by Mallory Fox
“Decide what things?” I say, cautiously.
“Nicole tells me you told her to piss off. I won’t stand for that, Pearl, not in my house.”
So she could hear me.
“I didn’t say that. She misheard me.” I snap my eyes to her, but Nicole’s face is a mask of indifference… not unlike her son at times.
“If she misheard you or not, I think we’ll all agree your behavior has been erratic of late.”
My eyes narrow. “Erratic?”
My father’s eyebrows raise. “Are you aware that your bedroom is directly above my study?”
Shit-fuck. “Oh, is it?”
Nicole jumps in. “We understand you’re old enough to have boyfriends, Pearl, but sneaking someone into your bedroom? Call me old fashioned, but Seth and I have an unspoken agreement of him bringing no girls into the family home. Let’s just say we expected better of you and I’m hoping you respect us enough to do the same.”
If only she knew.
I turn my appeal to the one person in this house who should have my back.
“Daddy…?”
My father pushes some glossy pages over his desk towards me. Getting closer, I can see they’re a brochure for a school. My own brow furrows as I pick them up and flick through it.
“Why are you showing me this?” I say, though I already know the answer. This can’t be happening.
“Nicole suggested you might like space to adjust to the changes.”
I look straight at my father, pleading with my eyes. “But this is a school in Sweden?”
“A change of scenery. I know Ravenwood wasn’t your first choice. And with the issues you’ve been having settling in…” My father tails off.
A chill runs through my veins. “What issues?”
“Orchestrating the public humiliation of three other male students?” My father says, face flushing beetroot with embarrassment.
They’re talking about the letter Principle Vaughn sent to them after Seth’s cousin changed schools. The misogynistic asshole and his friends all named me as the reason they left Ravenwood, taking with them a huge chunk of school fees and donations. And since no one has any evidence of what actually happened, I mean, who would want that to come to light, I’ve not been officially reported.
Principle Vaughn has had it out for me ever since.
“He’s lying. He’s making things up,” I say, appealing to my father with wide eyes and a look of innocence. I’m tempted to drop Seth in it this time, since he was the one who actually orchestrated it.
And what would it achieve if I did? Would they even believe me?
My father sighs. “Even if it’s untrue or a misunderstanding, that we’re having to deal with it makes me wonder if that school is a right fit for you.”
I snort a laugh. “So you’re sending me away? To what looks like female-only finishing school that doesn’t even have a business department? You know my dreams to get into La Roche? I need international business to even begin to apply there.”
“Nicole attended the school herself. She highly recommends it.”
Nicole glances at my father in a way that infuriates me. “Your father and I already talked to the principle there, and your application has been accepted.”
There’s a prickle behind my eyes and lump in my throat. I fight the urge to burst into tears. My father hates it when I cry. “I’m not going. You can’t make me.”
My father waves his hand dismissively. “Pearl, it’s not up for discussion. You’ll be starting there in the new year.”
I leave the room, not bothering to stop the door slamming shut a second time.
* * *
I grab my jacket and phone and make my way outside to the end of the garden where the air is fresher, and I can breathe. I can also talk without anyone hearing.
The lump in my throat is still there, so I take a few breaths, blinking to dry the wetness of my eyes before dialing. After a minute, I’m feeling more like myself.
The call picks up on the first ring.
“Pearl, as to what do I owe the honor?”
“Sully, I need your advice on emancipation,” I say in a voice as level as I can make it.
My father’s lawyer doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. I imagine him pondering my words, gathering his thoughts on what to say to talk me out of it.
“Secret contracts with rival company heirs are one thing, Pearl. But there are other ways to deal with your parents.”
“Parent. I have one parent. Nicole hasn’t adopted me, and I will swallow razor blades before that ever happens,” I sniff.
Sully exhales down the phone. “Parent, then. Have you tried talking to him?”
“He won’t listen,” I exclaim.
“I see. Well, I can’t make your father listen to you, but I can and will help with your situation with Seth… is there any development with the deal yet that I should know about? Maybe I can speak to your father about that? I still think you should get Darlington’s lawyers to take a look at it since I’m not privy to certain aspects of the takeover bid.”
I close my eyes and let the sound of the birds take me away. Sullivan has been the family friend slash lawyer since before I was born. He knew my mother back when she was alive. He’s known me since I was a baby and throughout my life. I’ve confided in him because there’s been no one else. I can’t use my father’s corporate lawyers for obvious reasons.
Legal advice privilege or lawyer client confidentiality is the only reason he can’t share my secrets with anyone else. He knows I negotiated a deal with Seth, but he doesn’t know his lawyers added the virginity clause in at the last minute.
There’s no way in hell I’m sharing that.
I can’t share how I feel about Seth with anyone.
“No, that’s all under control,” I say, reopening my eyes. It’s not a lie. It might be strange living in close quarters the enemy—and loving him at the same time—but that’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ve read through the contract so many times my eyes hurt.
His voice loses its edge. “Okay, well if you need to talk or need anything else, I’m here.”
“Actually, I do need something. Do you have my father’s new personal assistant’s number?”
I hear a few beeps down the line as he taps at his device. “Sending it now.”
“And I need leverage.”
“On who?”
“Principle Vaughn.”
There’s a pause before he replies. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I close the handset and check my messages. Daddy changes his PAs so much that I don’t ever know who to talk to when I want to know where he is or what he’s doing.
But this is important.
“Hello, Bridget speaking,” she says in a sing song voice.
“Bridge, hi, this is Pearl. We met at the wedding?”
“Pearl! Nice to hear from you. Are you okay? Can I help you with anything?”
I roll my eyes and make a face to the robin on the tree branch in front of me. “Yes, you can actually, can you tell me what my father has planned for Christmas Eve? Before the charity dinner, say, at six pm? There’s a concert I’d like him to attend.”
“Hmm, he’s only free until seven thirty. How long do you need?”
“The concert will only take half an hour,” I say, half telling the truth. It’s definitely going to take longer.
“And where is it?”
“Wigmore Hall, in town.”
“Okay, that should be enough time to get back to the estate. Shall I book him in for thirty minutes? What should I put as the appointment?”
“Pearl’s Christmas Concert.”
* * *
My bedroom door is wide open when I get upstairs, so I know that Seth is no longer inside. Did he know? Is he all over me now that he knows I’m leaving?
I’m still so angry with my father that grab the contract from under my pillow and head up to next level where Seth has the whole entire floor to himself.
“Don’t you care if I even sign this thing?” I say, raising my voice at little. We’re on the third floor. The only ones who can hear us up here are the ghosts and the birds nesting in the roof.
Seth, wearing his black, round wire frames, looks up from writing as I walk through his cabin door. I’m startled to see him still only in his jeans. That must mean he left my room without his t-shirt on.
“Do what you like, princess. I’m not your keeper,” he says nonchalantly, taking off his specs, the faint creases in his brow marring his perfect face. But even with the frown, he still looks gorgeous. And I still feel inadequate compared to his divine beauty.
I perch on the edge of his bed and take the freshly printed contract out of the envelope. It’s the one I’ve read through over and over. It’s the finalized version that we both agreed weeks ago and our lawyers, well his lawyers and Sully, have declared watertight.
Never signed.
I was going to tear it up.
But now…
I hold my head up and give Seth the full effect of my gaze. “I’m ready to sign.”
His eyebrows pull together slightly as he gives me his full attention. “Really? You’ve been pussyfooting around it for so long. I gave up.” He shrugs. “We can still fuck.”
All the pain and all the rage I’ve been feeling I practically shove into the look I give him. “You’ve been pushing me to sign this thing and now that I’m here, you don’t want me do it?”
To give him his due, he doesn’t flinch. “Contrary to belief, the world doesn’t revolve around you, princess.” His cold blue eyes bore into mine. “Do it or not, it’s all the same to me.”
Why do you want to sign, Pearl? Is this really how you want to fuck over your father?
The way I see it, if I’m going to sleep with Seth anyway… why not get a seat on the board of the company about to take over my father’s, and lose my virginal gold seal of marriage approval at the same time.
I take his elegant fountain pen out of his hand and sign my name before I change my mind. My hands are shaking and my heart is crashing about in my chest. I end up scrawling it out not very neatly and then initial every page. There, it’s signed. There’s no going back.
I’ve been sold to the highest bidder.
I hand him the contract and practically throw the pen at him. My eyes dart to an engraving in gold on the side of it as Seth takes his pen and the wad of papers and signs.
To S. N. M. All my love, L.L.
I feel as light as a feather. I bite my lip, trying not to think about what I just did. What we just did.
He slips one copy back into the envelope and hands it to me.
I cock my head at him. “What does the initial N stand for?”
“Never you fucking mind.”
“Cute,” I scoff.
L.L. must be Lana Langfield. So Flick was right, he did date her.
I’m not sure how I feel about that, so I put it out of my mind along with everything else I don’t want to tarry over. “So that’s it? We’re done?”
“My lawyers will draw the papers up ready to transfer the agreed stocks once we’ve consummated the agreement and we’ve both inherited.” Seth’s face is back to being a blank mask and I can’t tell if he’s happy to have signed or not. Probably not, when earlier I was ready to sleep with him for absolutely nothing in return.
“And my seat on the board?”
“You’ll have it once I gain majority ownership of Montford,” he says matter of factly.
“Okay.” I glance down at his bare chest and steel myself for what’s going to happen next. My tongue darts out to lick my bottom lip. Does he want to do it now? “What happens now?”
“Now, princess,”—a dark look flashes across his face, shattering the mask of indifference—“Now, you belong to me.”
Chapter 13
Seth
You’re going to regret this moment for the rest of your life.
The words Pearl said to me in the Kensington apartment keep running through my mind. It sounded like a throwaway comment, but I can’t help wondering what she meant. Did she mean I’d regret not just taking her when it was just sex on the table or something else?
Cock Tease. It’s what the boys call her behind her back and girls say to her face. The girl I know as Pearl Darlington is a downright fucking temptress.
I almost gave in to her back in Kensington. Almost.
But now she’s actually signed, I’m under strict orders not to fuck her until everything is arranged.
Grandfather was adamant. There are parts in play that I don’t know about and me being with Pearl too early screws it all up, apparently.
I’d hoped that being back at Ravenwood and having some distance in our living situation would cool things off. But Pearl has got under my skin so badly that I can’t stop thinking about her. My only saving grace is that her father doesn’t talk to her about anything to do with the business. She has no fucking idea what I’ve got her to sign…
None at all.
But now we’ve signed, it’s the other way around. She’s the one chasing me. Constantly making eyes at me in class. Grabbing me in the hallways when she thinks no one is looking. And between telling me to fuck off and giving me hungry eyes, I’ve no idea what’s going through her head.
Does she even want me, or does she hate my fucking guts?
“She’s fucking with you, that’s what she does.”
I must’ve spoken out loud. Fuck. My mind is all over the place right now. Apart from Grandfather, no one knows what’s gone on between us. Not Charlie. Not even Brompton.
I glare at Stamford as he sits on a tyre while I try to break into my own car which has been parked in the Coldhart House garage since the wedding weekend. I’ve no idea what happened to my keys, but I have a feeling they’re in the car itself.
He sighs, rolling a joint, enjoying watching me fail. “You know you can call someone out to do that, don’t you?”
The wire I’ve shimmed down the inside of the driver side window slips and fucks the middle of my palm, drawing blood. Hot pain slices through me from the wound.
“Fuck. I think we’ll have to. Why is nothing ever easy?” I grab a load of paper towels from the utility room off to the side of the garage and roll it around my injury.
“Here, let me do it.” Stamford hands me his freshly rolled joint and takes over.
“Charlie, if you damage my car…”
“Relax, I’ve got it.” He jimmies the wire to free it from where it’s catching, and it takes him less than a few seconds to loop in around the lock and pull the door open. “Done.”
“You bloody bastard, you’ve done this before.”
Charlie smirks. “Here are your keys.” He throws them at me, and I catch them with my good hand.
“So what are you going to do?”
I raise a brow at him. “About what?”
“About Pearl?” Charlie scoffs.
“Nothing. She’s leaving in the new year. They’re carting her off to some Swedish boarding school.”
Charlie gives a low whistle. “Damn. She must be upset. Pearl is not someone you want to mess with when she’s upset.”
I glance up at Charlie, thinking of the marks she inflicted down my back that day in her room that haven’t quite yet healed. “Mate. You have no fucking idea.”
The phone in my back pocket buzzes. I slip it out with my left hand and glance at the screen, while holding my right hand up to ease the blood running freely out of it. It’s Grandfather. “Hold on, I need to take this.”
I walk out of the dark garage and into the sunlight. My hand is throbbing, so I close my fist around the paper towels before answering.
“Grandfather.”
Just hearing the cold tones of my grandfather’s voice have me standing straighter, as though the fucker is actually in front of me. “Ah, Seth, good, I’m glad I got hold of you. I wanted to congratulate your arrangement with the Darlington girl.”
> The Darlington girl. He can’t even say her name right.
“Thank you, sir,” I say in a clipped tone.
“As soon as her father agrees to the merger, and the new company is formed, I want you over there and in the trenches as much as possible.”
“Merger? So the acquisition is well and truly dead then?”
“I killed it this morning, made Graham an offer he can’t refuse. To be clear, as soon as our two companies merge and Montford International no longer exists, his daughter will gain nothing from your deal with her, correct?”
“Yes, sir. Percy and Conner worded it so that the Montford shares she gains are contingent on Montford International remaining in operation. She gains nothing if we merge with Darlington, and Montford International ceases to exist, absorbed into Darlington upon signing the merger.”
“And what do we stand to gain from all this?” His voice is dangerously quiet.
“Approximately fifteen percent of her total inheritance, which includes assets, property, cash, and controlling stock in her father’s company.” I don’t mention her virginity and I know he won’t ask. The virginity clause is just a ruse to appeal to her vanity and get her to sign it, to make her think that I’m willing to actually pay for the privilege of her opening her legs.
There’s a pause as my grandfather considers my words. “So if this merger goes through giving us half of Darlington, and we gain an additional fifteen percent of total shares from your deal, we’ll in effect have the majority vote over the whole company.”
“That’s right,” I say,
“And she has no idea a merger is even being considered and hasn’t shared any of this information with her father at all?”
I grimace. “No, sir, none whatsoever. No one would ever think that we’d consider merging with Darlington and giving up the Montford brand.”
My great grandfather who established Montford generations ago would be turning in his grave if he could hear this conversation. But it’s not such a great loss if we gain Darlington Estates in its place. Pearl’s company is by far the most prestigious luxury hotel brand in the world, second to none.
