Chapter 17
(SASHA)
A muscle works in his jaw and I can tell some part of him wants to play defiant, but he obeys. He sinks into the closet chair and crosses his arms over his chest looking exhausted. I can see the lines beneath his brown siren eyes. He is nervous, but that doesn’t stop him from meeting my gaze. I see the familiar resentment in his eyes, and that surly look of his gives me butterflies.
“Do you have any concerns about the wedding?” I ask, not sure why I did because this is a sham wedding. We are not about to start doing coupley things like picking out flowers or the flavour of the wedding cake together. This is a business deal. Even then, I wait for his answer, curious to know what he will say.
“I don’t have a guest list if that’s what you want to know.” He says, regarding me without averting his gaze.
“No? Don’t you want to invite anyone p>
“No,” he snickers. “And even if I was, I wouldn’t introduce them to you p>
“So, no family p>
“No.” he gazes at me harshly before looking away.
I mean to ask him no family, not even his baby’s father. But on second thought, I choose not to. I’m curious to know what the deal is with him though. Since Tyler expressed an interest in terminating the pregnancy and is not openly telling me about it, I suspect it has something ill to do with the alpha.
I’m fine with him terminating it. The fact that he’s pregnant had played its role and made Tyler more vulnerable, easy to manipulate even. Now that he is here and I’ve finally got what I wanted, I don’t care what he chooses to do with the pregnancy.
I clear my throat and talk softly. “The wedding is set to happen this week p>
“What?” he glares at me sharply. “Why so fast p>
“Time is crucial, remember p>
“Alright.” He says looking bored.
“Remember no one has to know this is a sham marriage. The only people who know the truth about it are my younger brother Chase, my mother, my father and Miles. It can’t get out that this is an arrangement. Everyone else needs to believe that it is true. You’re going to have to school your face and not glare at me like that in public.
“With how the wedding is rushed, don’t you think people will be suspicious?” He asks, ignoring what I just told him.
“My father is dying, and it’s no secret. We are going to let them know we’ve been seeing each other in secret to get married, but with the situation now we had to rush the wedding. They’ll think I’m sentimental and I want him to watch me walk down the aisle before he dies p>
“Aren’t you sentimental p>
I shoot him a look that doesn’t need an explanation.
“I’ve never been here before. Don’t you think that will raise suspicion? They’ve never seen me around here p>
“I’m a very private person, Tyler. Miles is the only person who knows about my love life besides my family, and that’s only because I trust him. No one else knows a thing about it p>
“Alright.” He swallows. “Rumour has it that you got a stepbrother p>
I suck in my lips. “Yes, Angelo. He can’t know about us either. He’s not a nice person. Avoid him p>
He narrows his eyes at me. I know that I’m the last person won should be rating people based on their niceness, but if I’m going to keep him safe, he has to stay away from Angelo.
“But, isn’t he your family p>
“No. He isn’t.” I hiss. “He only ended up in the Adonis Family because my father pitied him when he was a child and adopted him. He isn’t to be trusted. He wants to take my position as head of the syndicate. You stay away from him. Do you hear me p>
“Y…Yes.” He says, looking confused. He hesitates for a bit then asks again. “Won’t people question why you chose me of all the omegas to be your husband p>
I regard him closely. “Of course they will,” I say, running my gaze over him. “You’re young and beautiful. They’ll assume I picked you for your breeding abilities. Adonis’ people don’t marry for love. We marry so we can someday have heirs to inherit our fortune p>
“But we didn’t agree on that p>
“No, we didn’t, and won’t.” I bite my lip. “For now p>
“For now?” his voice rises, his eyes going wide like saucers. “Sasha, I’m never going to agree to that p>
“Easy there p>
“I would never have a child with you, Sasha. I’m not even remotely tempted. That will tie me to you forever. I only agreed to this because it’s temporary.” He blurts out.
The mention of that sends an irk prickling me. Ungrateful slob. “Do you have any idea how many omegas would want that given the chance p>
“I don’t care, Sasha. Knock them up all you want, but I’m not carrying your child,” he says, touching his stomach. “I already have enough problems as it is p>
“You still want to get rid of it p>
“Yes.” He answers immediately. “The earlier the better p>
“Whatever. Just do it after the wedding. I can’t risk you getting sick or dying before then p>
He rolls his eyes. “You’re all heart p>
Miles clears his throat, catching our attention. I was so engrossed in arguing with Tyler that I even forgot Miles was in the room. “Do you want me to show him his room p>
“Uhm…yeah, sure. That’d be great p>
Tyler gets to his feet and rubs his hands together. “We have separate rooms, right p>
He looks so worked up by that that my annoyance returns. Doesn’t he know what an honour it would be to share my bed? He clearly doesn’t. “Alright, you can have your own room, for now p>
“For now?” he scowls
“Yes. We wouldn’t have separate rooms once we are married. I can’t have housekeeping staff gossiping about us and let everyone know this is fake p>
“You never said we’d have to share a room p>