Page 51 of An Inevitable Marriage

Well, everything that mattered at the time.

Only now did I realize I wanted to learn more about the little things I’d missed. Opening the folder, I scanned the pages until I found what I was searching for.

According to Tristan’s research, Snow had studied event planning and had landed a job at Eventique right after graduation. I stopped reading. Why did that name sound so familiar? I couldn’t place it immediately, so I scribbled it on a piece of paper for later and went back to reading.

Apparently, Snow had an immaculate record until a “stapler incident” almost six weeks ago. A smile touched my lips as I thought about my pretty Snow furious enough to throw a stapler across the room.

As intriguing as it was, I couldn’t fathom what the hell I had to do with it.

I was no closer to figuring it out when my phone rang. Caller ID showed Tristan’s name.

I grinned. “You’re getting lazy. This background check has some serious holes in it.”

“Well, hello to you, too, sunshine.” Tristan chuckled into the phone.

Clicking on the speaker button, I tossed the phone on my desk. “Piss off.”

More chuckling. “That’s what you did last night. Where’d you go, man?”

“What are you talking about?”

I knew exactly what he was referring to, but how the hell could I tell him I’d left the club because I’d been worried about Snow being alone in my apartment? All evening, I’d been thinking about how this arrangement would affect us both.

It didn’t matter how I looked at it, she was the one sacrificing the most.

So yeah, I’d been worried and went home.

“Don’t give me that shit.” Tristan snorted. “When Rafe and I returned from the dance floor, you were nowhere to be found.”

I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “Wasn’t in a party mood, I guess.”

There were a few seconds of silence, then, “You know, you always say that, and yet there’s a constant stream of women leaving your apartment in the mornings. Women Rafe and I usually don’t remember you meeting.”

Stupid of me to think someone wouldn’t notice. My heart beat a few beats faster.

“What’s your point?”

“I don’t know,” Tristan said. “Maybe all these women are a distraction, so we won’t know what’s really going on?”

I forgot how to breathe. “Which is?”

“That you bat for the other team. Explains why you had to pay someone to marry you. Not that it matters. I mean, love is love, after all.”

He managed to sound serious for about five seconds before he broke out into a fit of laughter. And as much as I wanted to laugh with him, I just couldn’t. I wanted to reach into my past and erase every encounter with the women from the agency.

Maybe seeking companionship in this way wasn’t such a bad thing. And maybe my friends wouldn’t see me any differently if they knew the truth. Or perhaps they would. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

Even more, the media would have a fucking field day with information like this.

I couldn’t have that kind of publicity linked to Nouvelle Femme. Not just for the company’s sake but my mother’s memory, too.

“Dude, are you even listening?” Tristan’s voice snapped me back to the conversation. “It was just a joke, man.”

I cleared my throat and my thoughts. “Sorry, I was distracted by your half-assed work.”

“Excuse me, I am incapable of doing anything half-assed.”

I couldn’t see him, but I heard the smugness in his voice and already knew what came next before he even said it.