Page 6 of Pretend Wife (Angels of the Secret Order #4)

FIVE

Hayden

I’d always hated my father’s office, mostly the fact that he’d always loved it more than his family, but also because every time I went in there, he told me something I didn’t want to hear.

But today took the fucking cake.

I stared at the man I’d always loved even when I thought it would be easier if I didn’t and tried to process the information I’d just been given.

He was dying, he’d been given six months, and if I wanted to inherit his estate and shares of the company, I had to get married in the next month.

I waited for some kind of emotion to hit me. I should be upset. Sad, angry, something .

Maybe the news hadn’t sunk in yet, or maybe I really was that broken and didn’t feel anymore.

To be fair, my father wasn’t showing any more emotion than I was. His face was impassive, as if telling me about his terminal cancer was simply another thing to check off his to-do list.

“I went over things with my lawyer this afternoon,” my father continued, not bothered by my lack of a response.

He reached into the drawer of his giant mahogany desk and pulled out a thick stack of papers.

“I’ll update the will after your wedding, and you will inherit my company shares and all my other assets upon my death under the condition that you are married. ”

“And if I don’t get married?”

“Then I’ll leave everything to Miles. I’m not joking around, Hayden. I need proof that you will start taking life seriously and aren’t going to gallivant off to Europe the next time your feelings get hurt. I’m not passing this empire to you without your being stable.”

“How exactly does a wife make me more stable?” I asked in the emotionless voice I’d adopted with my father years ago.

“You can’t carry on a legacy without an heir.”

This was really happening. I had to get married or my father would give the inheritance to my younger brother.

I didn’t mind Miles getting the money, but Dad wouldn’t give it without conditions and rules.

I couldn’t leave this burden to Miles. It was my job to protect him, especially from our father’s controlling nature.

And then there was the matter of what would happen if Miles failed to meet whatever requirements Dad would give him.

I had plenty of my own money, but it wasn’t enough to keep my mother in her home indefinitely, and I had no idea how much money she or Miles had of their own that wasn’t connected to Dad .

I nodded stiffly. “I understand.”

I understood that I had no good options. I could either put the burden of taking care of Mom on my twenty-four-year-old brother or I could do the one thing I’d vowed I would never do.

Marriage wasn’t in the cards for me, I’d decided that years ago. The last thing I wanted was a woman I barely knew trying to tell me what to do with my time and money, asking me for things I had no desire to give.

There were only three women in this world I took orders from—my mother, my sister, and Sierra. And before anyone accuses me of being misogynistic, there were even fewer men.

“Is there anything else?” I asked, more than ready to get out of his office.

“Not right now. After your wedding, we can talk about the CEO position.”

“Give it to Miles. I don’t want it.”

“This company is our family’s legacy. I need to know that it will be taken care of when I’m gone. You’re the one I’ve been training for this.”

And there was the emotion I’d been missing. He needed to know the company would be taken care of? Not my mother or siblings but his precious hotels. I hadn’t really expected anything else from him, but I guess a tiny part of me had hoped facing his own mortality might make him rethink things.

“The company will be fine,” I gritted out.

His eyes narrowed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Forget it.” I’d long since given up on talking to my father. There was no changing his mind or making him see things from a different perspective. And trying just caused me unnecessary frustration and disappointment.

“Hayden.”

“I said forget it. I have work to do.” I stood and walked out of his office without waiting for him to respond.

When I was safely locked away in my own office, I pulled out my cell phone and called my sister.

Maggie answered on the fourth ring. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Dad has cancer. The doctors gave him six months.”

There was a long beat of silence before she spoke. “Does Mom know?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I think he only told me so he could talk about the inheritance.”

“He’s leaving you everything, right?”

I felt a stab of guilt at that. Our father had never tried with Maggie.

He didn’t think running a hotel empire was a woman’s job and didn’t consider her an heir despite the fact that she was his first child.

Maggie acted like she didn’t care, and maybe she really didn’t.

She didn’t need Dad’s money or attention.

She had a husband now who thought she walked on water, and she didn’t let our family bullshit drag her down.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Good for you.” There wasn’t even a hint of bitterness in her voice. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”

I snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Assuming I actually got married and inherited the fortune.

“Are you okay, Hayden?”

“I’m fine. ”

“You know you don’t have to keep it, right? If you don’t want the company shares—”

“I know.” I knew that I did have to take them… at least until Dad was gone and I could pass them on to Miles without Dad’s stipulations breathing down his neck.

Because I wasn’t going to let my little brother deal with our father’s power trip and need to be in control of everything.

“If you need anything, I’m always here,” Maggie said softly.

There wasn’t anything she could do about the situation I was in, but I knew she meant what she said.

“Thanks, Maggie.” I ended the call without a goodbye and called Sierra.

“Hello, Hayden,” she answered, and I swear I could hear her smiling.

“I need a rundown of my schedule for the next month. Please,” I added.

Sierra didn’t tolerate being ordered around and made more demands than any PA I’d ever had, but she was loyal in a way no amount of money could buy.

She might be a pain in my ass half the time, but I honestly wasn’t sure what I would do without her.

“The whole month?” she asked. “You do realize that will probably change a hundred times before the month is over, right?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay, hold on.” I could hear the clicking of her keyboard as she typed. The next few minutes were a blur of dates, times, meetings, and events. How my father expected me to find the time to date and marry a woman in the next month was beyond me .

“Can you clear every Friday evening for the rest of January?” I asked, loosening the tie around my neck that suddenly felt like it was strangling me.

“I can move some things around, but I can’t do anything about Freddie’s bachelor party tomorrow.”

A frustrated groan slipped past my lips as I massaged my temples. “Fine. Just clear the rest of the Fridays.”

“Will do. Do you need me to make any reservations for those Fridays?” she asked, her voice taking on a suspicious note.

And that was the downside of having Sierra as my assistant.

She was nosy as fuck, and she actually cared about my life.

Especially since I’d made the mistake of dating her sister-in-law for a year.

“No,” I said without a hint of emotion.

“Don’t you dare hang up this phone, Hayden Blake,” she said before I could do just that.

I froze. One did not simply ignore a command from Sierra Blue. She had the power to ruin my life with just a couple of strokes of her keyboard and zero weaknesses I could exploit. “What do you want?”

“Who is she?”

“Who?”

“You’re clearing your Friday nights. I assume you’re dating someone.”

“My dating life or lack thereof is none of your business.”

“Oh, come on. I’m your PA. I’m supposed to make your dinner reservations and order the gifts you give her.”

“This isn’t a fucking romance novel, Sierra.

This is real life where you are my part-time assistant who is not going to be doing any of those things.

” I might shoot her nosiness down, but I was honestly relieved Sierra still cared enough to be nosy.

She could have chosen to be pissed at me about the way things ended with Danielle. She could have quit.

She sighed. “Fine. Don’t tell me.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“If you change your mind when you remember how much you hate talking to hostesses, give me a call.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Bye.” She didn’t wait for me to say it back before the line went dead. By now she knew I didn’t like pleasantries that people said just to fill time. I didn’t have enough time to be filling it with pointless words. And after the conversation with my father, that suddenly felt more true than ever.

Freddie Rossi was the closest thing I’d had to a friend growing up.

He and Orlando Amato had both been there for me when I came back from Europe three years ago, offering their friendship and putting up with my cranky ass until I started to believe that they really did give a damn about me.

And that was the only reason I was sitting in a rustic little restaurant/bar right now with the two of them, celebrating Freddie’s choice to forfeit his singlehood.

The place had this weird hunting cabin sort of vibe. The lamps all had that tree line silhouette that unoriginal men liked to get tattooed in a ring around their forearms, and everything was all warm wood and forest greens. It was charming if a bit of a strange choice for the middle of Boston.

“You made it,” Orlando said with a grin. “You should feel honored, Freddie. He left the office for you.”