“All right.” I swallowed a breath. “Then make Royce your proxy.”
My attention was locked onto Macalister, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Royce straighten with surprise.
“No,” Macalister said simply, as if overruling me were that easy. “I’m not relinquishing my vote.”
I saw everything in his eyes. As chairman, he felt this was his God-given right. I was owed to him. He was willing to pay five million dollars for my participation, and he wasn’t going to give up control. But had he forgotten what he’d told me?
“I won’t sign this unless you do.”
He leaned down and uttered it with condescension. “Then you’ll leave here with nothing.”
“If I walk out of here, we both lose. You’ll have to tell your guests that Royce’s promotion has been postponed.”
Macalister let go of me and stared down, evaluating to see if this were a bluff.
It wasn’t.
I’d put up with a lot, but this was my limit. Besides, the past month had shown me how important this was to him. He wouldn’t give up a hundred years of tradition and look like a fool, just because he’d been asked to step aside.
He needed me as much as I needed his money.
It was a gamble because it might piss him off, but I went in for the kill. “Who’s in control?”
A range of emotions flitted across his expression. Disbelief. Anger. Frustration. But the last one was harder to place. Begrudging respect?
He seethed as he said it. “You are.” He tacked the final word on, and I didn’t miss the danger that lurked in it. “Tonight.”
I wanted to look at Royce and see his reaction but didn’t dare risk it. Macalister was deep in thought, considering his next move.
Finally, he spoke. “If I do this, I’m not giving my vote to Royce for nothing.”
It terrified me to ask. What did I have to offer that was of any value to him? “What do you want?”
“You need to understand something. There are only two things in this world that are important to me. My family and my company.”
I understood that perfectly, although I’d argue he had them in the wrong order.
“It would reflect badly on all of us if Royce’s marriage were to fail.” He delivered the statement as merely an observation and not the implied threat it really was. “It’s best we figure that out before the vows, don’t you agree?”
I wasn’t going to like where he was heading. “Of course.”
“It will take at least a year to plan the wedding, and you’ll want to finish your degree beforehand.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll use that time to see how compatible you two are long-term.” The faintest of smiles curled on his lips. “We’ll make arrangements to have your things brought to the house. You’ll have your own room, of course.”
The shocked word tumbled from my mouth. “What?”
His tone was plain. “You’ll move in next week. It will give you more time with Royce and make you more accessible to Alice for the wedding planning. It’s a shorter commute to Etonsons.”
“No.” It was a knee-jerk reaction.
Macalister lifted an eyebrow. “When you’re married, you will live here. I don’t see the point in delaying it.”
It was difficult to decide which idea scared me the most. Being trapped under the same roof as him, or that I couldn’t figure out his true agenda. Was he asking for this just because he knew I wouldn’t want it? Or was it another way for him to have control of Royce and me?
“I’m not ready.” I needed to be home with my family to help with the finances, but moreover, I needed to have a place to escape the Hales. I couldn’t catch my breath, and the plea came out shallow. “Please, Macalister.”
It was the first time I’d ever addressed him by his name, and I tightened, unsure how he’d react. His eyes widened and his lips parted to draw in a deep breath. He was off-kilter for a single moment, before his handsome face hardened. “I want to be clear. Royce will act on my behalf, but I will still oversee the initiation. In exchange, you will live here. That’s my offer.”
Like last time I’d negotiated with him, neither of us seemed happy.
“Do you agree?” he asked.
Was I trading one brief encounter with him tonight, only to give him a lifetime of more?
I clumsily uncapped the pen, and it took more than one attempt to rest the cap on the other side of it. Even though this wasn’t a contract, and I could walk away after signing, there was a terrible finality to putting the ink on the paper. It was a stain that couldn’t be washed away.
I couldn’t stand not to look at Royce one more time.
He’d retreated so far inside himself I barely recognized the man I’d discovered hidden inside. There was only a flicker of him now, lurking in his eyes.