Page 1 of Bad Boy Husband

SADIE

M y battered Suburban hissed to a stop in the circular driveway of my parents’ manor.

It sputtered a few times, then relaxed, like it knew we’d finally made it to where we had to be.

Through the windshield, I glanced up at the pristine white walls of my family home.

My gaze ran from the wide front porch to the sculpted hedges and the water fountain marking the top of the drive.

My car, with its fading paint, rust spots, and worn-out interior, sure didn’t belong here. One of the neighbors would probably call the cops, if they hadn’t already.

I let out a sigh to match the wheeze of the dying engine. At least my parents weren’t here, which meant that while I might have to deal with the SFPD, I wouldn’t have to face the inevitable torrent of parental judgment and disapproval.

I’ll take the cops over that any day.

After taking a beat to center myself, I climbed out of the car and stepped into the late August sunshine. Then I stuck my head back in and pointed a stern finger at my giant bull mastiff. “Hooch, stay.”

Knowing the warning wouldn’t stick, I opened the back door cautiously.

As I’d expected, it was barely cracked before he lunged out, all two hundred pounds of drool and devotion airborne for just a moment.

When he landed on the polished flagstones, he shook once, spraying strings of slobber all over the place.

Typical.

I chuckled, waiting for him to stretch and sniff before I walked up the sweeping steps leading to the front door. “Come on, big guy. Let’s get inside before the neighbors call Animal Control too.”

Hooch trotted at my side, tail wagging happily as those soulful brown eyes came up to mine. I smiled at him. “Just be glad you don’t know what it’s like being a square peg in a round hole. That’s how I’ve always felt around here.”

When we reached the door, I didn’t even bother knocking.

If my parents had been in residence , there would’ve been a full contingent of staff here.

Adam, their butler of forty years, would’ve opened the door for me by now and Nina, their head of house, would’ve pressed an ice-cold lemonade into my hands before I’d even walked all the way in.

“Trent?” I called, simply barging in and loving it. “Where are you?”

My voice echoed through the marble foyer.

This house had always felt more like a museum than a home.

I paused to listen for my brother’s response, but none came.

Hooch’s nails clicked gently against the marble as we moved from the foyer and went past the formal sitting room, the parlor, and one of the kitchens to the living room.

“Trent?” I tried again, but there was still no answer.

Eventually, through the glass doors that slid all the way open and past the terrace outside, I finally found him. My big brother was lounging by the pool with his phone in his hand, his shirt off, and his sunglasses pushed up into his reddish-brown hair.

At the first sight of water, before I could even call out a warning to my brother, Hooch bolted, hit the edge of the pool at a gallop, and cannon-balled right in. The resulting splash of his bulk hitting the surface drenched both me and Trent.

He groaned and finally looked up, flicking water off his arm and letting out a deep sigh. “I should’ve known you’d be bringing the damn horse.”

I shrugged, wiping a lock of wet hair off my face. “What? He loves swimming.”

“Yeah, so do I, minus the tsunami.” Trent got up and shook his head, gesturing for me to follow him inside.

Tiberius Trenton Shepard IV, official heir to the great Shepard fortune, marched his butt right on into the house without even looking back once to make sure his baby sister was following. I was only three years younger than his thirty-one, but oh, what a difference those years made.

My ego briefly contemplated staying out there just to prove a point, but in the end, I followed him to the sun room. Mostly because it was cooler there.

Trent leaned against the table, arms crossed.

His blue eyes, the exact same shade as my own, met mine.

He was clean shaven these days, the scruff he’d had on his jaw back in college a thing of the past. His features were angular and strong, befitting of the next leader of the empire our family had been building since the early nineteen hundreds.

I folded my arms too, bracing myself for whatever he’d called me here to say. He looked back at me with a heaviness in his gaze I didn’t like.

After a second of tense silence, I broke first. “All right, Trent. I love you. It’s always good to see you, but why are you here? Why am I here?”

“What, you don’t believe that I flew halfway across the country just to check on my little sister? I still don’t understand why you insist on staying in San Francisco, by the way. These casual chats would be so much easier if you’d just come home to Texas.”

“Maybe that’s exactly why I’m still here,” I said lightly. “To make these casual chats near impossible.”

Trent raked a hand through his damp hair. “That’s what I thought.”

“Is that what this is about, then? They sent you to convince me to move?”

“No.” He turned his gaze back on mine, jaw ticking like he didn’t enjoy the news he’d come to share, but was going to share it anyway.

“I came here to tell you in person that Mom and Dad aren’t going to change their minds about the trust. They’re serious about this, Sadie.

I’ve tried talking to them, but they’re not going to budge. You’re cut off.”

For a second, my chest felt like it was about to cave in and my pulse roared in my ears, but I forced my voice to stay calm. “You can’t be serious? This is ridiculous. What is their problem? It’s my money to spend. What I choose to spend it on doesn’t concern them.”

The corners of his mouth twitched, but I couldn’t tell if it was sympathy, exasperation, or both. “Dad thinks you’re wasting your life, aimlessly throwing around money while refusing to settle down. Mom agrees. They want you to stop acting like?—”

“Like what?” I cut him off, heat creeping up the back of my neck. “Like me ? God, I should’ve known it was going to come to this.“

“No, Sadie,” he said quietly. “They just want you stop acting like someone who’s just flitting through life like she has no real plans.”

I swallowed hard, but it felt like there was a hot coal wedged into my throat and it wasn’t budging. “And you? What do you think?”

He didn’t answer, the silence between us suddenly heavier than the mansion itself. I fixed him with a look. “Just be honest with me, Trent. Tell me what you think this is about, because you and I both know the reason you just gave me isn’t the real one.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Isn’t it?”

“No,” I snapped, but then I inhaled deeply and reined in my frustration. He was still my brother and this wasn’t his fault. “They don’t actually care what I spent the money on or that every penny went to a worthwhile cause. They only care about controlling me, forcing me to settle.”

“Sadie…”

I shook my head. “They want me married off, preferably to some third-generation hedge fund dickhead with a repossessed yacht and a cocaine habit. All so they can brag about the wedding at the country club and turn me into a breeding machine for future generations of Dickhead-Shepards.”

His lips pressed into a line, but then he exhaled a harsh breath and finally nodded. “You might not be wrong.”

“I’m not.” A sharp laugh came out of me. “God forbid their only daughter tries to make the world a better place with their money.”

“It doesn’t really matter though, does it? They’re still not giving it back, Sadie,” he said gently. “Not unless you pack up, move to Dallas, ditch the foundation crap, and do what they want.”

I crossed my arms tighter, feeling the damp fabric of my shirt stick to my skin. “Yeah, well, they can choke on their generational wealth. I’m not quitting and it’s not crap.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean it like that, but again, it doesn’t really matter, does it? You don’t have the money to keep it going anymore.”

I scoffed. “Oh, so you are on their side. That’s just great. What happened to you, Tiberius ? Did the Lone Star sunshine fry your brain, or is the allure of the corner office simply turning you into another corporate robot?”

“I’m not on their side,” he ground out, obviously getting frustrated himself now. “I’m trying to help you, Sadie. Listen to me. You still have the inheritance from GamGam.”

I blinked at him. My mother was an Astor—of those Astors—and her mom, our GamGam, had left us each a little nest-egg , as she’d put it, but there was no way of accessing it.

“That money is locked down tighter than Dad’s fist around an oil well.”

“It’s not locked down. It’s just conditional,” he corrected gently. “Five million dollars each. You know that.”

“Once we get married,” I finished for him, my voice flat. “To the future Mr. and Mrs. Astor-Shepard.”

“It’s easy enough,” he said, shrugging like he was suggesting something as simple as switching shampoo brands. “You get married, you get the five million. Problem solved.”

I stared at him. “Are you serious right now? Do all roads lead to marriage?”

He didn’t flinch. “Do you even have enough money to pay rent next month?”

Fuck . “That’s not the point.”

“It is the point, Sadie. You can’t save the world with nothing more than good intentions.”

“You know, I don’t remember asking for financial advice from someone who thinks easy enough and lifelong commitment belong in the same sentence.”

“It’s really not that hard.” His eyes rolled like he was arguing with a toddler.

“You get married, you get the money, and you keep saving geriatric dogs, three-legged donkeys, and the occasional arthritic ferret. It’s not like you have to stay married forever.

I’ve looked over the trust documents myself.

All it says is that you have to get married.

It doesn’t say anything about staying that way. ”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. The idea of marriage still seemed far away, something in my distant future. It literally wasn’t something I thought about. Not since I was a kid. Once I had thoughts and goals, it fell low on my list of priorities. “That’s a great idea, except for one tiny issue.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want to get married,” I said. “It’s not me. I want to travel the world. Set up sanctuaries. Build foundations. Actually do something good.”

He sniffed. “Sure, but how are you going to do that if you’re broke? You know I love you, but you need money to make those things happen, Sadie. Money you don’t have right now. Don’t be so short-sighted.”

Hooch padded over, still dripping, and nudged my hand until I scratched behind his ears. I glanced down at my big, gentle giant. I’d rescued him from a fighting ring three years ago. The knot in my chest tightened.

Trent wasn’t wrong. Good intentions wouldn’t pay for any of the things I wanted to do, but marriage, even just to get the money? The very idea made my skin crawl. I wasn’t the most romantic woman in the world, but that was too cold blooded even for me.

I looked back up at my brother, my heart thudding against my ribs. “So what, you want me to swipe right until I find some guy dumb enough to marry me for five million dollars and not want half of it?”

He laughed and the sound was so real and genuine that it eased some of my tension. “With your lineage? You’d probably have a line out the door, baby Sades.”

“Don’t call me that,” I muttered. “Also, gross.”

The worst part of it, though, was that I could practically feel his idea violently slamming roots into my brain.

“So let me get this straight. You flew halfway across the country just to tell me that I’m a broke spinster in the making unless I stop feeding poor, lonely animals and paying their vet bills? ”

“Nope.” He scoffed down more laughter. “Believe it or not, my entire existence doesn’t revolve around your questionable financial choices.”

I arched my eyebrows. “You could’ve fooled me.”

Trent’s eyes rolled again. “I’m here because I was invited to a small thing at the Westwood estate tonight.”

I blinked, the name lighting up in my brain like a Vegas marquee. The Westwoods were old money wrapped in family history even more storied than our own and tied up with a diamond-studded bow.

An idea, as ridiculous as it was desperate, crashed over me. Maybe it was the fact that I’d eaten nothing but cereal for the last two weeks, but I already knew I wouldn’t take no for an answer. “You’re going to the gender-reveal party? So am I.”

Trent looked at me like I’d just suggested we rob a bank. “ You coming to a Westwood party?”

“Yep. I’ve been reconnecting with them recently. I’m even friends with Laney now and Callum and I have been talking.”

“Laney?”

“Sterling’s wife.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah, okay. I’m surprised you’re talking to any of them again. I thought you hated them.” He glanced at Hooch. “Just leave your pet dinosaur at home.”

I reached down to scratch behind Hooch’s soaked ears again.

My stomach twisted into a tight, uneasy knot at the thought of the conversation I would have to have tonight.

It wasn’t ideal to corner Sterling about this at the celebration of his baby, but my account was very nearly empty and passion for the cause wasn’t going to keep a roof over my head.

If the Westwoods knew about anything though, it was how to turn marriage into a business deal. Mutually beneficial unions were their thing, and maybe, just maybe, they would be able to help me set up one of my own.