Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I let my gaze move around the room, taking in the cherry wood credenza and matching desk. The floor to ceiling bookcases and the classic design of the room. You would think the room would be weighed down by all the wood, but somehow, it’s not. I guess that’s why professional designers make the big bucks. I hired one for my office, but I just realized that it’s done in black and silver. There’s nothing warm about it—unlike Maxwell’s. I don’t know why the designer chose the materials and colors she did. Maybe she decided my heart was black and wanted my office to match. She’s not wrong, which is why it’s still hard for me to believe that this man wants me to marry his daughter.
“I think my question here is if you’re sure this is what you want. You know me. Your daughter is—”
“I’ve told you this before. I’m going to say it once more. You are exactly the kind of man that I want for my Emilia.”
“Damn it, Maxwell, I’m almost double her age. Emilia deserves a younger man who the world hasn’t turned jaded and cold.”
“She lives in our world, Niko. A softer man would get them both killed. You know that as well as I do,” he counters.
I sigh, rubbing above my right eyebrow with the pads of two of my fingers, feeling the tension there and not sure how to stop it from gathering. I made the choice to do this, but that still doesn’t mean I truly believe it was a good decision.
“Okay, then she at least deserves someone who won’t be in diapers while she’s in the prime of her life.”
“I was fourteen years older than Emilia’s mother and she died way before her time. These things don’t matter, Niko.”
“I don’t want Emilia to know. I think we should keep it from her for a couple of years—or at least as long as we can.”
“Why on earth would we do that?”
“Emilia is a child, Maxwell. She’s yet to go on a date and go to school dances or whatever it is normal people do. I don’t want to rob her of that. It will just give her a reason to resent me more than she will already.”
“Why would she resent you? I don’t think you understand my daughter. She’s not like that. She will—”
“Be happy to be married off to a man she doesn’t know? A man she didn’t fall in love with and has no capacity for love himself? You’re fooling yourself, Maxwell. Girls dream of that love shit. They’re all about the hearts and flowers. I know shit about relationships and even I know that.”
“What if my Emilia surprises you, Niko? What will you do then?”
“I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to surprise me at this point.”
“Emilia just might make you love her.”
His words do make me laugh now. I’ve never heard anything so absurd. “I never knew you were a dreamer, Maxwell.”
“One day you’ll be forced to admit I’m right, Niko. We’ll share a drink of my best scotch, and you will tell me how I was right all along.”
“I’ll look forward to that day.”
“Me, too—”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “But it’s never going to happen.”
He gets up and comes around his desk and leans against the desk beside me, facing me. He claps his hand down on my shoulder. “You’ll see. This is going to work out. You’ll be thanking me, son.”
“We’re not telling Emilia—not yet. Agreed?”
“I must admit that I’m not happy about that. I’d rather tell my daughter now. Still, if this is what you want…”
“It is,” I assure him.
“Then, I will hold off telling her for a while. I will tell you, though, if our silence will allow Dante to get brave once again, I’m stepping in and telling her. I won’t have that snake slithering back to hurt my daughter.”
“Fair enough. As wrong as I think I am for Emilia, I believe whole-heartedly that Dante would irreparably hurt Emilia.”
“On that, we’re in complete agreement.”
“Then, we let Emilia live her life. We’ll hold off our announcement for as long as possible and let her enjoy being young before we force her to grow up.”
“For someone you say you don’t care about, you are being very methodical in the handling of her. It’s almost as if you are worrying over her wellbeing…”
“Emilia is something rare in our world, Maxwell.”
“What’s that?” he asks, and I sigh.
“She’s completely innocent.”
He nods. “I’ll make sure her bodyguards are kept close.”
“I’m going to stay away from her for a while.”
“What on earth for?”
I look at Maxwell and decide to lay my cards on the table. That’s not something that comes naturally to me, but it is how I’ve always dealt with him. Full disclosure.