Page 64 of The Elusive Billionaire

“So herein lies the problem, Monroe, because, as I said before, that makes you my problem to fix. In fact, even Ace told me in his final letter not to let Sin break, so I’ll hold you together with my bare hands and get you through this if I have to drag you kicking and screaming to the altar. Because even though they want to mess up our world, not even the DeVanes would dare fuck with my wife.”

“Your—your wife? Are you having a breakdown of some kind? I’m not marrying you. I’m not carrying your baby. And I most certainly am not a damsel in distress in need of your intervention.”

Except, perhaps I am.

God help me, Grey smiles. It’s a smile that takes over his entire face and changes the atmosphere in the room instantly.

Somehow, he sucks all my fears and worries into his vortex and swirls them together to make me feel something else entirely—something far too similar tosafefor my liking because I know safety is an illusion meant for other people.

“Wanna bet?” Those two words whisper over my bare skin like a lover’s caress but sharpened by the tongue of an anti-hero. They’re devastating in their destruction because I know without a doubt, Grey isn’t going to back down from what he perceives as his fight.

The only way out of this is to make him regret his decision to strong-arm me into a fake marriage.

This maniac of a man just managed to turn my fear into determination, and as much as I want to hate him for not giving me a choice in the matter, all I can feel is grateful—freaking asshole.

My smile now matches his because if there’s one thing Grey and I know how to do, it’s push each other’s buttons. I may be his enemy—who he also happens to love fucking—but I’m about to become his worst nightmare.

My battles are meant for me and me alone. I learned a long time ago that relying on anyone is like digging your own grave—and I’m not about to get my hands dirty again.

I give this fake fiancée thing one month, tops, before he’s running as fast as he can in the opposite direction.

And then I’ll figure out how to handle the shitstorm Riley is undoubtedly ready to rage on my life.

“Game on, hubby.” I stand on shaky legs, but he doesn’t retreat, our chests pressing together because neither of us is willing to back down.

He’s much better at masking his emotions, and he knows it. His resulting grin is downright feral.

This man has pushed and shoved me right into the corner he was constructing. Now the only thing I’m focused on is winning this battle with him, not the bombshell of a confession I just made to one of my dearest friends.

And Greyson Reyes smirks as though that was his intention all along. That asshole just got a point, and I didn’t even know we were keeping score yet.

Game on, indeed. Greyson Reyes is going to regret the day he forced a metaphorical ring on my finger. I’ll make sure of it.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GREYSON

Sin.Of course she’s Sin. Who else would it have been? Ace was always playing puppet master with our futures when he was alive, why wouldn’t he do it from the grave as well?

I remove the coin he gave me eight years ago. I didn’t understand what it meant back then, but maybe I’m starting to now.

“Grey, you okay?” Braxton asks. I’m standing in one of our conference rooms because the second Savvy went into my private bathroom, I needed space. Space to think, to breathe, to make a fucking plan.

“Did you know?” I ask.

Braxton read my letter from Ace’s will, just as I read his.

He slowly lowers himself into a chair opposite me. “No, but I had my suspicions, as I’m sure you did.”

Yeah, I had them. But no one in their right mind would ever think Savvy and I could be… Jesus, I’m trying to protect her, yet she challenges me as though I’m the enemy.

“This is so fucked-up, Brax.”

“I don’t believe the DeVanes made any connection to us until Ace showed up to get her,” he says. “And the Ashfords are known to be patient vipers. I’m sure they’ve been lying in wait for amoment to strike, so the instant a romantic connection between the two of you was leaked, they struck.”

Braxton frowns, tugging at the back of his neck with an aggressive grip. “They’ve probably been secretly watching her since the moment Ace rescued her, if not even before then. Moving Omni-Reyes to Georgia probably piqued their interest even more, but the gossip sites were definitely the catalyst for this attack. There’s no denying they were behind the photos being released, and I doubt they would even try. They want everyone to know they’re coming for her.”

My skin crawls, and I want to peel it off layer by layer until I’m no longer coated in the sins of assholes.