Chapter 12

The room tiltedas I struggled to breathe. “This sounds…”

“Crazy?” Wick let out a mirthless laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Trust me, I’m well aware. The word stalker comes to mind, but you have to know I would never hurt you, Sia.”

“You took my grandfather’s company,” I accused.

He gave a curt nod. “I did.”

“You ruined the lives of people who worked for him for decades!” Tears stung my eyes as I thought of how I’d felt signing away the last piece of Papa’s legacy a few weeks earlier. The way my heart broke as I realized his dream was as gone as the man himself.

His eyes widened. “No, baby, I didn’t. Everything is as your grandfather left it. All the employees, all the offices, except for the debts. Those I paid off.”

I froze. “You did? Why?”

“Because it’s yours,” he replied, like the answer was obvious.

“Mine?” I gasped.

He nodded. “All of the paperwork has been drawn up, and as soon as you”re ready, I’ll sign it over to you.”

“But why would you do that?” It just didn’t make sense. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Wick had bought my grandfather’s company and planned to just give it to me.

He looked like I’d punched him in the balls. “Baby, I always planned on it being yours. It”s part of your family’s legacy, and I knew how much it meant to you. When I saw it was going under, I made sure it would be safe.”

My shoulders slumped. “Wick, I don’t understand.” I was practically begging now, tears clogging my throat as I desperately tried to make all of the puzzle pieces fit into a complete picture.

He took a deep breath. “Can we please sit down and talk about this? I’m fucking up this entire explanation.”

I nodded, feeling numb as Wick took me by the hand and led me back to the sofa. He sat, but instead of letting me sit beside him, he pulled me onto his lap. I landed awkwardly, a hand splayed against his hard chest as I started to try and move to my own seat.

“Stay.” The single word was a plea and a command. The familiar look of the cool, calculating man I thought I knew was almost obliterated by the vulnerability haunting his dark gaze.

Utterly entranced at the chink in his armor, I found myself melting against him.

He pressed an absent, tender kiss to my temple. “The night I saw you at the party changed everything. I ran every possible scenario to make you see how perfect we were for each other.”

“You knew that just from looking at a girl crying on the floor?” I shot him an incredulous look.

“When you’re already broken, it’s easy to see other broken things,” he admitted. “I grew up in a poor neighborhood.”

I knew all of that already. The unbelievable story of a guy who had all the odds stacked against him, but used his insanely high IQ to launch himself into a level of wealth and power that most people could only dream of. It had been all over papers and gossip rags.

“My father took off when my mother was still pregnant with me,” he went on, “and my mom did her best, working two jobs to keep a roof over our heads. She passed away in a drive by shooting at the diner while pulling a double. I was sixteen.”

My heart ached for the boy who’d grown up alone. I’d at least had Nana and Papa. Even their staff had showered me with affection and praise.

“ I’d already finished high school early and was offered a full academic scholarship to Princeton, so I was able to avoid going into the foster system,” Wick went on, dragging his knuckles up my arm. “I applied for emancipation and never looked back.”

“I read that you made your first million investing in a gaming app or something?” I frowned, trying to remember.

His brows lifted, a smile teasing his lips. “You checking up on me?”

I felt my cheeks heat. “Maybe? But there was a lot of stuff. I wasn’t sure how much was true.”

“It was three million, and yes, I was in my junior year at Princeton when it happened,” he confessed.

He’d made three million dollars in college. Who did that?

“How much did you invest?” I asked, knowing money didn’t just fall from the sky.

Though if it did, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now.

“Half a million,” he replied, watching me closely.

My brows pulled together. “How?—”

“I’m good with numbers,” he said softly, “and I have an eidetic memory. Atlantic City wasn’t that far of a drive from Princeton.”

“You made that much money gambling?” I was sure my eyes were going to pop out of my head.

He grinned, looking like a proud little kid who’d just hit a homerun. “It’s not gambling if you know what you’re doing. From there I started investing the money in stocks and companies until I quadrupled.”

“And you used that kind of thinking to get me to turn to Wife for Hire?” I scoffed. “Sounds like a gamble to me.”

“Gambling would’ve implied there was room for error, and I made certain every step I took was perfect to get what I wanted, and what I want is you, Sia.” He held my gaze, pinning me in place with an intensity that rivaled a hurricane.

“How?” I needed to know.

Wick let out a heavy sigh, his fingertip drawing slow circles on my arm, his other arm stretched across my lap to hold my hip. “I considered asking you out?—”

“Gee, what a novel idea,” I drawled, rolling my eyes.

“But I knew you’d say no,” he finished.

I huffed. “You don’t know that.”

“Sia, I looked into every part of your past that I could,” he answered bluntly. “I learned about every boyfriend you had and how long each relationship lasted.”

“There’s no way you could know?—”

“You started your period the month before you turned twelve,” he cut in without hesitation. “You slept with a stuffed rabbit named Mr. Hops until you were sixteen, and you only stopped because the one friend you had—Enid Smythe—made fun of you for it being on your bed. You wear a size seven shoe, but it’s slightly too big while a six-and-a-half is too tight. You sprained your right ankle as a kid during gymnastics. It took eight weeks to heal.”

With each fact he rattled off, the space around us seemed to collapse until we were trapped inside an intimate bubble that was just us.

“How can you know those things?” I whispered, stunned.

“Because once I met you, I needed to know everything,” he admitted. “And trust me, baby, there isn’t a single price tag I would put on knowing everything there is about you. I would drain every account I owned, max out every credit card, just to know your favorite color of nail polish. Call it obsession, but the night I met you, my life became forever tangled with yours.”

“That’s…” I tried to find a word to describe what he’d just professed.

He gave a sardonic chuckle. “Creepy?” His tone was laced with bitter poison.

I touched his cheek, drawing his attention. “Incredible.” My nose wrinkled. “And maybe a little crazy.”

His chest vibrated with a deep laugh. “Have I terrified you yet, baby?”

I slowly shook my head. “No. But I want to know more.”

He nodded. “Once I found out as much as I could about you, I dug into your grandparents. Specifically, your grandfather. In the wake of your grandmother’s death, he’d made several mistakes that left his company vulnerable. When I went to the party, I truly was only there to speak with your grandfather and get a feel for how he’d handle me approaching him about investing.”

“He was a mess that night. That party was always Nana’s favorite, even when she was sick.” Emotion wedged in my throat until I could barely breathe. “It was our first one without her. We both were trying to pretend everything was okay, but we were both so lost without her.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss the corner of my mouth. “I wish I could have known her.”

I sniffled. “Me, too. I think she would’ve liked you.”

“The guy who basically forced her granddaughter into a marriage contract?” he asked dryly.

A garbled laugh bubbled up. “I’m sure she’d have found it romantic.” I shook my head, remembering the shelves of romance novels Nana owned. She always said Papa’s jewelry made her sparkle on the outside while romance sparkled on the inside.

As I’d gotten older and fallen in love with reading, too, I could see what she meant.

“Did you ever ask Papa about investing?” I asked, turning my focus back to the original conversation.

Wick sighed. “I did. But it was a week later, and he’d already taken a loan out with another bank to keep his business afloat. It was a shit deal. He never would’ve been able to pay back the loan plus the interest.”

Heartache was a weight on my chest, my heart sinking like an anchor into dark, fathomless waters. “He was always so proud.”

“After his death, the company was supposed to go to you, but it was so mired in debt the only option was to issue a complete buyout.”

“Even with the money that paid off the loan, there were still so many medical bills from Nana’s treatments.” I let out a weary breath. “There were bills I’d never heard about.”

Wick’s lips pursed. “From what I gathered, his business started failing when your Nana became ill. And instead of hiring a manager or looking for reputable investors, he took out more credit. He was spending more than he was making, and it wasn’t sustainable.”

And I’d had no idea. No clue that his business was failing, that our family was edging toward disaster.

“Thank you for buying his company,” I murmured, blinking back tears. “Thank you for saving it for me. I have no idea how to run a jewelry store, but I’m glad it wasn’t lost.”

He flinched, and there was no missing the flash of guilt in his eyes. “You might not thank me when you hear what happened next.”

My spine stiffened.

He reached up, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I low-balled the offer to buy out all your family’s debt, Sia. The business was worth more, but I knew you were out of time and needed to sell off the company, so I approached Devane with an offer that would let you sell off the assets but still keep you…”

“Desperate,” I finished softly.

He nodded. “I needed you to need me as much as I needed you.”

“Wick,” I whispered, realizing all the ways he’d manipulated my life to get me to where we were now—married and tangled together forever.

“I know. I know it sounds crazy and reckless and?—”

I pressed my fingers over his lips. “Can you be quiet for a second and let me speak?”

He gave a singular, slow dip of his head.

“You were right,” I admitted, feeling the weight slough off my shoulders as I let myself confess. “If you’d asked me out, I would’ve said no. Even if you’d saved Papa’s business and entered my orbit, I would’ve found a way to avoid you. To isolate myself. Because that’s what I do, Wick. I’m so scared of getting hurt, of being left, that I cut myself off from the idea of love.”

His expression somehow softened and got fiercer at the same time.

“Maybe what you did was a bit… obsessive,” I went on, my lips curling into a wry grin, “but I can’t think of another way that would’ve pulled me out of my rut. And I read the marriage contract, Wick. I know you could’ve forced a lot of… issues.”

Sex. Other than the night we consummated our marriage, he hadn’t done anything to pressure me into more. He’d given me my own space, letting me come to him. And I could finally see that for the two weeks we’d been together, he’d been trying to show me who he was with all the considerate little touches I’d ignored.

“I’ll never pressure you,” he murmured, shaking his head adamantly.

“I know,” I replied. “Okay, maybe your methods weren’t conventional, but I think you’re right. There was no other way I would’ve come to you, opened myself up to you, without you forcing the issue. And I can admit that I needed that shove.”

He pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

“I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to figure out my new normal, and I haven’t acknowledged all the ways you’ve shown up for me. The blankets, the dinners… Chasing after me when I had a meltdown.” I lifted a hand to trace his jaw, the stubble rasping against the pads of my fingers.

He leaned into my touch, nuzzling against me like a puppy starved for attention. “I’m sorry I was too late.”

“You weren’t,” I insisted. “You showed up exactly when I needed you. And I don’t just mean tonight.”

His shoulders relaxed as he released a breath. “I know I’m not normal. My brain doesn’t think or react the way most people do. I saw you, and I saw my future. I knew you’d be my wife. The mother of my children.”

“What’s normal? You’re talking to the girl who chose to shut herself away rather than try to live,” I pointed out. “When I first realized who I was marrying, I was determined to ruin you. To take from you all the things you took from me.”

He didn’t blink. “Sia, you can have anything of mine. It’s yours.”

“None of that matters, because now I see that you were actually giving me everything I needed.” I kissed the underside of his jaw.

Wick turned his head, capturing my lips with his for a torturously slow kiss that had my toes curling and my core throbbing. His forehead rested against mine as we shared the same air. “You can have everything. Anything. Name it.”

“You,” I whispered, watching the pleasure flare in his eyes as I told him the truth. “I want you.”