Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39300 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39300 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
"And Evernight has some of the biggest stars outside of the country music industry." He snaps his fingers at me. "Think bigger, Dalton!"
I shove a hand through my hair, pulling at the strands, trying to rein in my temper. As a businessman, of course I see the merits of a merger like this. It'd cement both companies at the top of every fucking list there is.
But marriage? Fuck that. That's never been in my future. I don't want it. I'm not looking for it. And I won't be forced into it.
"There doesn't have to be a marriage to merge the companies," I snap, pacing the expensive rug in front of his desk. "You know I can make it happen."
That's not arrogance talking; it's just plain truth. I know how to get shit done, and if I want something badly enough, I don't stop until I get it. And he knows it, too. It's why he put me in charge of the company in the first place.
There's no one more capable of ensuring Grady Records is still thriving decades from now than me. I've dedicated my whole goddamn life to ensuring it. While Lena was at Julliard, I was forging a dynasty meant to endure. The music industry is changing, and we're one step ahead.
Something shifts in my grandfather's expression, there and gone so quickly I can't read it, but I catch enough of it for my hackles to rise. I narrow my eyes, instantly suspicious. "What's that look?"
"Zen Evernight and I have discussed this in depth over the years, Dalton. He's made it very clear that the only way he'll ever agree to consider a merger is if you marry his daughter."
I rock back on my heels, stunned. "You've known about this for fucking years?"
"I knew it was what he wanted. But I didn't agree until recently," my grandfather says, his expression level.
"Jesus Christ," I swear, staring at him in shock.
"The paperwork is already drawn up. If you want the company, you'll marry the girl, Dalton."
My blood turns to ice at the resolute look on his face. He means it.
"Like hell I will," I snarl anyway. There's no fucking way I'm going to be forced into this. I don't care what paperwork they've done or what agreements they've made between them.
The old man holds my gaze, his own hard and unyielding. "Then you lose the company. And she loses everything," he says simply. "Are you really prepared to leave an innocent girl out on the streets because you're too fucking afraid to open your heart to the possibility of love?"
"Don't." I throw up a hand, a muscle ticking in my jaw as my stomach churns. "Don't fucking go there, old man."
"Someone needs to go there with you, kid," he says, and for the first time, I hear the weariness in his raspy voice. See the lines etched deep into his weathered face. "I should've done it a long fucking time ago. Cutting out your heart won't bring your parents back, Dalton. No matter how hard you punish yourself, you can't bring back the dead. If that worked, I wouldn't have grown up without my children. You and Lena wouldn't be orphans."
A heavy sigh gusts out of him as he leans back in his chair, seeming aged in a way he never has before now. "If you want the company, you're marrying the girl. End of story."
"We'll see about that," I growl, already storming for the door. Like hell I'll agree to this insanity. No fucking way. I don't care what he threatens me with. There's no way I'm bowing to his wishes on this. "The company will burn to ash before I agree to this."
"She's exactly what your parents would have wanted for you," he shouts after me. "More than the company or the money in your bank account, they would have wanted happiness and a woman like her. You know they—"
Whatever else he has to say is lost as I slam the heavy oak doors behind me hard enough to rattle the frame. But as I stand in the hall, my chest heaving, I hesitate. The certainty that he's just spouting bullshit to manipulate me wars with one inescapable truth: The old man has never once lied to me.
Marriage and a family of my own are exactly what my parents would have wanted for me.
And I don't deserve either.
Goddamn him.
Goddamn him to hell.
Chapter One
Dalton
Six Weeks Later
"You have a meeting!" my assistant, Jake, shouts down the hall as I stalk toward my office, my head already fucking pounding. I didn't even make it out of the house this morning before my grandfather started his bullshit, demanding to know if I'd signed his insane contract yet.
No. No. Hell no. I haven't signed a fucking thing. As far as I'm concerned, he can shove his contract up his crotchety old ass.