Conner kept her busy last night in bed. He’d ordered dinner to their suite because he didn’t want any interruptions. They’d hit a roadblock in their relationship. He knew they’d broken through it. Conner wanted to continue with it. He knew he must have his way. Or Merina would suffer from her own ill-conceived plans. Merina didn’t understand that she had a beautiful and intelligent mind. But she took risks and lacked the common sense to avoid the destructive behavior that brought her back into his life. Conner didn’t want to lose her again, so he’d long ago decided he’d use her fantasies and his predilections to his advantage. Merina needed a partner and a parent. He’d decided he’d give her both. “Meri, are you ready? The car will arrive any minute for everyone. The plane’s waiting on the tarmac. We need to go.” “Wait, I don’t remember what happened to my new identification. Do you have it or your father? I haven’t seen it.”
“I tell you Helena she’s crazy. The woman stalked Conner all the way here and forced him to marry her. Then she accused Galen of trying to rape her. He’s in jail.” Gabriella said. She pretended to cry over the phone to a friend she’d garnered during her time here. Helena Loen latched onto Gabriella, believing she would rise in the esteem of their social circle if everyone saw her hanging with Gabriella. “I thought your father was in jail.” Helen asked to clarify the facts. It seemed she couldn’t keep pace with Gabriella’s words. “He is. Conner’s assistant accused him of attacking her. Then she quit and left. I can’t get either one of them out of jail because I’m a woman. Galen’s mother is here, and she has a lawyer working on it. But it’ll take time. I don’t know if I can survive Conner’s exes.” She desired Helena to perceive her as the victim, deceived by a man with no heart, and a conniving home wrecker. Helena’s lack of interest made it diffic
When the plane landed back at the airport, they arrived outside of the city. Merina half expected the police to be there waiting to arrest her. After last night, she struggled to believe Conner’s words. She knew there she would get nowhere if she confronted him. She’d tried to confront her father again, but they’d shut her down. Merina wanted closure, but how she got she didn’t know. Conner wanted her to stop trying to get revenge. He’d offered her a different life. He’d called it. She felt tired of it all and Merina had such a vague plan after she got her revenge that it not sensible person would call it a plan. Merina didn’t know whether she’d keep the business she ran right now, or if she’d sell it. She’d created it to get the skills she needed to enact her revenge. “You’re over thinking again Meri.” Conner leaned in close and said into her ear. She could tell he found it funny without looking. “One of us must use their brains or we’ll be lost.”
Merina followed Conner into his wing of the mansion. “You’ve made yourself comfortable here.” He’d redecorated it from when she’d last been there. That didn’t surprise her. “If I had to live here, it’s better without the past haunting me. We’ll talk about that later. We have more pressing matters to discuss.” Merina’s initial impression of Conner’s words was that he clung to them like a dog with a bone. “What do we have to discuss?” Merina settled into a comfortable chair in the sitting room they were in after he’d shown her most of his living space. She directed his attention to the sofa across the way. He perched on the arm of that sofa. “I don’t want our personal business explained in huge detail to everyone and his uncle. With that said, I do want everyone to know that we’re married, and we won’t divorce anytime soon. There’s a party coming up tomorrow night and we’ll attend it.” “Oh? We’re attending a party, fine. Who wi
“Your job is to clear out this apartment. Bring everything here. Any documentation, electronics, and business-related things you’ll secure in the storage room here off my office. Clothing and personal items will go to my suite. No one will speak of what you’ve handled or what you’ve done with it. Settle the rental agreement and pay whatever they want. Please finish it by day’s end.” Conner said to his new personal assistant. His father kept a list of potential, vetted candidates available, and he’d hired the next on the list who accepted sight unseen. This woman was young and pretty. She had stars in her eyes. She hadn’t arrived until after Conner and Merina entered their wing of the house. “May I ask who is moving in sir? I need the name of someone who stops us. Is it a lover or a relative?” “It’s my wife. The name the apartment is in is either Summer O’Neil or Merina MacGregor. Her legal name was Merina MacGregor.” “Thank you, sir. Wasn’t my p
Merina didn’t get naked. She already felt imprisoned. Her feeling became a reality when Merina found herself locked in Conner’s wing of the O’Keefe mansion. Merina felt like someone had thrown ice water over her when she realized Conner’s words were true. He didn’t trust her, and he had taken her freedom from her until she played this game by his rules. Did she want to play by his rules? Would it help her? He claimed she’d be happier, but did he say that to loll her into doing what he wanted? Did the unspoken advantages exceed her expectations? Her mind went over everything on repeat. She should hate him after all the years their families had acted as adversaries in everything. Without that, he shouldn’t have desired to keep her in this manner. Conner should’ve had her arrested and got rid of her. He appeared to pity her. Conner wanted to change her. But could she change? That train of thought brought her to his words about her being like his mother
Conner led Merina in their bedroom. This had always been his domain, and now she’d be part of it. He sat her down on the side of the enormous bed. Conner stood over her because he wanted her attention, so he had nothing in the room distracting from their conversation. He’d get to those things later. “I think we need to figure out what’s changing for both of us. Conner, do you want to attend this party? It’s okay, here’s the situation. They will expect Gabriella or some other socialite. I’m not a member of this social scene anymore and I won’t be welcome. Are you prepared for the damage to your reputation from being married to me that they will heap on you? Lillian and Galen’s campaign against me went far beyond isolating me from my father.” Merina had to steam roll over Conner to make her point. She was toxic to other people’s reputations if they tried to give her a break or help her recover from thinking about social pariah. “I don’t care. They mus
“I came into the office a few times early and late. Because I wanted to catch you doing something wrong. You weren’t there, and I didn’t make my presence known. Gabriella was in the office. How she got the passwords? I’m not sure, but she used your computer to access our computers. I’m assuming she did that to find out what I wasn’t telling her. Why? I’ll assume to give information to her father, or the uncle. Whoever he is, who’s pretending to be her father. It’s so strange. But my father has the evidence now, and he’s passed it on to the authorities. We’ll pretend we don’t know and when the authorities process the information. They’ll have to answer for a lot. Well, you know how this goes better than me, don’t you? Why didn’t you tell me what your specialty was? We could have involved fewer people. If only you were honest, things would’ve changed. This could have ended earlier if Gabriella didn’t have access to me or the company’s information. Conner shared with his wife