someone he couldn’t manipulate. The old man would end his days alone, in that tiny run-down apartment, with no one to love him. Just as he deserved.
While they—they would live happily ever after.
Darius looked at Letty tenderly.
After their marriage, after she was legally his forever, she would come to despise her father as Darius did. At the very least, she would forget and let him go.
She would love only Darius, be loyal only to him.
He wouldn’t love her back, of course. The childish illusion that love could be anything but pain had been burned out of him permanently. But love was still magic to Letty, and he realized now it was the only way to bind her and make her happy in their marriage. For the sake of their children, he had to make her love him.
This was just the beginning.
“You did the right thing,” Darius murmured. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head, relishing the feel of her body against his, the crush of her full breasts and her belly rounded with his child. “You’ll never regret it.”
“I regret it already.”
Leaning forward, he kissed the tears off her cheeks. He kissed her forehead, then her eyelids. He felt her shudder and pulled her fully into his arms. He whispered, “Let me comfort you.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, gripping her smaller body to his own, and kissed her passionately. A sigh came from her throat as she wrapped her arms around him. He opened the belt of her robe and ran his hands down her naked body. Then with a large sweep of his arm, he knocked all the dishes to the floor with a noisy clatter.
Lifting his future bride up onto the countertop, Darius did what he’d wanted to do for the last hour. He made love to her until she wept. Tears of joy, he told himself. Just tears of joy.
* * *
Letty had never been the sort of girl to dream about weddings. At least not since she was eighteen, when her one attempt at elopement had ended so badly.