Chapter 86 86

Chapter 86 86
ADELINE
“Why?” Was all I could think of in that moment, it was all I really wanted to know. Why then did he give my father the loan. If he knew enough about him to know his connection to aunty Dahlia, then he definitely had to know his history with debt.
Chills ran down my spine in quick succession, freezing me to the bone till all I could do was sit there and try to understand what the actual fuck was going on. Did he know? Was his plan to have me strapped to him all along? But why? Why would he do that? He didn’t even know me, most people didn’t at the time and those that did, pretended like they didn’t.
“Why what exactly?” His voice was low, like he was testing the waters, keeping a lot of cards close to his chest, I didn’t like that and it only made me wonder just how much the man knew about me before we even signed the contract, it made me wonder what that meant for our ‘chance’ meeting, was it even coincidental?!
The beeping from the monitors grew louder by the seconds, or maybe it was just the heavy silence that had settled between us as he waited for my response. Filtering through the questions and trying to pick one that stood out the most, one that mattered most, was like trying to pick between your favourite meals in a buffet.
“Why did you agree to grant my father the loan?” The endearment left a sour taste in my mouth. That man didn’t deserve to be called anything associated with some dignity. He was not only absent most of the time, especially when he was needed the most, but he somehow always found a way to rope us into his mess every single time.
“Because he asked and he is or rather, was a close friend of my father,” his nose scrunched in disgust, a feeling I knew all too well and didn’t associate with a lot of people but my father definitely made the list of asssociates, “So, it was just a friendly loan.”
Friendly loan but I had to pay for it with five years of my life while the debtor lived out his miserable life without the burden of waking up to live a life that wasn’t his. Yeah, quite friendly indeed.
“If it was just that, why ask me to marry you? Why not just forgive, it was barely quarter of a million, that’s a drop in the ocean for you.” I winced at how entitled I must have come off. I mean it wasn’t my money, he could do whatever he wished with it, it was his afterall, but it wasn’t too far from the truth. The Archers were swimming in the kind of money that meant you and your generation never had to work a day in your life if you were lucky enough to marry into the family.
“Like I said, my father was close friends with the man, I didn’t like my father and I sure as hell didn’t give two shits about his close friend either.” He clipped, his gaze heated, the hatred loud enough to stun anyone into silence. What did he ever do? My father was a stain on the face of the earth, granted, but what could he possible have done to Grayson to draw out such a reaction from a man who gave ‘resting bitch face’ and ‘poker face’ a run for their money,
“More reason you should let it go. Why saddle yourself with the daughter of a man you hate so much? If it was so hard to let the loan go, you could have even asked for something else, there were so many options, it makes no sense.” Even thinking about it was giving me a headache, why go through all that stress when you could be living your life like nothing ever happened. What if I was like my father and just planned to extort him with the marriage like his ex wife, Scarlett.
“I don’t regret any of it.”
“It’s not about regret, Grayson.” I groaned! He wasn’t getting the picture, almost like his mind was rejecting it. “It’s about intention. What if I decided to use the marriage against you.”
“I had a prenup done.”
“That’s not possible, you need my signa-” and just like the cogs in an old clock, it all clicked in place.
“You’d be surprised how much money can do. You just have to find a judge willing enough to overlook the fact that your signature was tweaked a little.” He added with so much pride. There was no point arguing with him. He wouldn’t see how…unsettling that announcement was.
“So why marry me at all? You had nothing to lose by letting go and more to lose by agreeing and being tied to me by vows we don’t even mean.
He took a deep breath, harsh and sudden, his eyes watched my every move like he was trying to memorize every single action and reaction on my face, “Because you were the perfect pun at the time.”
“Perfect pun for what? I don’t get you. Just spit it out.”
“I needed someone Dahlia cherished more than life. Knowing her, you can see how difficult that might be to find, and there you were, being handed to me on a platter of gold for the taking and all I had to do was say yes to a gorgeous woman in her own prime. There was no way I could say no, not when I finally saw a way to get Dahlia to feel even a fraction of what we felt.
“I’m sorry we?” Who else was in on this charade?!
“Yes, my mother and I. Dahlia was the reason my father and mother separated and why till this day my mother has been such a shadow of herself, so full of hatred.” it was all anyone saw firs
t before they got brave to find out more.