He smiled widely and approached a table where three other men sat. They were old guys wearing suits and ties; looked like the rich, entitled sort of folks he usually hung out with.
“Asher, I'd like you to meet Gerald, Thomas, and Peter. They're my business partners, and they'll be dining with us tonight.”
Thomas, the one with the ugly pink tie, reached to shake my hand. “It's so good to meet you. Your father has told us much about you. He's very proud.”
The others uttered greetings, but were too distracted by the menu and their drinks to look at me. I stared at dad, who was wearing that smarmy smile of his that usually meant trouble.
“I thought you said it would just be us.”
“Yes, but there was a change in plans. Sit down, order a drink. It's on me.”
I sat, but didn't trust him nor his trio of lawyers, or whoever they were. Whatever dad was planning, he couldn't hope to ply me with free drinks.
“Now, Asher. I know things have been rocky between us lately.”
“Yeah, because you're forcing me to get married just to keep Slicker Image – and now that I've got a fiancee, you throw a hissy fit about her.”
“So you're admitting you only picked her because of our contract. You knew well that no other woman would agree to your scheme, and it's not like you wanted to grow up and start a family anyway.”
Anger roiled inside me at his insults. What I wanted was to get up and pitch a wine bottle at his head, but his friends were watching me, like a pack of wolves who'd pounce if I dared do something dumb.
Was this why he'd brought them – to protect himself from me?
“You're wrong. I told you I've loved Sarah for years,” I said, and I was beginning to worry it might be true.
I did have feelings for her. Powerful ones that had been there all along and only grew stronger the closer we got. The moment I finally got her naked, it was all over for me. Other women didn't catch my eye the same way anymore.
And that was a big problem, because I had zero intention of committing for real. The very idea of it petrified me more than anything else.
Dad was actually right about one thing, I guess.
“Never mind all of that. I didn't bring you here to air dirty laundry in front of my partners.” His steely gaze met mine. “I invited you because I had an offer to make, and it's one you'd be foolish to refuse.”
“I'm not interested in any offer of yours.”
He pulled a folder from his briefcase and set it before me on the table. “I believe you'll change your mind once you read this.”
I lifted the folder and out fell a piece of paper. It looked much like the contract he'd shoved in my face a couple weeks ago.
“Go on. Read it.”
“This agreement between... Blah, blah... Legally binding,” I muttered as I skimmed it without giving a crap, but then I got to paragraph three. “If Asher Carrington agrees not to marry Sarah Masters, he will receive a forty percent ownership stake in the Galleria Mall.”
The paper fell from my hands. I gaped at dad, who sat calmly as he sipped from his martini glass.
“The hell is this?”
“Watch the language, please. You don't talk like that in the business world – the real one, anyway, not the make-believe fantasy land you've been living in the past few years.”
I read that sentence again. This was what it'd come to, huh? He was the one who forced me to pick a wife, and now he was bribing me to cancel the wedding.
“As you can see, I've thought about it and I'm prepared to offer you a large portion of the Galleria.”
“So you're that desperate.”
He flinched under the stare of the three men. “I'll admit that you have the upper hand here, at least for the moment. If you fulfill the contract, then you win. You'll keep Slicker Image and I'll be forced to build the mall elsewhere.”
“Sounds good to me.” A waiter offered me wine; I gladly took a glass. “That's exactly what I wanted to happen.”
I could tell he was panicking on the inside, but he'd be damned if he let anyone know it. Never show weakness or reveal your hand; that was his motto and the way he taught me.
“But that would be foolish of you. I'm giving you the chance for something better, something far more profitable. The Galleria will be huge, and if you go along with my plan, you'll own forty percent of it.” There was a greedy gleam in his eye. “Don't you realize how much money you stand to make?”
Not so long ago, I was a lazy bum who'd have jumped at the chance of an easy fortune. Should I accept, Slicker Image would be gone, and I'd never have to bust my ass managing the place again. With such a big stake in the mall, all I would have to do is sit back and let the money roll in.
But then Sarah would lose Curiosities, and I knew she'd hate me for it.
I wished I didn't have to care about her so much. Wished her feelings didn't matter to me like this – but they did.
At last, one of the men who'd been silent up until now piped in.
“This is a chance of a lifetime, kid. You'll be a millionaire before age thirty.”
A millionaire, huh. I would be set for a very, very long time.
“But in return,” I said, pointing to that nasty little line of the contract. “You're asking me not to marry Sarah.”
Dad nodded. “That's right. Pretty good deal for you, isn't it?
