Page 60 of Merry Fake Bride

Telling her this is impossible.

I’ve learned enough about how she holds herself and the pain in her eyes to understand that any advancements I want to make with her are unwanted.

So I will take what I can get, and finally stepping out of my father’s shadow is a bonus.

“I don’t have a real answer here,” I say after a few seconds of silence. “Other than this feels like the right thing to do.”

Devon doesn’t look like she believes me, but she nods slowly.

“Alright. One sec.” She excuses herself to the bathroom, and I watch her walk away, drawn in by the sway of her perfectly round backside until she’s out of sight.

Then I scold myself for becoming distracted.

Does this make me a terrible person?

So hungry to be near her that I’ll risk my entire fortune in a legal battle like this?

As I play out the various scenarios our marriage could create in my life, my phone buzzes twice in my pocket.

Drawing it out, my heart lurches.

Martin has texted me twice.911.

Leaning toward the window, I peer out into the darkness and spot the issue immediately.

My mother is here and is currently engaged in a heated discussion with Martin.

Shit.

Leaving my gloves on the table so Devon knows I will be back, I hurry outside and catch my mother’s wrist just as she lifts her hand to strike Martin.

“Mom!” I hiss, spinning her to face me. “What are you thinking?”

“Kairo!” Her anger melts away into faux upset that unfortunately turns my gut to steel. “I was so worried about you! You weren’t answering your phone and I went to the office and no one would tell me where you were. I had to trackhimdown” —she glares past me to Martin— “and then he was stopping me from going inside!”

Behind her, the family limo is parked haphazardly against the curb with two of her security lingering around pretending they don’t see anything.

That’s all anyone does in this family.

“Mom, I’m busy. And I thought you had therapy tonight?”

Getting her into those sessions has been a nightmare, but for a few days, it felt like they were working.

A professional helping her redirect her anger and healthily process her emotions after decades of being married to my father was the least I could do to help her.

“That bitch called me a terrible mother,” she snarls. “I don’t want to see her anymore, so I came to find you.”

Martin and I exchange a doubtful look but before I can press further, Devon’s soft voice reaches my ears and my heart sinks.

“Kairo?”

She stands a foot away with my gloves clasped in her hand, staring at the three of us with wide eyes.

Her presence triggers a change in my mother.

She instantly forgets about her meltdown and plasters a fake smile on her face as if Devon’s presence threatens her carefully constructed reputation.

“Devon, I’m sorry I left so abruptly. This is my mother, Clarice. She had a?—”