Chapter 3

three

. . .

Cross

W alker continued spouting off his jealous bullshit. Let's call a spade a spade; his tantrum was one hundred percent fueled by jealousy.

"You done?" I asked when he paused at the entryway.

"So fucking done," he muttered.

"About damn time," I said, snatching the document off the table and making my own hasty retreat.

"Where are you going?" River shot her question at me with all the force of a bullet.

I couldn't even look at her right now. My mind was too full of the emotional shrapnel from that grenade Walker just lobbed at us. But was it a grenade if it had been sitting there unnoticed for a decade? This was more like a landmine.

"To call my fucking lawyer."

"Shouldn't I?—"

"Let him cool off, siren," Bishop murmured, interrupting whatever River had been about to say and snagging her hand as she attempted to follow me.

"Get your hands off my wife," I snarled.

Fuck, where had that come from?

I kept my eyes locked on the place where Bishop touched her, fury spiking when neither of them made any attempt to move. By any measuring stick, it was innocent, but the protectiveness behind the gesture needled me. Did he really think I'd hurt her?

River's voice snapped me back to the present.

"I'm not your wife."

"This paperwork says different."

"How convenient. I'm sure you're pleased as punch to know you've got me even more chained to you now."

I let out a huff but couldn't deny the twinge of possessive energy the title of husband sent through me. Legally, she was mine, but it didn't make a damn bit of difference, not now that I'd made her hate me. And maybe fear me. Dammit. That was the part that was really bothering me. We hadn't spoken, not really, since the night with the Russian. I had no fucking idea what was going through her head when she looked at me. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell it wasn't remotely friendly, let alone wifely .

"I'll take care of it."

"Will you? I want a divorce, Cross."

That word hit me with the force of a freight train. I'd always said when I married it would be for keeps—of course, that was before I realized marriage was never in the cards for me. It's how I'd managed to stay a bachelor into my late twenties. Then the night I spent with River changed everything. I'd had to give her up, and when I did that, I knew my one chance at forever was gone. No one would ever measure up. No one would make me feel the way she had. And even if they had, they'd be in the line of fire just like she would have been. So why try?

The devil on my shoulder started crooning in my ear, and fuck me if he wasn't speaking a world of sense.

But she's already in their crosshairs now. Divorcing her won't change that. She'll always be tied to you, which means they'll always be able to use her against you. So you might as well keep her. It's what you always wanted. You ruined her life without having to do a damn thing. Might as well enjoy the flames while you burn together.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You want some easy uncontested divorce? You're not getting it."

Her eyes flashed with green fire, and I could tell she immediately jumped to the conclusion that painted me in the worst light. "You just want my shares. Figures the thing that blows up my entire life is the same thing that brings you joy. I bet you see this as your saving grace."

"So what if I do?"

Only River could be so fucking wrong and so completely right all at the same time. I hadn't even considered the shares, to be honest. I'd been too wrapped up in the part where she'd been mine for the last ten years and neither of us knew about it. But now that she'd mentioned it, it was a good cover. Keeping the shares would give me the excuse I needed to contest the divorce while I tried to win her back. I'd had her heart once; I could have it again.

Probably.

Okay, maybe not. But I had to try. I wasn't going to let her go again without a fight. It nearly killed me the last time.

She huffed and shook her head. "I'm getting my divorce, Cross."

"The hell you are."

"We'll see about that," she grumbled, standing up and walking to the window, keeping her back to me. This time Bishop let her go, but he continued to watch us with the intensity of a hawk waiting to strike.

I almost went to her but held myself back. She was madder than a nest of hornets, and while fighting with her made me want her even more, I had a call to make.

My phone was to my ear as soon as I left the kitchen, McCreedy answering on the first ring. I didn't give the man time to so much as speak.

"Why the fuck was I not your first call?"

"I'm sorry, Cross. Walker asked me to get everything in order so he and River could get hitched. I... Hell, I thought you must've known."

I scoffed, striding into my suite and slamming the door behind me. It was too early in the day for a drink, but I really fucking needed one. "You thought I knew? You thought I'd go to the lengths I've gone to keep this place after she was given most of our goddamned legacy while knowing I'm already entitled to half of everything she owns?"

"It's your signature on the certificate. I know your serial killer scrawl better than my own handwriting."

"She wants a divorce."

"I've already started drawing up the papers."

"Throw them away."

"What?"

"I want to keep her."

He was silent for a beat, letting my admission hang there like a pendulum suspended in time. "Your brother wants to marry her."

"Well, that's too damn bad, now isn't it?"

I could practically feel the wheels spinning in my attorney's head. "You don't even like the woman, Cross."

"My feelings for her aren't any of your business. I only need you to handle the paperwork."

The soft sound of a pen tapping on paper filled the line before he asked, "This about that Russian?"

He thought I was falling back on Walker's excuse, marrying her to keep her the hell away from Dominik. I could work with that. It was damn near the truth anyway.

"Sure."

"And when she files for herself?"

"Bury her in legal red tape. Buy me as much time as you can. She'll come around."

Probably. There was no escaping that knowing little voice in my head as it parroted my earlier thoughts.

"I guess she's safer married to one of you. But she might kill you herself at this rate."

"I'll take the risk."

He sighed. "And Walker? What about him?"

"He'll get over it."

"Doubtful."

Too damn bad.

"He doesn't have a fucking choice."

River was mine. She had been for ten years. Now I just had to dig my heels in and do the work to make her want to stay that way.

I just wasn't sure how I'd get her to change her mind about me after everything I'd done to push her away. But that was future me's problem. Dominik had his sights set on my wife, and if he was going to be deterred, he had to know she wouldn't be lured away from me. That couldn't happen if she visibly hated me. Unfortunately, it would take time to repair the damage I'd caused, and that was the one thing I didn't have. Yet.

Money couldn't buy me love, but it sure as hell could buy me time.

"Send a press release announcing our marriage. Every fucking person in the state of Texas needs to know she's mine. Especially Dominik Volkov."

Desperate times called for desperate measures never rang so true.

"That's not really my job, Cross."

"It is now. I pay you obscene amounts of money, Jackson. You'll do whatever the fuck I tell you to do."

We'd had enough of these conversations over the years that I knew the vein in his temple would be pulsing while he mentally called me every vile name in the book. But all he said was, "I'll take care of it."

"See that you do."

"Anything else?"

I didn't give myself time to second-guess my impulse. If I was going to war with Volkov, I may not survive it. "Set up a trust for her. If anything happens to me, I want to know she'll be taken care of."

"She's your wife?—"

"The money is hers, even if the divorce goes through."

McCreedy blew out a heavy breath. "Oh, hell. You don't hate her. You're fucking in love with her."

I hung up on him.