Merger (Triple Threat Book 3) (7 page)

“You’re all being naïve. What choice was there? I had to find a way to call off Faulkner, and his perfect little daddy’s girl was his Achilles’ heel. Any of you would have done the same.”

She held her breath, wondering if they would disagree or agree. She was unsurprised, though slightly disappointed, when both of his brothers nodded. Anger spurred her to ask, “Would you have tricked me into marriage by convincing me you were in love with me or something? Or would you have just been blunt about it and told me that if I didn’t marry you, both my father and I were probably going to meet unfortunate accidents?”

Sarah was the next to speak. “Roman would have told you bluntly. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He would have structured the deal whatever way was most advantageous for him, but he wouldn’t have lied to you about things he didn’t feel.” Sarah definitely understood why Lily was so angry. That was clear from her look of sympathy and the glare she darted in Dominic’s direction.

She turned her attention to Abby and Luka, waiting for one of them to answer. Luka was the first to speak up. “I probably wouldn’t have told you the full truth, but I would have maybe tried to keep it friendly.”

Abby snorted. “He wouldn’t have told you unless he absolutely had to, but I don’t think he would have tried to force you to marry him under the pretext of being in love with you.”

She shot a look at Dominic, struggling to hide the swell of victory she felt. “I think it’s clear they agree you did a shitty thing, Dominic.”

Before she could finish the glass of wine she’d stolen from him, he took it from her fingers and brought it to his lips, deliberately sipping from the same spot she had used. “If you hate me, why do you care about how I got you into the marriage to start with?”

She glared at him. “Because you lied to me. I would have preferred you just approach me and lay out the facts of the matter. I would have been blackmailed or coerced into the relationship, but at least I would have gone in with my eyes open and known exactly what kind of man you were from the start.”

He looked unconvinced. “But you still hate me, right?”

She plucked the wine glass from him again, swallowing the contents in one long gulp. “More than anything,” she said with conviction as she slammed the crystal glass onto the table hard enough to make Avriella wince.

After that awkward, disastrous family dinner, Dominic seemed to go out of his way to avoid her, which suited Lily just fine. She occasionally felt lonely in the huge house, but she wouldn’t have sought out Dominic for company anyway. She tried to settle into a routine, and she had visited her father twice, both times to assure him she was fine and encourage him to continue to cooperate.

It was clearly having a stressful effect on him, and he looked his age for the first time that she could ever remember. She was worried about him, but she didn’t see a solution at the moment. She was trapped as Dominic’s hostage/wife, and her father was forced to do his bidding. Until she could find a way around that, the best she could do was to reassure her father she was just fine.

It had been almost two weeks now that she had been married to Dominic, and nearly that long since she’d shared his bed or even glanced at him with desire. She couldn’t deny there were nights when she woke in a sweating, gasping heap with sensual images of Dominic still dancing through her mind, but she hoped that the longer she went without contact, the sooner they would dissolve completely, taking any remnants of lust or deeper emotions with them. She didn’t want to feel anything for Dominic, and she hoped she was well on her way to doing that. It was a constant struggle to remember to keep her heart hardened to him, but she was confident it would soon feel completely natural to do so.

She was in the pool that evening, preferring to swim after dark in the heated water, since she liked the light show provided by the lights under the water. It was also a time of day she usually had to herself and didn’t have to worry about running into Dominic, since he was supposed to be at his club. Whether he really was or not wasn’t her concern, and she always reminded herself that whenever she experienced a surge of jealousy at the idea of him with another woman.

Despite telling herself that so often she had almost started to believe it, the sight of him entering the house with another woman was enough to send her anger skyrocketing. She watched in stunned disbelief as Dominic stood with his arm around the waist of a gorgeous blonde, her hair stacked artfully atop her head, and her boobs clearly created in a surgical theater.

She was hanging all over Lily’s husband, and a surge of anger shot through her as she moved from floating lazily on her back to a rapid breaststroke that took her to the nearest ladder. She pulled herself out of the pool, grabbed a towel, and strode into the house just in time to see the blonde plant a deep, wet kiss on Dominic’s mouth.

“Get out.”

The couple jumped apart, Claudia looking startled, while Dominic was merely amused. The coldhearted bastard. He would have her full attention in a moment, but she was getting rid of the blonde first.

“Dominic, who is this?” asked the other woman in a purr as she placed her palm against his chest, slipping two fingers into the slit provided by his button-down to stroke his skin.

“I’m his wife, and it’s obvious you’re his mistress. I don’t care what you do with him, but you’re not doing it here in my house.”

Claudia had stiffened slightly. She looked stricken when she looked at Dominic, clearly expecting him to deny the words. “Is she really your wife?”

Dominic shrugged. “Sort of, I suppose.”

“I might be your unwilling wife, but I’m not going to put up with this disrespect and allow you to humiliate me in my house with your floozy.”

He looked startled. “Technically, it’s my house, Lily.”

She glared at him. “Wrong, dear husband. You didn’t have me sign a prenuptial agreement when you swept me off my feet, and our state uses community property. Everything you own also belongs to me, including this house. Now get rid of the whore.”

Claudia drew herself away from Dominic, squaring her shoulders. “How dare you speak to me that way?”

“How dare you try to fuck my husband when I’m in the same room, or at least in the same building? Get out now.”

Dominic seemed to be enjoying the confrontation, and he stood back with his arms over his chest, making no effort to hide his amusement. “I think I’ll let you ladies sort this out for yourself. If you’re going to catfight, could you hold off until I can fill the pool with Jell-O?”

Lily glared at him. “Only one of us is a lady, and I’m not feeling particularly ladylike at the moment.” She turned her attention back to the blonde. “Leave now before I tear out every strand of bleached blonde hair from your head. You don’t want things to get physical, or you might puncture a boob.” They were brave words, especially considering she’d never been involved in a catfight in her life, but with the adrenaline rushing through her, she could easily envision herself taking down the other woman, who had a few inches and several pounds on her.

Looking indecisive, the blonde glanced at Dominic again before looking back at Lily. “I’m going to go, Dominic. Call me when you get rid of the wife.”

Lily smiled at her, though there was no friendliness in the gesture. “I’m afraid that’s going to be a long wait, Blondie, because we’re in it for the long haul.”

She looked confused as she stumbled toward the door on her too-high heels, clearly trying to absorb the strange relationship Dominic and Lily shared. “Join the club,” she muttered as she slammed the door behind the other woman and locked it to keep her from entering again.

Taking a deep breath, she turned back to face Dominic, who stood where he had been before. She strode closer to him, crossing the distance between them. “You’re such an ass. I don’t care who you bang, but you’re not going to do it in the home I’m forced to live in.”

He arched a brow. “I think you do care about who I bang, Lily. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have threatened to rip every hair out of Claudia’s head.”

“Bleached blonde hair,” she corrected, scowling at him. “I don’t care what you do with your dick, but if I have to be your wife, I’m not going to put up with you treating me like crap. You don’t get to fuck your mistresses under my roof.”

“Again, I tell you it’s my house, and not yours.”

She laughed at him. “And I’ll tell you my sister is married to the best divorce attorney in our state. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Carmen Firenze, but she handles high-profile cases, and she has a very successful return rate. I’ve consulted with her, and I truly do own half of everything you have. We were a little fuzzy on the criminal endeavors, but I’m content to lay claim to just your legitimate business, along with this house.”

His mouth tightened, and all hints of amusement fled. “You’ve been discussing me with a divorce lawyer?”

She nodded, feeling smug. He didn’t have to know the meeting had occurred with Carmen, Lily, and Lily’s sister Brenda over coffee as part of their usual weekly meeting time. Brenda had gone for drinks, so she still had no clue that Lily was married to a mobster, but her sister knew the marriage was already in trouble. “Carmen assures me that if we end up divorcing, I’ll definitely get half of everything you have, but she could probably get me even more. If we had a kid, I’d get so much that you’d be crying, but that’s never happening.”

He glared at her. “It might, since I never bothered to use a condom.”

She rolled her eyes. “I might’ve been completely immersed in a miasma of hormones, but I wasn’t that far gone. I’m on the pill, and there won’t be any little Rinaldis coming from me. You lost that chance.” A sharp pang went through her as she realized this marriage to Dominic meant she would probably never have children of her own, unless he fathered them. That was an unacceptable idea, since it was a business transaction, and she’d just have to let go of that dream.

She squared her shoulders. “The reality is this, Dominic. You might have me over a barrel, so to speak, to protect my father, so I can’t leave you. I’m stuck as your wife. You’re also stuck as my husband, and as my husband without a prenuptial agreement, which I wouldn’t have signed, you’re also over a financial barrel. Not to mention, things could get messy and public. I’m your wife, so I can’t be forced to testify against you, but I could always choose to do so. So if we’re stuck in this arrangement, it needs to be mutually beneficial to both of us, and we both need to realize we have leverage over the other.”

He seemed be striving to look unconcerned. “It’s just money. I can always make more.”

She smiled at him, revealing just a hint of pity she didn’t really feel. “From the first few days we spent together, I’ve known how important Triple Threat is to you, and how much it means to you since you started it with your brothers and made it as successful as it is. I know you don’t want to give half of that to me, because I promise you I’ll sell it to the first person I can find who will make your lives miserable. They might not have controlling interest, but they’d have enough of a stake in the business to make running it a nightmare for all of you.”

She shrugged as his mouth tightened with anger. “So as long as you play nice, I’ll play nice, and we’ll pretend like we have a civilized union. That means no more bringing your whores back to the house to fuck them.”

His arms dropped from his chest, and he walked closer to her, seeming to have a hint of grudging admiration in his gaze. “You have more balls than I credited you for, Lily.”

She smiled at him, though it was more of a bitter slash across her face than any sign of amusement or welcome. “It’s funny, because you have considerably less balls than I estimated.”

His jaw clenched. “That’s because you keep busting them, darling wife.”

She shrugged. “And I’ll continue to do so as needed. If we can return to our previous arrangement of avoiding each other, and you keep your girlfriends away from the house, and I’ll keep my boyfriends away from the house, I don’t see why this can’t work. We don’t have much choice in the matter, do we?”

He was clearly angry again, though she wasn’t sure why. He stopped in front of her, glaring down at her. “I guess you have it all figured out?”

She shrugged, clinging to her confidence and a bit of false bravado in the face of his anger. “I’ve had some time to work things out, it’s true. I’ve accepted I’m stuck in this marriage, but I don’t have to be completely at your mercy.”

He gave her a cool smile. “That’s good for you, because I’m not known for mercy.”

“I’m shocked.” As she uttered the words, he lifted his hand to take hold of strands of her hair, wrapping it around his fist. She struggled to control her breathing and corral her escalating heart rate at the simple touch. It was an unfortunate truth that she was still attracted to the man she hated, but he didn’t need to know that.

“You’ve thought of everything, I guess.”

She shrugged.

“You left out one tiny detail.”

She arched her brow. “What’s that?”

He bent his head, his lips getting threateningly close to hers. “If I can’t have sex with Claudia, then I’ll just have to have sex with you.”

She snorted. “I didn’t say you couldn’t have sex with the floozy. I just don’t want you to do it while I am nearby. It’s really disrespectful to me.”

He ignored those words. “The problem with your stipulation is when I want to have sex at home, you’re the only one I’m allowed to have it with.”

She glared at him. “That was nowhere in the deal.”

“I’m amending the terms.”

She turned her head before he could kiss her, feeling his lips graze against her jaw. She wasn’t certain if he was bluffing or serious, but she wasn’t about to back down. Keeping her voice disinterested, she said, “Fine. You want to fuck, we’ll fuck. That’s all it is though.”

“Sure it is,” he agreed in a mocking fashion before trying to kiss her again.

She put her hand over her mouth. “No kissing. That involves a level of intimacy and love that doesn’t exist between us. If we’re going to change the agreement to be fuck buddies along with married to each other, there are still some rules in place. Just sex, and no more trying to manipulate me. I’m stuck here, so there’s no reason to try to convince me of your deep, overwhelming feelings for me. Keep it physical, and we’ll be fine.”

He seemed to mull over the suggestion for a moment before his hand fell away, and he stepped back. “I’ll have to give that some thought, Lily.”

She kept her expression blank, as though it didn’t slightly sting to have him rejecting her when he had been the one trying to initiate. “Take all the time you want. I couldn’t care less.” She moved around him, walking past him in a careful fashion to avoid touching him in any way. She froze when his hand dropped to her forearm, arresting her escape. She looked at him as coldly as she could. “What? Have you thought it over already?”

His expression was completely serious, leaving her no doubt he was sincere. “Just so we’re clear, there won’t be any boyfriends for you. I won’t have my wife screwing around behind my back.”

Anger surged through her, and she sniffed at him loudly. “If you want to play that game, then no mistresses for you either. I really don’t care what you do with Claudia, but whatever rules you impose on me, I’m imposing on you too. If I can’t have a boyfriend, you don’t get a girlfriend. I guess you’re stuck with your wife,” she said with a sneer as she tore her arm away from him.

“You’re sure this is the path you want to take, Lily?”

She didn’t pause, but she did shrug. “I don’t really care either way. Whether I’m having sex with you or myself, it’s about the same. It’s all about getting off and nothing else. Just think about what you want to do, but for my part, I hope you embrace the idea of celibacy.”