by Trisha Grace
Contents
Dedication
Synopsis
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Author's Note
More from Trisha Grace
Other Books by Trisha
Connect with Trisha
About Trisha Grace
To Jesus, for choosing to come and die for me.
To the greatest husband in the world, you’re the greatest blessing to me.
Arranged
© 2018 Trisha Grace
Arranged marriage in the twenty-first century. What could go wrong?
Everything.
Hayley Espel has been told her whole life that she will be marrying Julian Nicholson. Their parents started Espel and Nicholson Holdings, and their union will only strengthen the company. Hayley doesn’t care about the business. She’s been in love with Julian for as long as she can remember. She would marry him even if he didn’t have a single cent to his name.
Julian, however, hates being arm-twisted into marrying Hayley. He will never trust an Espel, and he makes it clear to Hayley that he couldn’t care less about their marriage vows.
Heartbroken, Hayley is ready to walk away.
But one moment is all it takes to dismantle Julian’s and Hayley’s perfect lives. Can Hayley and Julian’s already frail marriage survive all that lies ahead of them?
Chapter One
ARRANGED MARRIAGE IN the twenty-first century.
Hayley’s friends had thought she was crazy, and they’d tried to talk her out of it.
“You have the looks. You’re an heiress. You could have whoever you want, Hayley,” her best friend, Leanne, had told her over and over. “You’re only twenty-three. You have time to date around first.”
But Hayley didn’t see the point of waiting or dating anyone else.
Hayley Espel had known the day would come. She had known Julian Nicholson since they were children. From as long as she could remember, her mother had told her that she and Julian would get married someday.
Julian’s family owned twenty percent of Espel and Nicholson Holdings, while Hayley and her father held thirty-one percent of the shares. Their parents wanted control of the company to stay within the family, so Hayley grew up with the knowledge that she would be marrying Julian when the time was right.
The Nicholsons and Espels used to be so close they spent many of their vacations and special holidays together. Then Mrs. Nicholson passed, and everything changed.
Their families cut all ties beyond dealings of the company.
She wasn’t sure what happened. Her parents had never spoken about it, and they’d always shot her down when she tried to ask. In time, she learned to leave the topic alone.
Despite whatever had happened to separate the families, both sides never wavered on the arranged marriage. “You’re meant for each other,” her mother had always told her.
Though Hayley hadn’t seen Julian in seventeen years, she’d read every article about him. She didn’t always appreciate the magazine covers—especially those gossip magazines—but she admired the man Julian had grown into.
He had a good eye for investment and built a reputation for turning around the worst of companies. Financial magazines had nothing but praise for him, and leisure magazines were always writing about the adventures he had gone on.
Hayley couldn’t help but be proud that she was marrying such an amazing man.
So nine months ago, she’d met Julian at their engagement party where he gave her the three-carat square diamond ring. They spent the night smiling at and making small talk with their guests, then went their separate ways at the end of the night.
She had to admit she’d been rather disappointed that she hadn’t been able to spend much time with Julian. But she figured they would have the rest of their lives to do so.
One month ago, she walked down the aisle and said “I do” to the only man she’d ever imagined herself with. Though the marriage was arranged, Hayley was determined to make it work.
After all, they were meant for each other.
But a month had already gone by, and Hayley hadn’t made much headway with Julian. They hadn’t spent much time together; they didn’t even have time to go on a honeymoon since Julian was so busy with work.
Hayley took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she strode toward Julian’s office. She probably shouldn’t drop by Julian’s office without first informing him, but she didn’t want to sit around and wait for her husband to have time for her.
No matter how busy he was, he had to stop for lunch, right?
Even if it was just an hour, they could talk. Since they had to spend the rest of their lives together, they really should get to know one another better.
Julian’s secretary, Charlene, wasn’t at her desk, so Hayley went on ahead. She knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer.
Then she skidded to a stop.
She’d thought Charlene was on a lunch break. She didn’t expect the secretary to spend her lunch break straddling her husband on the leather couch in his office.
Julian’s light brown hair that was longer at the top was still stylishly sleeked back despite his state of undress. His white button-down shirt was pulled out of his pants, the black buttons undone.
So that was why Julian hadn’t touched her since the wedding. They slept in the same bed, but he’d always flopped onto the bed and turned away from her. They kept to their own sides, neither crossing the invisible line drawn down the middle of their king-sized bed.
Hayley’s fingers twitched, but she forced herself to keep her hands relaxed instead of curling them into fists. It wasn’t easy, especially as she thought about how Julian had introduced Charlene to her at their wedding.
He’d invited his mistress to their wedding.
If her heart were made of glass, she was certain she would hear the explosive shattering. Julian had already etched several deep cracks in it over the last month, but she’d told herself to be patient. Things would get better. They had to.
She was so wrong.
“Hayley.” Julian set the secretary on the floor and sat up as if Hayley had interrupted a normal conversation.
Hayley didn’t have to give Charlene a look over. She already knew the woman was a bombshell. She could even remember the dress Charlene wore to their wedding.
Inhaling deeply through her nose, Hayley turned her face away while Charlene straightened her tight black dress, her head down. Then, without a word, the woman slipped past her and left the office.
“What are you doing here?” Julian’s tone was casual, so casual Hayley wondered if she’d imagined the entire scene she’d walked in on.
She swallowed the raging waves of anger and disap
pointment within her. It would be unseemly to throw a fit here. Though there was no one else in the office, word was bound to spread. “I thought I would surprise you and take you out for lunch.” She cracked a small smile. “But I see you’re busy.”
“I’m not now.” He stood and disappeared into the attached bathroom. “But I don’t have time for lunch.”
Was that frustration in his voice? Was he annoyed with her for interrupting his afternoon delight? Hayley clenched her teeth and swallowed her tears. She hadn’t expected Julian to love her immediately. She didn’t expect him to feel the same way about her that she did about him.
She knew of his philandering ways; she’d read all about it in the papers and seen the photos online. But she thought all that would stop once they were married. She thought he would at least respect her as a wife. She thought that with time, he would come to love her. They were, after all, meant for each other, no?
No. Leanne had been right. Hayley had been crazy to go along with her parents’ decision. She’d obeyed them her whole life, but she realized now that the marriage was a huge mistake.
“I’m sorry,” Hayley said while she reached for the Polaris pendant dangling from her necklace. She wanted to kick herself. She shouldn’t have apologized. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she hadn’t been able to overcome her natural reaction before those words slipped out. “I won’t disturb you at work again.” Hayley despised herself as she spoke those words. How could she be so pathetic? So weak? Why didn't she throw something at him?
Julian didn’t bother to reply to her. He didn’t even bother to come out of the bathroom.
Hayley turned. She dropped her hand from her pendant and squared her shoulders.
If anyone should be embarrassed, it should be Charlene and Julian. Since Julian clearly wasn’t, she didn’t see why she had to be.
With another breath through her nose, she strode out with her head high.
Julian swore under his breath. Why had Hayley come to his office?
She was his wife and had every right to be here, but she couldn’t have chosen a worse time. No, worse timing would have been a couple of minutes later when he wasn’t wearing his pants.
At least he was still fully clothed. His shirt was unbuttoned, but it was still on him.
He sighed. For a moment, he’d braced himself for some sort of explosive tantrum. But as always, sweet, submissive Hayley simply smiled and let his nonsense pass.
Over the past month, he had been the worst kind of husband. He spent as little time as he could with Hayley. When he did find himself in the same room, he made sure he let her know that he wasn’t excited to be there.
Over the few dinners they had, he had worn a permanent frown while his eyes stayed glued to his phone or iPad. He said nothing except to answer her questions, his answers always short and curt.
When he did open his mouth, it was to complain about Hayley’s choice of food. She probably never said a word to his in-house chef, and the food hadn’t changed a single bit, but he blamed her for the non-existent problem anyway.
Julian hated being married. He hated that he had been forced into this by his parents.
“It’s the only way to keep the business in the family,” his father had said.
But it wasn’t. Surely there was a way to push the Espels out. So what if they owned the majority of the shares? They hadn’t done much for the company. Julian had been the one running it. He didn’t just keep the business going; he was the reason why their empire had expanded so quickly.
He despised everything about Hayley. He despised the fact that she was so submissive, so willing to do whatever he wanted. He despised how she didn’t have any opinions of her own. He despised how willing she was to go along with whatever her parents had planned.
It had taken a combination of threats, unrelenting pressure, and underhanded methods from his parents to push Julian into showing up for the engagement party and wedding.
Now, he hated that his bathroom smelled like flowers after she had her baths. He hated getting wafts of the same smell when he went to bed. He hated the sexy silk pajamas she wore to sleep and the way her long ash-brown hair spilled over her pillow.
Julian knew Hayley was trying to seduce him, to get him wrapped around her finger. But he would never trust an Espel. Not because his father told him so—Julian didn't trust him either.
The Espels and Nicholsons might appear the best of colleagues, but both families were trying to gain control of the company. The Espels had more shares, but Julian was the one running the company. The two old men who founded the company together were always fighting to put their own people on the board of directors.
Julian wasn't interested in playing their games. He had a job to do, and he made sure he was so good at it that the directors—regardless of whose side they were on—couldn't find any fault with him.
And he wasn't going to fall for whatever Hayley had up her sleeve. She still controlled the shares though they were married. They’d signed a pre-nuptial agreement to make sure her stake in the company would always belong to her. She was only here to make him bow to her will so he would become Mr. Espel’s puppet.
Julian crooked his lower jaw to the side. So there was no reason for him to feel bad about what Hayley had seen. She shouldn’t have entered his office like that.
He tucked his shirt back into his pants and headed back out of the office to see his best friend and the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Colin Wells, sitting on the dark gray leather couch. “What are you doing here?”
“My secretary informed me that Hayley was in the building. I thought I would come by and give you a heads up. It seems I was too late.”
Julian shrugged. This wasn’t the first time he’d had company during lunch hour, but it was the first time since he’d gotten hitched. He was frustrated with his parents, and he wanted to do something to irk them.
Which was why he had gone for it though he wasn’t interested in Charlene. His new secretary was a complete bombshell, but Julian hadn’t been interested. Not out of duty to Hayley. He simply wasn’t interested.
“I saw her heading to the elevator. She was all sweet and smiley when she greeted me.”
And that’s the proof Hayley doesn’t care about the marriage. What woman wouldn't be upset if she caught her husband cheating?
He returned to his leather-lined office chair and pulled his suit jacket back on.
She was only pretending to be nice to soften him up.
Was she trying to wriggle her way into his heart and take over the business? He made a mental note to be more watchful of Hayley. The quiet ones were always the most dangerous. “Finally something good comes of her sickeningly submissive ways, I suppose.”
“Is she really that bad?” Colin stretched an arm across the back of the couch. “You could try and make things work. She’s a beautiful woman, and you’ve always liked beautiful women.”
“I abhor her.” Julian despised the fact that her large green eyes drew him in like a moth to flame, despised the fact that she plagued his dreams. “She’s nothing but her parents’ pet.”
And Julian had worked his entire life to get out of his parents’ clutches. He had been acquiring shares secretly so he could become the largest shareholder.
It was taking a lot longer than it was supposed to since he had to keep his plan under wraps, and he’d run out of time.
This marriage was a reminder of how he really was nothing but a caged bird and how underhanded his father was willing to be to make Julian do things his way.
“She seems nice to me.”
Julian shot his best friend a glare.
“What? I thought you abhorred her. Now you’re jealous?”
“I’m not jealous,” he snapped. “She’s the enemy.”
“All the more interesting.” Colin brought an ankle to his knee. “If she’s really as bad as you say she is, she must be a world-class actress. She always seems so nice and sweet.”
&n
bsp; “Just stay away from her.”
“Because she’s the enemy?”
“Why else?”
Colin shrugged and patted his hand against his knee. “Since there’s no fire to put out, I’m going back to my office.”
Julian swiveled his chair around to stare out of his full-length window. He looked out at the metallic high-rise buildings of Manhattan. Espel and Nicholson Holdings owned one of the tallest buildings in midtown Manhattan.
Espel and Nicholson Holdings. Julian shook his head. Nicholson Holdings sounds much better. Perhaps Colin was right. He could try and make things work—in his favor.
Two could play at that game.
If he could charm Hayley, he could get her to fall for him. She was already so submissive. It wouldn’t be difficult to get her to do whatever he wanted. She might be a good actress, but he knew how to charm a woman.
Chapter Two
HAYLEY FORCED A smile as her best friend, Leanne Casa waved at her from the bright red food truck owned by Leanne’s parents. A long line of people snaked out from the truck, and several of them watched as she passed them.
She opened the back of the truck.
“I thought you were having lunch with Julian,” Leanne said after hollering an order to her parents over her shoulder.
It took all of Hayley’s control to maintain her smile. “Change of plans.” Hayley stepped up into the truck while Leanne arched a brow. But her best friend didn’t prod her any further.
“Wow.” Frank peeled off his violet gloves and wiped his hands on the black apron tied around the waist of his faded light blue jeans. The lines framing his lips deepened as he grinned. “Our girl is all grown up and looking like a CEO’s wife.”
Looking like. Yes, that was an apt description. She was just playing a game of make-believe. The players? Herself.
Hayley forced a smile. “Hi, Frank. Paula.”
“Is everything okay?” The bright smile melted from his face. He adjusted the black cap keeping his short curly dark brown hair out of his face and the food, then opened his arms.
