Page 75 of The Elusive Billionaire

“Monroe and I have a mutual problem. I’m simply fixing it while giving us both what we truly want. End of story, it’s not up for discussion.” His gaze pierces through me. “You have twenty-four hours to decide, Monroe. I’m going home. I’ll meet you at the Hideaway tomorrow, and when I arrive, make sure you have the right decision for me.”

He stomps away as though his word is final, as though he has no idea who he’s dealing with.

“How dare he make such an outrageous demand?” I attempt to sound offended and fail miserably.

“Is it though?” Clover asks.

I spin to find her leaning against the siding. “Yes. He’s lost his damn mind.”

“But he’s giving you everything you’ve ever wanted. Freedom?—”

“Freedom? He wants to marry me. That’s not freedom, that’s a chain around my neck.”

And an invitation for someone else to let me down.

“He’s going to fight the demons who haunt you,” Madi says.

“They’re not his demons to battle, and Riley’s family is actually dangerous.”

“So was Greyson’s. More so than you’ll ever know,” Braxton says quietly, as though the admission cost him something. “Grey is more than a name for him—it’s the line he’s walked since he was old enough to know right from wrong. His heart pulls him into the light, but the weight of his father tethers him to the dark. He spends every waking hour trying to fix shit because he thinks it keeps him on the right side of a moral compass that’s always been skewed.”

“He’ll go even further than Ace to protect you,” Sage says. “And he’ll do it because he cares more than he knows how to admit.”

It’s then that I realize every single person I love is looking at me as though they’re expecting me to take his deal.

As though it’s not completely irrational.

As though it’s my only option.

As if it’s something Grey truly wants.

“Come on.” Madi loops her arm through mine. “I think it’s time for some wine and a pros and cons list.”

I snort. This will take something stronger than wine to sort out.

Become his wife or his surrogate? How did my life boil down to those two options?

And why is my pulse fluttering like a girl about to be kissed by the boy of her dreams?

Sage hooks my other arm with his. “For what it’s worth, I’ve always known that Uncle Grey doesn’t hate you. He may nothave known how to categorize his feelings, but it’s never been hate.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Fireworks, I tell ya,” Pops shouts from the porch as we round the corner, startling Clover so much that she trips and falls into Braxton. Thankfully, he’s acclimated to her Clover-isms and catches her easily.

“The thing about my uncles is that they’ll never let those they care about fall,” Sage whispers at my side. “The fact that Grey is already in fix-it mode with you tells me he cares more than he has about anyone else in a very long time. He may not show it the way most people do, but it’s there, Sav. Let that count for something. You both have trauma in your pasts. It would be a shame if it blurred your vision for something that has the potential to be…life-changing.”

He kisses my cheek, then takes off toward his car.

It does count for…something. I just wish I knew what that something was.

Either way, Greyson Reyes has just declared my life is about to change. Maybe he’s more than the architect of my desire. Maybe he’s the puppet master of my whole damn universe.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

GREYSON

Okay,in fairness, perhaps I have lost my damn mind.