“Okay, but I dunno.” He shrugs. “Doesn’t seem like the kind of job a gold digger would have. And what’s Dad thinking? I could see why he might set you up with some heiress or socialite, but a veterinary nurse?”

I sigh. “Technically she is an heiress, there’s just fuck all left of Edison Holdings to inherit, and the old man was fond of her father. Seems he bumped into her mother and brother at some event, and they got to talking. Turns out their company’s failing and they’re looking for some investors.”

Elijah groans. “He’s not investing in their company, is he?”

I shake my head. “He made it clear that’s firmly off the table. But a marriage into the James family lends their failing business credibility, and it offers a level of assurance—accurate or not—to potential investors.”

“So that’s what her family gets out of it, but what about her?” Elijah asks.

I shrug. All my research led me to the same conclusion Elijah just made. She lives a modest life and hasn’t taken any share of the profits from Edison Holdings for the past eleven years, so I can’t imagine she’s suddenly decided to marry for money. “I dunno, buddy. Maybe she wants kids and is fed up with the dating pool. Or maybe she wants to give up work and be a stay-at-home wife.”

Mason peels the label from his beer bottle and stares at me. “So you’re considering this thing?”

I draw a breath through my nose. There’s no denying that the relentless dating is wearing thin, and even the inevitable sex at the end of those dates is no longer enough to get the blood pumping in my veins the way it used to. I think about my mom and what a wonderful grandma she would’ve been, and how my dad is desperate to know he has someone to pass his company down to after his sons. I’m not getting any younger. I feel like I’ve dated almost every unmarried woman in the tri-state area, and not one of them has held my attention long enough to get past a fourth date. What the fuck do I have to lose? “Enough to go to this meeting on Thursday and check out Melanie Edison and her motivations in person, yeah.”

Mason snorts a laugh, but Elijah pats me on the back.

I take another swig of my beer and wonder why I didn’t order something stronger. “I’m gonna have Drake come with me.”

“Probably a good idea,” Elijah says. “Contracts are his forte.”

I’m inviting him because he’s as good at reading people as I am, and maybe for a little moral support. I arch an eyebrow at Elijah. “You’re saying they’re not mine?”

“You thrive in the courtroom, Nathan. You always have. Center stage is where you and Mase are at your most comfortable. Contracts are a backroom job for guys who love details, like Drake and me.”

Mason nods his agreement. “Hey, speaking of brothers, has anyone spoken to Maddox this week?”

An unexpected wave of sadness hits me in my chest, and I clear my throat. “I spoke to him a few days ago, why?”

“Just checking. He said he was headed to Florence last I spoke with him, but that was over a week ago. He didn’t answer my call this morning. You think he’s okay?”

I nod. Maddox is known to go off-grid for days or even weeks at a time when the mood strikes him. “Yeah, he said he was good. But he changed his mind about Florence and he’s in Berlin now instead.”

Elijah whistles. “That kid sure gets around. Lucky bastard.”

“Yeah,” I mumble, even though we all know there is nothing at all lucky about our youngest brother.

Chapter

Five

MELANIE

“Bye, Cass. See you tomorrow.” My colleague and I part ways and I head for the subway. My feet ache, protesting every step I take, and I contemplate getting a cab but they’re so expensive. Tyler does me a solid letting me live in his gorgeous apartment for barely any rent, so I’m able to afford the occasional luxury, but I decide against it and keep walking. The sight of the familiar car up ahead makes me groan. I wish I could turn and walk—no, run the other way, but he’s already jogging toward me.

“What do you want, Bryce?”

He pulls a fake sad face. “I wanted to apologize for how I acted the other day, sis. I was stressed and …” He flicks his hair out of his eyes. “I’m really worried. About Mom. About Ash.”

Then stop gambling and making terrible business decisions, Bryce! That is exactly what I should say, but seventeen years of conditioning are hard to break. Bryce is a bully and a coward, and he will never change.

“Let me give you a ride home.” He smiles with all the charm of a cobra.

“It’s fine. I can take the subway.”

His demeanor changes in an instant, and the smile turns to a snarl. “Don’t make a scene, Melanie, and get in the fucking car.”

With a roll of my eyes, I do as he asks. It’s easier than arguing with him. He always gets what he wants anyway, and he has ever since we were kids. I shrug off my jacket and sink back into the passenger seat of Bryce’s BMW. At least his fancy car is comfortable.

He’s been driving for a few minutes when he brings up the real reason he showed up. “Did you give any more thought to my proposal?”

That word sends a shiver down my spine. He makes it sound so creepy. “To marry Nathan James and have his babies?” I snap.

He sighs and shoots me a sympathetic look, which I can only assume is fake because he has the emotional intelligence of pond scum. “Look, I know I might not have sold it very well, but this doesn’t have to be a long-term thing. If we play our cards right, you can be divorced within a year. Two at most.”

“And how will that help the business, Bryce? Nathan James is a hotshot lawyer. So is his brother. Even if he weren’t, his family has a team of lawyers. You think they aren’t going to have a cast-iron prenup?”

“Course they will.” He snorts. “But we’ll insist on a morality clause to protect our family’s good name.”

My brow pinches in a frown. “A what?”

“A morality clause. It basically means that if he does anything to tarnish your good name, then you can walk away with a pile of cash.”

“What the hell could he do to tarnish my name?” I snap, reminded of the rumors he and my mother spread about me when I took a break from college. At the time I was too brokenhearted to see how ridiculous their scheme was or how fucked up it was that they thought the rumors were more palatable than the truth.

“It’s mostly used for cheating spouses,” he says, giving a dismissive wave of his hand.

“But he might not cheat, especially if he has one of those clauses in the prenup. He’s not stupid,” I insist. I guess I don’t like the idea of my husband cheating, even if the marriage is fake.

He gently squeezes my thigh. “Then, my dear sister, we make him cheat.”

I blink at him. “Make him cheat?”

“Melanie, darling, no offense but you aren’t his usual caliber of woman,” he says with a cruel sneer, and in my mind’s eye I see myself punching him in the mouth. “All we have to do is present him with a beautiful woman he can’t resist, and I’m sure he’ll take the bait.”

I press my lips together, offended on so many levels that I can’t think straight. “Like a honey trap?”

“Exactly.”

“No, Bryce. If I agree to marry this guy, I am not going to encourage him to cheat on me. Why the hell would I even do that? It’s crazy.”

“He’s going to cheat anyway, Mel. But this guarantees us evidence of his crime.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “How can you be so sure?”

He glares at me. “Because he’s Nathan James. Do you have any idea the type of man he is? He dates a different beautiful woman every week. Supermodels. Actresses. Whores. He’s also a lawyer for the Irish Mob and the Cosa Nostra, and fuck knows who else. He is not a good man. And so what if we take some of his millions? It’s pocket change to a man like him.”

Turning away from him, I stare out the window. One minute Bryce is telling me what a catch he found for me in Nathan James, and the next what a terrible man he is. I don’t know which is true, but I do know that Bryce doesn’t really care. He’d marry me off to Lucifer himself if he thought he could make a quick buck out of it.